Maasai neckpieces

There are three hung together here. Maasai (and the related Fulani) women wear them in multiples, sometimes piled up to their chins. When they dance they lift their shoulders up to make the stiff beaded necklaces bounce up and down. The strings of beads in the middle are about three feet (.91m) long.

Bought in Kenya from Maasai ladies sitting on a sidewalik near City Market. Nairobi, 1989. I had assumed they would be open to price negotiation like the other market ladies. I was mistaken. Thoroughly humbled, I bought several ornaments from the ladies. The prices were more than fair, considering they made everything themselves and traveled from the Maasai Mara into the city.

I went to Kenya twice. Once in 1987, again in 1989. During the first trip, I also went to Senegal - which felt oddly familiar to me. The people were entirely unlike the very quiet and modest Kenyans. When I got home, I thought about it a lot and I think I solved the puzzle: the people were amazingly like Black Americans that I've known. Extraverted personalities, flamboyant and imaculate dress, the confident way they carried themselves, their humor, loud voices, even their perfume. This made sense, considering Black Americans were originally West Africans.

It was my goal to return to Senegal again, but life (and finances) got in the way and I was never able to. Now, I visit both countries often on Google Street View. ;-)