ABSTRACT
Among the Matapato and other central and northern Maasai, the cyclical process of generating a new age-group every seven or eight years is focused on the formation of manyat, local warrior villages, throughout the region. In the Maasai instance, the ritual of rebellion goes to the core of the family with sons snatching away their mothers and seceding from their fathers. Within the family, this entails a real shift in power rather than merely a protest against power. Founding the manyata and the whole manyata episode, bridging the transition from herdboy to elder, may be seen as an extended ritual of rebellion and at the same time as a rite of transition over a period of years and not just months. In their public lives, the elders aim to live up to these ideals and to be the trustees of Maasai culture, setting the principles that they expect all other members of the community to observe.
