An African Dance Party

After sitting in class for six hours I was relieved when several Maasai interrupted our professor and promptly invited us to a wedding that was going on at a nearby boma (small village). Delighted at the idea, we dressed up as nicely as we could, and jogged after the Maasai through the thicket of the surrounding grasslands. As we approached the boma (covered in dirt and thorns) we encountered a 5 foot long puff adder that was about 8 inches wide. Several of the warriors had killed it a few hours earlier because it was too deadly of a snake to be left alive near a village.
We slowly walked into the boma, slightly embarrassed that we looked so… American, but thrilled at the idea that we were in a wedding in a part of Africa that no road had ever reached and no muzungu (white person) had ever gone to. About 50 men and women were gathered at the center of the boma and were all chanting and jumping. Not knowing what else to do I started to walk around the commotion trying to figure out what everyone was chanting around. After only a few steps a Maasai woman grabbed my hand, flashed a gigantic smile at me and began to pull me toward the center of the crowd. Surrounded by people I had no option but to begin jumping up and down, throwing my shoulders and head in towards the center of the group. Several people looked at me like I was absolutely crazy but eventually everyone started to give me tips about how I could move my head as I threw my shoulders forward and jumped. Before long I was in the center of the group and everyone was facing me as I jumped with several of the young women. I was completely surrounded by warriors and women in all of their incredible beaded jewelry. I have never felt a stronger energy within a group of people and no matter how different I looked it seemed that as long as I was dancing I was part of the powerful connection that surrounded me. After about an hour the group opened up a circle in the middle and the young warriors began to jump as high as they could. They had tall slender bodies and were dressed in red blankets. Their long braided hair was painted red and they carried a sword and several other tools on their belt. Everyone cheered them on as they jumped higher and higher until they were several feet off the ground. I later learned that the groom was one of our night askaris (guards) and was getting married again because his previous wife had just died. I congratulated the groom but was told that the bride is rarely seen at Maasai weddings because she is expected to stay in her home all day, preparing to move into a new life and a new home. The wedding apparently went late into the night because once you get a group of Maasai to start dancing, you can’t get them to stop.