In the Mursi Tribe, men are put into ‘age sets’ and they go through several different ‘age grades’ throughout their life. In marriages, the women is in the same age grade as their husband. This is something that sets the Mursi tribe apart from other indigenous tribes, men and women marrying in the same age range, whereas other tribes let young girls marry older men. When a man officially becomes a member of an age set, which is also called teny, they enter full social adulthood. Sometimes, this can happen way before or after men are physically mature.
The most current age set is called the ‘rora’, which
would be the junior elders. As a new rora is being created, the previous rora now becomes the ‘bara’, which
is now the senior elders. This being said, the previous rora now becomes the ‘karui’, which
are the retired elders. The age set that are supposed to make all the decisions
that deal with the public are the bara.
They’re also the people that participate and lead the most in the public
meetings. Just like other societies, "out with the old, in with the
new!"
There are several baras that want to be much more involved and lead the people; however, they can’t make any decisions on their own. Everything is pretty much determined by the rules of society. The youngest age set of the three groups, the rora, have duties to act as the Ethiopian police or army. It’s the rora’s duties to keep their land and people safe, while also making sure the operations of the community run smoothly and successfully. Tourists often don't realize the intricacies within this community, they are a fairly sophisticated people.
The last set created was in 1991 and is called the Geleba. The members of this set
has a wide age span, ranging from 30 to 60 years old. Since some of the members
are elderly, they are allowed to participate in decision-making for the public.
All of the local groups have their own ceremonies, which all happen in the same
year. Depending on a man's age, he could have much responsibility is allowed to
do much more as they age. For example, being able to marry or being in charge
of making vital decisions.
Oxford Department of
International Development,
2015
Age And Age Sets — Mursi Online. Electronic Document,
http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/age-and-age-sets,
accessed June 3, 2015.
As an American, I find this way of living to be very unusual, but interesting. In America, we go by your age number, and somewhat by age groups. For example, we have groups called infants, toddlers, boys, girls, teenagers, young adults, adults, elders, and retirees. However, these don't make up our society and give us jobs, just because of our age.
ReplyDeleteIt does make sense to me, when you think of why the roras are the police and army. Since these people are more likely to get hurt, since they are protecting the people, they're probably given the job, since they are the youngest of the population (most of the time). The Bara are most likely given the job of making decisions, because they aren't young, but not old and more experienced than the roras. Lastly, the Karui, are the retired elders, and are now to just relax, because they gave their part in society throughout their lifetime.
I find their way of living to be very interesting, because it seems like this tradition works for them and they have a successful way of life. Something else that I find interesting is that married women go by the same age set as their husband. I don't find this surprising at all though, since males in most of these groups are more dominant.