Maasai Masai Milk Blood Gourd Container Antique African Tribal Art Kenya 31"

Description

Antique African Maasai Milk Blood Gourd Container Tribal Art.
This was purchased by my parents on a trip to Kenya in 1983.  There is a photo of my father with the Maasai. This a remarkable large Antique African Maasai Milk Blood Gourd Container that measures 31 inches. It is in excellent condition.  It is an great example of a Maasai milk gourd with good original bead-work. The leather is worn through many years of use, and the edge is torn at the bottom corner. There is a fine dark honey patina on the gourd. It would be a wonderful addition to your collection. Thanks for looking and please check out my other collectables.
From my mother's journal:
"We went to a Maasai tribal village. There were just a few mud rondavel huts surrounded by a high fence made of dried thorn brush to keep the lions and other wild animals out.  We met the chief who was wearing a baseball cap.  The women were all wearing beaded necklaces, arm bands and earrings and some had babies carried in a cloth sling on their backs.  They surrounded us and encouraged us to buy their handmade beadwork. We purchased some items. The males didn't participate but sat, holding their long Maasai spears, to the side watching the proceedings."
Calabashes for collecting and storing milk, blood and honey beer are made from gourds, which are cut from their vines, dried, scooped out inside, and decorated with beads, coteries and a leather strap.
These long gourds were essential for survival and lovingly decorated with beads and precious shells. They were mended when necessary, and used for years. Each gourd has an attached cap to keep the flies and dirt out, and a carrying strap which would allow a warrior to carry a full gourd over his shoulder. The woman, who often had to carry two or three, had a special backpack arrangement of bound sticks to hold them.
A Maasai woman would clean her milk gourds every night and sleep with them besides her bed. In the morning, she would rinse her hands and milk her cows, calling them by name, and while milking she recited blessings upon them. One I saw published was: "Let a good wind blow upon us that likes cattle and children!"
She would traditionally fill several gourds, one for her husband, one for her children, one for an unmarried warrior who must be sustained by the community he protects, and the remainder for herself.