12. In Kenya, young Masai boys would be sent to kill a lion armed with just a spear – if they succeeded, they were a man
The Masai people have called the plains of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania their home for hundreds of years. And their connection to the land and the native wildlife has influenced every part of their lives – including their male coming-of-age traditions. According to local lore, a boy could only become a grown man, otherwise known as a ‘moran’ or warrior, when he had killed a lion. More specifically, any teenager hoping to become a man would need to kill a male lion using nothing more than a single spear. To succeed in the task would prove that he was a real warrior, blessed with skill and courage.
If a young man was successful in his lion hunt, he would bring the mane back to his home village. Here, he would symbolically throw it away (older warriors were allowed to gift manes to women of the village) and he would then sacrifice a lamb. All this was to ward off bad spirits and mark his transition to adulthood. In recent years, however, this practice has come to an end as the Masai people work to protect Africa’s endangered lions. These days, the male coming-of-age rituals are centered around the bi-annual ‘Masai Olympics’, with spear-throwing the main event.