The Oromian Economist

Perspectives on Economics, Freedom, Liberty, Development & Change

Oromia: Untwist the Twisted History

Sof Umar Wall, Bale Oromia (Ancient and magnificent past and present)
Parts of ancient kemetic (Kushitic), Egyptian, material culture (fashion accessories), courtesy of
British Museum sources

Traditionally, Oromo women wear necklaces with telsum amulets, triangular and crescent
shaped pendants protect from the evil eye and attract the power of the moon or to improve
fertility.

Oromia: The continuity of farming in Oromo society from ancient Kemetic (Kushitic) to present
Oromia

Ancient Oromo culture, Irreechaa from the time before the Pyramid
As some indeed suspect, that the science which we see at the dawn of recorded history, was not
science at its dawn, but represents the remnants of the science of some great and as yet untraced
civilisation. Where, however, is the seat of that civilisation to be located? (J. W. S. Sewell, 1942)

Conquest and dominations are social phenomenon as are dying elsewhere will die in Oromia
(Author’s Remark).

JEL: O5, D2

Oromia: Untwist the Twisted History

The topic is about Oromia’s location in space and allocation in humanity and society. It is
concerned with Oromia’s physical position in terms of geography and relational to issues of
economic conditions, social justices, cultural values, political history and destiny. Civilisation,
Colonisation and Underdevelopment are presented in historical and geo-political perspectives.
They capture both the space and time perceptions. They are also representing the economic and
social conditions and positions. The portrayal we procure the present of the Oromo nation, the
core of the Cush (Cushite/ Kemet)/Ham (Hamite), the children of Noah, in North & East Africa
in past age from the phantom of the Solomonic dynasty, the history thought in Abyssinian high
schools, their text books and elsewhere in the invaders’ literature, abusive literary and oral
discourses is that they were savages and that, though Abyssinians and Europeans overrun their
lands and have made mere subjects of them, they have been in a way, bestowing a great favour
on them, since they have brought to them the benisons of Christian Enlightenment. With
objective analysis, however, this paper obliterates and unmakes that inaccurate illustration,
wanton falsifications, immorality, intellectual swindle, sham, mischievous tales, the bent and the
parable of human reductionism. Hence, it is the step to delineate an authentic portrait of a human
heritage, which is infinitely rich, beautiful, colourful, and varied in the retrograde of orthodox
misconceptions. The paper is not only a disinclination itself but also a call for and a provocation
of the new generation of historians to critically scrutinise and reinvestigate the orthodox
approaches to the Oromo history and then to expose a large number of abusive scholarship
authorities on the Oromo and Cushitic studies and it detects that they do not really know the
intensity and profoundness of the history of these black African people and nations and the
performance these Africans registered in the process of creating, making and shaping the prime
civilisations of human societies. The study acknowledges and advances a strict contest to an
orthodox scholarship’s rendition of Egypt as a white civilisation, which arose during the
nineteenth century to fortify and intensify European imperialism and racism. Depending on
massive evidences from concerned intellectual works from linguistic to archaeology, from
history to philosophy, the study authenticates that Egypt was a Cushitic civilisation and that
Cushite civilisation was the authentic offspring of the splendid Upper Nile/ Oromian legacy. The
Greek civilisation, which has been long unveiled as the birthplace of Western philosophy and
thought, owes its roots to the Cushites thoughts and achievements. The original works of Asfaw
Beyene (1992) and F. Demie (in Oromia Quarterly, 1998 & 2000) are giving motivations and
also greatly acknowledged. The study also expresses that radical thinkers and multi-genius
African historians such as Diop (1991) have not given due attention to the epic centre of Cushitic
civilisation, Oromia, the land after and Eastern and South Eastern to Nubia, pre-Aksum central
Cush, Aksumite Cush and Cushites civilisation southern to Aksum, etc. The method of enquiry is
qualitative and the eclectics of formal and the informal sources, rigorous, casual and careful
scholarship argument. Oral history and written documents on history, economy, sociology,
archaeology, geography, cosmology and anthropology are based on as references. The paper
studies the Oromo history and civilisation in horizontal approach and challenges the reductionist
and Ethiopianist (colonialist, racist) vertical approach (topsy-turvy, cookkoo). It goes beyond the
Oromo Oral sources (burqaa mit-katabbii) and Africanist recorded studies and western
civilisational studies. The approach is to magnify, illuminate and clarify the originality of
humanity and civilisation to this magnificent Cushitic (African) beauty. The Origin of Humanity
When and where did human life first surface on our cosmos? Who contrived the original and
prime human culture and civilisation? Ancient Egyptians contended that it was in their
homeland, the oldest in the world, the God modelled the first of all human beings out of a
handful of ooze soddened by the vivacity of the life giving sanctified and blessed water, the Nile
(see, Jackson, 1995). “The ancient Egyptians called the river Ar or Aur (Coptic: Iaro), “Black,”
in allusion to the colour of the sediments carried by the river when it is in flood. Nile mud is
black enough to have given the land itself its oldest name, Kem or Kemi, which also means
“black” and signifies darkness. In The Odyssey, the epic poem written by the Greek poet Homer
(7th century bce), Aigyptos is the name of the Nile (masculine) as well as the country of Egypt
(feminine) through which it flows. The Nile in Egypt and Sudan is now called Al-Nīl, Al-Baḥr,
and Baḥr Al-Nīl or Nahr Al-Nīl.”http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415347/Nile-
River Ar or Aur (Coptic: Iaro) is Booruu in modern Afaan Oromo which means turbid in English
translations. Lagdi Nayili jedhamee amma waamamu maqaan kun kan akkanatti moggaasameefi,
bowwaa jechuudha. Warri kushii, warri biyyaa, waarri durii laga isaanii Aur (Ooruu) jedhanii
waamu. Afaan Oromoo amma uni dubbannuutti booruu jechuudha. Booruu (turbid) jechuuni
gurri’aacha (Kami) jechuu miti. Booruu (Ooruu, Aur) jechuun kan taliila hin taane kan hin
calaliini jechuudha. Dameen laga kanaa kan Moromor (dhidheessa) irraa maddu galaana biroo
itti burqan dabalatee biyyoo loolan haramaniin waan booraweef. kaartumitti yoo damee isa (isa
taliila) garba Viktooriyaati karaa Ugaanda dhufutti makamu kanasi booressee misiriitti godaana.
Dameen Garba Viktooriyaati dhufu iyyuu adii (white) jedhamee mogga’uuni irra hin turre.
Bishaani adiini hin jiru. Bishaani hin boora’iini bishaan taliila. Bishaani taliilatu bishaan
guri’aacha. Inni ‘Blue’ jedhanisi ‘Blue’ mitti. Bishaan taliilatu, gurri’aacha ‘Blue’ dha. ‘Blue
Nile’ jechuu irra ‘Brown’ Nile (Mormor Booruu, Ar, Aur) yoo jedhani ille itti dhiyaata. The
word (Africa) Afrika itself  derived from kemetic (Oromo) language. In Oromo, one of the
ancient black people (kemet), Afur means four. Ka (Qa, Waqa) means god. Afrika Means the
four children of god. It describes the four sub groups of kemet people. Such type of naming
system is very common in Oromo even today  such as Afran Qallo, Shanan Gibee, Salgan
Boorana, Macca Shan, Jimma Afur, Sadan Soddoo, etc. For other theories in this topic please
refer to   http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/09/23/9-theories-africa-got-name/

One of the oldest Cushites histories to account for the origin and early development of man and
his culture survives in a Greek version of the thesis advanced by the ancient Cushites, Oromians
and the rest. This marvellous people paraded in golden times in the region called Kush (Punt) in
the Hebrew Scriptures and stamped on the present-day upper Nile Oromia (see, Jackson, 1995).
Diodorus Siculus, wrote that the Cushites were of the opinion that their country was not only the
birthplace of human race and the cradle land of the world’s earliest civilisation, but, indeed, the
primal Eden where living things first appeared on Earth, as reported by the Scriptures. Thus,
Diodorus was the first European to focus attention on the Cushites asseveration that Upper Nile
(Oromia) is the cradle land of world’s earliest civilisation, the original Eden of the human race.
Whether by almighty (God) or nature/ evolution (Darwin’s natural selection and survival of the
fittest), Oromia was not only the birth place of man himself (e.g., Lucy) but also for many
hundred years thereafter is in the vanguard of all world progress (see Diop, 1991 in his African
Civilisation; Martin Bernal, 1987). These are also authenticated by the present archaeological
inferences in Oromo tropical fields and rivers valleys. The original natives of Egypt, both in old
and in the latter ages of development, were Cushite and there is every raison d’être for the
discourse that the earliest settlers came from upper Nile Oromia. The original homeland of the
Oromians and other Cushites including Chadic, Berber, Egyptian, Beja, Central Cushitic, East
Cushitic, South Cushitic, Omotic and Nilotic was the present day upper Nile Oromia. It was from
the original Oromo (Madda Walaabu) that the rest of humanity descended diffused to other parts
of the world. This can be understood in the analogue of the diffusion of two Oromo families
(Borana and Barentuma). While those who expanded to other regions latter taken new family
names like Macha, Tulama, Karayyu, etc and those who stayed in original place kept the original
name such as Borana. In terms of linguistic, like most scholars, we believe that it is impossible to
judge between the theories of monogenesis and polygenesis for human, though the inclination is
towards the former. On the other hand, recent work by a small but increasing number of scholars
has convinced us that there is a genetic relationship between European, Asian, and African and
Cushite languages. A language family originates from a single dialect, proto Cushitic/ Oromo.
From such language and culture that must have broken up into Africa, Asiatic, and European and
within them a very long time a go. Professor Bernal (1987, in Black Athena, p. 11) confirmed
that the unchallenged originality of Oromians and other Cushites nativity to the region and put
forward that the latest possibility for initial language break up would be the Mousterian period,
50- 30,000 years Before the Present (BP), however, it may well have much earlier. He further
observed that the expansion and proliferation of Cushitic and other Afroasiatic as the
promulgation of a culture long pioneered in the East African Rift valley (South Eastern Oromian)
at the end of the last Ice Age in the 10th and 9th millennia BC. According to Bernal (1987, p.11)
the polar ice caps caged the water within itself, which was during the Ice ages, thus water was
significantly less than it is nowadays. He reports that the Sahara and Arabian deserts were even
bigger and more inhospitable then than they are presently. In the centuries that ensued, with the
rise of heat and increase in the rainfall, greatly the regions became savannah, into which
adjoining peoples voyaged. The most successful of these were, the speakers of Proto-Afroasiatic
from upper Nile Oromia. Bernal further confirmed that these people not only possessed
flourishing and effective skills and techniques of hippopotamus hunting with harpoons but also
had domesticated cattle and food crops. The following is quoted from Black Athena: ‘Going
through the savannah, the Chadic speakers renched lake Chad, the Berbers, the Maghreb, and the
Proto-Egyptians, upper Egypt…. With long-term desiccation of the Sahara during the 7th and 6th
millennia BC, there were movements into the Egyptian Nile Valley from the west and east as
well as from the Sudan. … A similar migration took place from the Arabian savannah into lower
Mesopotamia ‘(Bernal, pp.11-12).

The Origin of Civilization

There are many things in the manners and customs and religions of the historic Egyptians that
suggest that the original home of their human ancestors was in the Upper Nile region and the
biblical land of Punt/ Kush (Cush) Or Oromia which include the present day of Cushitic North
and East of Africa. Hence, historical records showed that the antiquity of upper Nile Cushitic
Oromian civilisation had a direct link with the civilisation of ancient Egypt, Babylonian and
Greece. Hence, the Egyptian and Babylonian civilisations are part and parcel of the entire
Cushite civilisation. As it is described above, there is wide understanding that Cushites =
Egyptians + Babylon + Oromo+ Agau + Somalis + Afars + Sidama + Neolithic Cush + other
Cush. There is also an understanding that all the Cushites are branched out (descended) from
their original father Oromo which can be described as Oromo = Noah=Ham= Cush= Egyptian +
Bablyon+ Agau + Somali + Afar + Sidama + Neolithic Cush + other Cush. Boran and
Barentuma, the two senior children and brothers were not the only children of the Oromo.
Sidama, Somali, Agau, Afar and the others were children of the big family. Wolayita and the
Nilotics were among the extended family and generations of the Cushite. As a hydro-tower of
Africa, the present Oromia is naturally gifted and the source of Great African rivers and hosts the
bank and valleys of the greatest and oldest civilisations such as Nile (Abbaya), Baro (Sobat),
Gibe, Wabe, Dhidhesa, Ganale, Wabi-shebele, Omo, and Awash among others. Oromian tropical
land, equatorial forest and Savannah have been the most hospitable ecology on the earth and
conducive environment to life and all forms of human economic and social practices. According
to Clarke (1995), many of the leading antiquarians of the time, based largely on the strength of
what the classical authors, particularly Diodorus Siculus and Stephanus of Nabatea (Byzantium
after Roman colonisation and Christianisation), had to say on the matter, were exponents of the
vista that the Cushite, the ancient race in Africa, the Near East and the Middle East, or at any
rate, the black people of remote antiquity were the earliest of all civilised peoples and that the
first civilised inhabitants of ancient Egypt were members of what is referred to as the black,
Cushite race who had entered the land as they expanded in their geographical space from the
their birthplace in upper Nile Oromia, the surrounding Cushite river valleys and tropical fields. It
was among these ancient people of Africa and Asia that classical technology advanced, old
world science and cosmology originated, international trade and commerce was first developed,
which was the by-product of international contacts, exchange of ideas and cultural practices that
laid the foundations of the prime civilisations of the ancient world. Cushite Africa and also of the
Middle East and West Asia was the key and most responsible to ancient civilisations and African
history. It must also be known that there were no such geographical names, demarcations and
continental classification at that time. As a whole, Cushite occupied this region; there was the
kernel and the centre of the globe, the planet earth, and the universe. African history is out of
stratum until ancient Cushites looked up on as a distinct African/ Asian nations. The Nile river, it
tributes, Awash, Baro and Shebele or Juba, etc., played a major role in the relationship of
Cushite to the nations in North, South and East Africa. The outer land Savannah, Nile, other
Oromian rivers with it Adenian ecology were great cultural highways on which elements of
civilisation came into and out of inner North East Africa. After expansions, there was also an
offshoot, a graft, differentiation, branching out, internal separation, semi-independence and again
interactions, interdependence and co-existence of the common folks. Cushites from the original
home made their relationships with the people of their descendants in the South, the North, East
and the West, which was as both good, and bad, depending on the period and the regime in
power they formed and put in place in the autonomous regions. Cushite Egypt first became an
organised autonomous nation in about 6000 B.C. In the Third Dynasty (5345-5307 B.C.) when
Egypt had an earnest pharaoh named Zoser and Zoser, in turn, had for his chief counsellor and
minister, an effulgent grand named Imhotep (whose name means ‘he who cometh in peace”).
Imhotep constructed the famous step pyramid of Sakkarah near Memphis. The building
techniques used in the facilitation of this pyramid revolutionised the architecture of the ancient
world (Clarke, 1995). Of course, Independent Egypt was not the original home of these ancient
technology. However, it was an extension, expansion, advancement and the technological cycle
of the Upper Nile Oromia, Nubia, Beja, Agau and other Cushites. Ideas, systems, technologies
and products were invented, tested and proved in upper Nile then expanded and adopted
elsewhere in the entire Cush regions and beyond. . Bernal (1987, pp. 14-15) has identified strict
cultural and linguistic similarities among all the people around the Mediterranean. He further
attests that it was south of the Mediterranean and west to the Red Sea’s classical civilisation that
give way to the respective north and east. Cushite African agriculture of the upper Nile expanded
in the 9th and 8th century millennia BC and pioneering the 8th and 7th of the Indo-Hittite.
Egyptian civilisation is Cushite and is clearly based on the rich pre-dynastic cultures of Upper
Egypt, Nubia and upper Nile, whose Cushite African and Oromian origin is uncontested and
obvious. Of course, Cushite Egypt gave the world some of the greatest personalities in the
history of mankind. In this regard, Imhotep was extraordinary discernible. In ancient history of
Egypt, no individual left a downright and deeper indentation than Imhotep. He was possibly the
world’s first mult-genuis. He was the real originator of new medicine at the time. He
revolutionised an architect of the stone building, after which the Pyramids were modelled. He
became a deity and later a universal God of Medicine, whose images charmed the Temple of
Imhotep, humanity’s earliest hospital. To it came sufferers from the entire world for prayer,
peace, and restorative. Imhotep lived and established his eminence as a curative at the court of
King Zoser of the Third Dynasty about 5345-5307 B.C. (Duncan, 1932). When the Cushite
civilisation through Egypt afar crossed the Mediterranean to become the foundation of what we
think of as Greek culture, the teachings of Imhotep were absorbed along with the axioms of other
great Cushite African teachers. When Greek civilisation became consequential in the
Mediterranean area, the Greeks coveted the world to ponder they were the originators of
everything in its totality. They terminated to acknowledge their liability to Imhotep and other
great Cushites. Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of years, and Hippocrates, a mythical
posture of two thousand years latter, became known as the father of medicine. Regarding to
Imhotep’s influence in Rome, Gerald Massey, noted poet, archaeologist, and philologist, says
that the early Christians cherished him as one with Christ (Massey, 1907). It should be
understood that, while the achievements of Cushite Egypt were one of the best, these are not the
only achievements that Cushite Africans can claim. The Nubians, upper Nile, central and eastern
Cushites (the Oromo, Agau, Somalia, Afar, etc) were continue to develop many aspects of
civilisation independent of Cushite Egyptian interactions. These nations and states gave as much
to Egypt as Egypt give to them in terms of trade, ideas and technology as well. There was also a
considerable Cushite dominion on what later became Europe in the period preceding Christian
era. Cushites played a major role in formative development of both Christianity and Islam. Both
the Holly Bible and the Holly Quran moral texts are originated from the Oromo and other
Cushite oral and moral principles, beliefs, creeds and teachings. There is a common believe and
understanding that Abraham, a seminal prophet, believer and recipient of a single and eternal
God was from Central Cush of present Upper Nile Oromia. The Oromos believed in a single and
eternal God, Black God (Waaqa Guri’acha) also Blue God according to some scholars who
translated the oral history. Waaqa also Ka. While the Oromian faith, social structure and policies
were the prime and the origins of all, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were all the derivatives
and originated from the Black God. Waaqayyoo in Oromo is the original, the single, the
omnipotent, the prime and the greatest of all the great religions. All aspects of the present day
Christian churches were developed in Cushites. One of the more notable of Cushite contributions
to the early church was monasticism. Monasticism, in essence, is organised life in common,
especially for religious purposes. The home of a monastic society is called a monastery or a
convent. Christian monasticism probably began with the hermits of Cushite Egypt and Palestine
about the time when Christianity was established as a licit religion (Clarke, 1995). Oral tradition
and Arabian records confirm that Bilal, a tall, gaunt, black, bushy-haired, Oromo, was the first
High Priest and treasurer of the Mohammedan empire. After Mohamet himself, the great
religion, which today numbers upwards of half a billion souls, may be said to have began with
Bilal. He was honoured to be the Prophet’s first neophyte. Bilal was one of the many Cushites
who concurred in the founding of Islam and later made proud names for themselves in the
Islamic nations and expansions. Europe was sluggishing in her Dark Ages at a time when
Cushite Africa and Asia were relishing a Golden Age. In this non-European world of Africa and
Asian, Cushites built and enjoyed an age of advancement in technology before a period of
internal withdrawal and isolation that favoured the Europeans to move a head of them. For more
than a thousand years the Cushites were in the ‘Age of Grandeur’ but the second rise of Europe,
internal strife, slave trade and colonialism brought the age of catastrophic tragedy, abase and
declivity. The early Cushites made spears to hunt with, stone knives to cut with, the bola, with
which to catch birds and animals, the blow-gun, the hammer, the stone axe, canoes and paddles,
bags and buckets, poles for carrying things, bows and arrows. The bola, stone knives, paddles,
spears, harpoons, bows and arrows, bow-guns, the hammer and the axe- all of them invented first
by Cushites – were the start of man’s use of power. The present’s cannon, long-range missiles,
ship propellers, automatic hammers, gas engines, and even meat cleavers and upholstery tack
hammers have the roots of their development in the early Cushite use of (Clarke, 1995). Cushite
offered humans the earliest machine. It was the fire stick. With it, man could have fire any time.
With it, a campfire could be set up almost any place. With it, the early Africans could roast food.
Every time we light a match, every time we take a bath in water heated by gas, every time we
cook a meal in a gas-heated oven, our use of fire simply continues a process started by early
Cushites: the control of fire. Of course, those early Cushite was the first to invent how to make a
thatched hut. They had to be the first because for hundreds of thousand of years they were the
only people on earth. They discovered coarse basket making and weaving and how to make a
watertight pot of clay hardened in a fire. In the cold weather, they found that the skins of beasts
they had killed would keep them warm. They even skin covers for their feet. It was from their
first effort much later clothing and shoes developed. Humanity owes the early Cushites much
and even much more (Clarke, 1995). The Cushites dociled animals. They used digging sticks to
obtain plant roots that could be consumed. They discovered grain as a food, how to store it and
prepare it. They learnt about the fermentation of certain foods and liquids left in containers.
Thus, all mankind owes to Cushites including the dog that gives companionship and protection,
the cereals we eat at break-fast-time, the fermented liquids that many people drink, the woven
articles of clothing we wear and the blankets that keep us warm at night, the pottery in which we
bake or boil food, and even the very process (now so simple) of boiling water- a process we use
every time we boil an egg, or make spaghetti, or cook corned beef. Canoes made it possible for
man to travel further and farther from his early home. Over many centuries, canoes went down
Baro, the Nile and the Congo and up many smaller rivers and streams. It was in this pattern that
the early Cushite civilisation was advanced. From the blowgun of antiquated Cushite, there come
next, in later ages, many gadget based on its standard. Some of these are: the bellows, bamboo
air pumps, the rifle, the pistol, the revolver, the automatic, the machine gun- and even those
industrial guns that puff grains. Modern Scientists certain that by about 3000 B.C., the Cushite
farmers in the Nile Valley were growing wheat and barely, cultivating millet, sorghum, and
yams. Around 1500 B.C. new crops farming were developed: – banana, sugar cane, and coconut
trees and later coffee. The cultivation of bananas and coffees in particular spread rapidly which
are suited to tropical forest conditions. Cushites had also domesticated pigs, donkeys, horses,
chickens, ducks, and geese, etc. (Greenblatt, 1992). The agricultural revolution brought about a
gradual increase in population. Then another development helped expand population still more.
The technique of smelting iron innovated by Cushites. Iron working start and then advanced in
the Nile valley and then started to spread to other parts of Africa and from who, by way of Egypt
and Asian Minor, this art made its way into Europe and the rest of Old World. Iron greatly
improved the efficiency of tools and weapons. Iron tools and weapons are much stronger and last
longer than those made of stone or wood. Iron axes made it easier to chop tropical trees and clear
land for farming. Iron sickles made harvest easier. Iron hoes and other farm tools helped farmers
cultivate land more easily. Iron-tipped spears meant more meat. The new technologies boosted
the Cushite economy; they increased food production that enabled more people to survive. In
addition, iron objects became valuable items in Cushite trade and commercial activities. With his
simple bellows and a charcoal fire the Cushite blacksmith reduced the ore that is found in many
parts of the region and forged implements of great usefulness and beauty. In general, the Iron
technology was instrumental in auguring the rise and expansion of Cushite civilisation
(Greenblatt, 1992). Cushite hunters many times cut up game. There still exists for evidences,
drawings of animal bones, hearts and other organs. Those early drawings as a part of man’s early
beginnings in the field of Anatomy. The family, the clan, the tribe, the nation, the kingdom, the
state, humanity and charity all developed first in this region of the cradle of mankind. The family
relationships, which we have today, were fully developed and understood then. The clan and the
tribe gave group unity and strength. The nation, the common whole was first developed here. It
was by this people that early religious life, beliefs, and the belief in one God, the almighty started
and expanded. The first formal education of arts, science, astronomy, times and numbers
(mathematics) were visual, oral and spoken tradition given in the family, during social and
religious ceremonies. Parents, Medicine men, religious leaders, etc were the education heads.
Ceremonial Cushite ritual dances laid the basis for many later forms of the dance. Music existed
in early Cushite Among instruments used were: reed pipes, single-stringed instruments, drum,
goured rattles, blocks of wood and hollow logs. Many very good Cushite artists brought
paintings and sculpture into the common culture. The early Cushites made a careful study of
animal life and plant life. From knowledge of animals, mankind was able to take a long step
forward to cattle rising. From the knowledge of plants and how they propagate, it was possible to
take a still longer step forward to agriculture. Today, science has ways of dating events of long a
go. The new methods indicate that mankind has lived in Cushite Africa over two million years.
In that long, long time, Cushites and people of their descent settled in other parts of Africa and
the rest. Direct descents of early Cushites went Asia Minor, Arabia, India, China, Japan and East
Indies. Cushites and people of Cushite descents went to Turkey, Palestine, Greece and other
countries in Europe. From Gibraltar, they went into Spain, Portugal, France, England, Wales and
Ireland (Clarke, 1995). Considering this information, the pre-Colombian presence of Cushite
African mariners and merchants in the New World is highly conceivable and somewhat sounds.
In this context, the first Africans to be brought to the New World were not in servitude and
slavery, which contrary to popular creed. Tormenting references in the Spanish chronicles and
other growing body of historical studies advocate that Cushites were the founders, the pioneers
and first permanent settlers of America. Commanding authentication as in Bennett (1993, p. 85)
cited by Leo Veiner in his work Africa and the discovery of America suggests that African
traders founded Mexico long before Columbus. Hence, the Africans influences were extended
from Canada in the North to the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilisation in the South America. The
Cushite civilisation is therefore the basis of Indian civilisation. Unlike the western Sudan and in
Egypt, the people and nations of upper Nile had lost written records of their ancient times and
medieval history. These were destroyed and burned during war of conquests. The early travellers
to these areas are also mostly not yet known. Notable kingdoms, republics and states did rise in
this part of Africa and did achieve a high degree of civilisation of their time. Scholarly
undertakings show that Cushite Africans such as Oromos were the first in human history to
invent and implement democratic institutions (e.g. Gada system or Gadaa system), democratic
forms of government, elections and unwritten constitution. Democracy was first invented in
upper Nile Oromia then to Athens, Greek and to the rest. It was not the other way round. Gada,
an accomplishment of Oromian social genius in socio-political organisation is one of the most
complex, the world wonder and by far superior to so far other humanity’s social and political
imagination and civilisation. Gada in its vector of values constitutes, political institution, the
power structure, governing constitution, the ideology, the religion, the moral authority, the
economic and the whole way of life of the public, the collective, the social and the private
individual. Gada is the social civilization of the Oromo in the Nile civilization. Gada is an
atonishing and complex social evolution in human social transformation and an Oromo social
perfection. In old Egyptian (Cushite, oromo) dialect it means Ka Adaa. Ka means God. Adaa
(law). It means the law of God, the law of waaqa (God). It also symbolizes the dawn of not only
civilization but also human freedom as civilazation. ‘Gadaa bilisummaa saaqaa.’ Orthodox
historians and some archaeologists believe that the civilisation of Egypt is the oldest in the
world, while others give that priority to western Asia or India. It has also been suggested that,
since all these cultures possess certain points of similarity, all of them may evolve from an older
common civilisation. Men of eminent scholarship have acknowledged this possibility. In this
regard, Sir E.A. Wallis Budge (1934) indicated: “It would be wrong to say that the Egyptians
borrowed from the Sumerians or Sumerians from Egyptians, but it may be submitted that the
literati of both peoples borrowed their theological systems from common but exceedingly ancient
source… This similarity between the two companies of gods is too close to being accidental.” A
pioneer American Egyptologist, Breasted (1936) advanced the following views: “In both
Babylonian and Egypt the convenient and basic number (360), of fundamental importance in the
division of the circle, and therefore in geography, astronomy and time-measurement, had its
origin in the number of days in the year in the earliest known form of the calendar. While its use
seems to be older in Egypt than in Babylonian, there is no way to determine with certainty that
we owe it exclusively to either of these two countries. A common origin older than either of is
possible.” Sewell (1942) said that the science, which we see at the dawn of recorded history, was
not science at its dawn, but represents the remnants of the science of some great and as yet
untraced civilisation. Where, however, is the seat of that civilisation to be located?” A number of
scholars, both ancient and modern, have come to the conclusion that the world’s first civilisation
was created by the people known as Cushite (Oromian) and also known by Greeks as Punt
(Burnt Faces). The Greeks argued that these people developed their dark colouration since they
were adjacent to the sun than were the fairer natives of Europe. In terms of the sources of well-
informed modern authority, Herodotus describes the Cushites as in Lugard (1964) as: “ The
tallest, most beautiful and long-lived of the human races,’ and before Herodotus, Homer, in even
more flattering language, described them as ‘ the most just of men; the favourites of gods.’ The
annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them. The Mosaic records allude to
them frequently; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most
beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as black, and there seems to be no
other conclusion to be drawn, than that remote period of history the leading race of the western
world was the black race.” Alexander Bulatovich (2000, p.53) of Russia in his 1896-1898 travels
in Oromia described the Oromo, which is akin to Herodotus’s description as fallows: “The
[Oromo] physical type is very beautiful. The men are very tall, with statuesque, lean, with
oblong face and a somewhat flattened skull. The features of the face are regular and beautiful….
The mouth is moderate. The lips are not thick. They have excellent even teeth; large and in some
cases oblong eyes and curly hair. Their arm bones are of moderate length, shorter than the bones
of Europeans, but longer than among the Amhara tribes. The feet are moderate and not turned in.
The women are shorter than the men and very beautifully built. In general, they are stouter than
the men, and not as lean as they. Among them one sometimes encounters very beautiful women.
And their beauty does not fade as among the Abyssinians. The skin color of both men and
women ranges from dark to light brown. I did not see any completely black [Oromo].”
According to Homer and Herodotus, the Cushites were inhabited in the Sudan, Egypt, Arabia,
Palestine, present Ethiopia, Western Asia and India. In his essay of historical analysis of ancient
East Africa and ancient Middle East, roughly in the years between 500BC and 500AD. Jesse
Benjamin (2001), brought to our attention that the importance of research focus on global
formations, multi- and bi-directional and cultural relations, geopolitical associations,
archaeology, linguistics, sociology, cosmology, production, commerce and consumption patterns
of these regions. Benjamin (2001) indicates that historiographers have acknowledged and
documented that the adored spices, cinnamon (qarafaa in modern Afaan Oromo) and cassia of
the Mediterranean sphere produced and come from ‘Cinnamon land.’ The latter is also known in
different names as ‘ The other Barbaria,’ ‘Trogodytica,’ Cush, Kush, Upper Nile. or ‘Punt’ but
persistently representing the whole environs identified nowadays as the ‘Horn of African’ or that
part of Oromia. These show the presence of production, consumption and commercial
interactions in the regions. In line with Miller (1969), Wilding (1988), Benjamin (2001) included
the Oromian pastoralism, pottery, cosmology and culture in the antiquity and old world
civilisation. The identification of the Cushite Oromian civilisation with the present Abyssinia
Amhara-Tigre under the name of Ethiopia made by the post civilisation Abyssinian priests
translators of the Abyssinian version of the Bible in the 5th and 6th century or some other time,
has been a cheating and misrepresentation of true human history. Those Abyssinians who were
stealing the history were relatively recent migrant (conquerors) of the region. They occupied the
present day Northern Ethiopia (central Cushitic of Agau and Oromo) long after the first human
civilisation already originated and advanced in the area and spread to the rest of the world
including to Arabia and Mediterranean Europe. The native residents of the region are the Cushite
African people (Oromo, Agau, Somali, Sidama, Afar, Beja, Saho, etc). Ethiopian Jews (Falashas)
are also Cushite Oromo and Agau who accepted Jews religion. Abyssinian tribes have fabricated
their own myth and false history to claim legitimacy to the region and then established a regime
truth through continuos fable story, phantom, indoctrination and falsification of the real Cushite
history. Semitic immigrants did not found Aksum but the Abyssinians resettled among the
Cushites cities and commercial centres in which Aksum was one and latter dominated the ruling
power in this very centre of the civilisation of the central Cush. Ge’ez was invented as a
language of the centre and latter used as the official language of the church and the colonising
Abyssinian ruling class. Ge’ez was initially developed from the mixture of Cushitic and Greek
elements that was facilitated by the Cushite trade links to the Greek world. There was also Greek
resettlement in Aksum and the surrounding central Cush commercial towns with primary
contacts with endogenous Cushite. The earlier rulers of Aksum and Christian converts including
Ezana were Cushites. Though Ezana was the first convert from the above (the ruling class) to
Christianity, he did not give up his belief in one God (Waqa) (Cushite/ black God). He was also
not the first Cushite to be a Christian. In their linkages with a wider world, it is also highly likely
and very logical and possible that there were Christians among the civilian Cushite trading
communities who had already disseminated their new faith, as so many Oromo merchants were
to do latter in the expansion of Islam. The splendid Stella, towers of solid masonry, with non-
functional doors and windows at Aksum was not the earliest materialisation but it was the
continuity in the manifestation of major indigenous Cushite tradition of monumental architecture
in stone, which also later found expression in the rock-hewn churches of the Cushite Agau kings
(see also Isichei, 1997 for some of the opinions). Abyssinians were the rulers. They were not the
engineers and the builders of the stone monuments. It was the original product and brainchild of
Cushite technologist. Of course, their advancement was thwarted with the unfortunate coming of
the Abyssinians. Almost all of the original studies of the origin of Cushite civilisation could not
penetrate far deep into regions south east to Nubia (Mereo) and could not dig out the other side
of the twin, the close link and vast primary sources in present day Oromia. Though the British
Museum has collected vast sources on Nubian, it has not kept on or linked any to the sister and
more or less identical to the civilisation of the Oromo. For me, as native Oromo with knowledge
of oral history and culture, as I observed the Nubian collection in British Museum, what they say
Nubian collection is almost identical to Oromia, but in a less variety and quantity. I can say that
Nubian and other Cushite civilisations were extensions (grafts) of the vast products of Oromo. I
may also be enthused to the inference that the people whose manners and customs have been so
thoroughly capitulated by Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo Pliny and other were not Abyssinians and
other Black people at all, but the natives of Upper Nile, Oromos, Agau, Somalis, Afar and the
rest of Cushitic people of the present Horn of Africa. Sir Henry Rawlinson in his essay on the
early History of Babylonian describes Oromos as the purest modern specimens of the Kushite.
Thus, Oromo is Kush and Kush is Oromo. Seignobos (1910), in his scholarly works on the
history of Ancient Civilisation reasoned that the first civilised natives of the Nile and Tigiris-
Euphrates Valleys were a dark skinned people with short hair and prominent lips, they were
called Cushites by some scholars and Hamites by others. So Cushite (Hamite) is generally
recognised as the original home of human civilisation and culture both beyond and across the
Red Sea. They are the original source of both the African and Asiatic (Cushitic Arabian)
civilisation. Higgins in 1965 scholarly undertaking discusses: “I shall, in the course of this work,
produce a number of extraordinary facts, which will be quite sufficient to prove, that a black
race, in a very early times, had more influence of the affairs of the world than has been lately
suspected; and I think I shall show, by some very striking circumstances yet existing, that the
effects of this influence have not entirely passed away.” Baldwin in his 1869 study of Arab
history expressed in his own words the following: “At the present time Arabia is inhabited by
two distinct races, namely descendants of the old Adite, Kushite, …known under various
appellations, and dwelling chiefly at the south, the east, and in the central parts of the country,
but formerly supreme throughout the whole peninsula, and the Semitic Arabians- Mahomete’s
race- found chiefly in the Hejaz and at the north. In some districts of the country these races are
more or less mixed, and since the rise of Mahometanism the language of Semites, known as to us
Arabic, has almost wholly suppressed the old … Kushite tongue; but the two races are very
unlike in many respects, and the distinction has always been recognised by writers on Arabian
ethnology. To the Kushite race belongs the purest Arabian blood, and also that great and very
ancient civilisation whose ruins abound in almost every district of the country.” Poole (in
Haddon, 1934) says, “Assyrians themselves are shown to have been of a very pure type of
Semites, but in the Babylonians there is a sign of Kushite blood. … There is one portrait of an
Elmite king on a vase found at Susa; he is painted black and thus belongs to the Kushite race.”
The myths, legends, and traditions of the Sumerians point to the African Cushite as the original
home of these people (see. Perry, 1923, pp. 60-61). They were also the makers of the first great
civilisation in the Indus valley. Hincks, Oppert, unearthed the first Sumerian remains and
Rawlinson called these people Kushites. Rawlinson in his essay on the early history of
Babylonian presents that without pretending to trace up these early Babylonians to their original
ethnic sources, there are certainly strong reasons for supposing them to have passed from Cushite
Africa to the valley of the Euphrates shortly before the opening of the historic period: He is
based on the following strong points: The system of writing, which they brought up with them,
has the closest semblance with that of Egypt; in many cases in deed the two alphabets are
absolutely identical. In the Biblical genealogies, while Kush and Mizrain (Egypt) are brothers,
from Kush Nimrod (Babylonian) sprang. With respect to the language of ancient Babylonians,
the vocabulary is absolutely Kushite, belonging to that stock of tongues, which in postscript were
everywhere more or less, mixed up with Semitic languages, but of which we have with doubtless
the purest existing specimens in the Mahra of Southern Arabia and the Oromo.
The Greek alphabet, the script of English today, is based on the Kemetic alphabet of Ancient
Egypt/Kemet and the Upper Nile Valley of Ancient Africa. Ancient Egyptians called their words
MDW NTR, or ‘Metu Neter,” which means divine speech. The Greeks called it, ‘hieroglyphics”-
a Greek word. The etymology of hieroglyphics is sacred (hieros) carvings (glyph). The Oromos
(the Kemet of modern age) called it Qubee.

Without OROMO, NO Amhara Culture & NO Amharic! – My Beta Israel & Zagwe Roots pt1
Ras Iadonis

http://gadaa.com/oduu/11117/2011/09/28/gubaa-%e2%80%93-the-oromo-thanksgiving-
bonfire/#.ToQw3A0t84E.facebook

http://gadaa.com/oduu/797/2009/09/30/ethiopia-the-story-of-oromos-irreechaa-happy-
thanksgiving/

http://www.creative8studios.com/oromia/

http://bilisummaa.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=Waaqeeyfataa&article=446
http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/25-3/25-3-1.pdf

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/166451

http://www.gadaa.com/culture.html

http://www.gadaa.com/Irreechaa.html http://waaqeffannaa.org/?page_id=167

http://gadaa.com/oduu/10920/2011/09/10/irreechaa-a-thanksgiving-day-in-oromia-cushitic-
ethiopia-and-africa/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Central_Oromo_language
http://www.gadaa.com/language.html

http://www.voicefinfinne.org/English/Column/Galma_EOC.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamitic#Rwanda_and_Burundii

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1TM1ye/listverse.com/2008/08/29/15-fascinating-facts-about-
ancient-egypt/

https://encrypted.google.com/search?
q=old+egyptian+language&hl=en&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-
Address&rlz=1I7TSEA_en-GBGB333&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAESEgliBpRYQ9V-
mSHFuQO6grmBWQ&iact=hc&vpx=662&vpy=231&dur=16406&hovh=128&hovw=216&tx=
43&ty=214&ei=tnRJTsLpLIqXhQeyi7HCBg&page=9&tbnh=128&tbnw=186&ved=1t:722,r:10,
s:166&biw=1280&bih=599

http://oromocentre.org/oromian-story/special-report-on-the-long-history-of-north-east-africa/

African Philosophy in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Philosophical Studies II with A Memorial of Claude

Sumner http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/master-ethiopia.pdf

http://thetemplesofluxorandkarnak.wordpress.com/category/africa/
https://www.facebook.com/notes/abdi-muleta/the-story-of-irreechaa/257191284319586

CHALTU AS HELEN: AN EVERYDAY STORY OF OROMOS TRAUMATIC IDENTITY

CHANGE

http://oromoland.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/chaltu-as-helen-an-everyday-story-of-oromos-
traumatic-identity-change/

http://www.opride.com/oromsis/news/horn-of-africa/3718-chaltu-as-helen-an-everyday-story-of-
oromos-traumatic-identity-change

“Chaltu as Helen”, which is based on a novelized story of Chaltu Midhaksa, a young Oromo girl
from Ada’aa Barga district, also in central Oromia.

Born to a farming family in Koftu, a small village south of Addis Ababa near Akaki, Chaltu led
an exuberant childhood. Raised by her grandmother’s sister Gode, a traditional storyteller who
lived over 100 years, the impressionable Chaltu mastered the history and tradition of Tulama
Oromos at a very young age.

Chaltu’s captivating and fairytale like story, as retold by Tesfaye, begins when she was awarded
a horse named Gurraacha as a prize for winning a Tulama history contest. Though she maybe the
first and only female contestant, Chaltu won the competition by resoundingly answering eleven
of the twelve questions she was asked.

Guraacha, her pride and constant companion, became Chaltu’s best friend and she took a good
care of him. Gurraacha was a strong horse; his jumps were high, and Chaltu understood his pace
and style.

A masterful rider and an envy to even her male contemporaries, Chaltu soon distinguished
herself as bold, confident, outspoken, assertive, and courageous. For this, she quickly became a
household name among the Oromo from Wajitu to Walmara, Sera to Dawara, Bacho to Cuqala,
and Dire to Gimbichu, according to Tesfaye.
Chaltu traces her lineage to the Galan, one of the six clans of Tulama Oromo tribe. At the height
of her fame, admirers – young and old – addressed her out of respect as “Caaltuu Warra Galaan!”
– Chaltu of the Galan, and “Caaltuu Haadha Gurraacha!” – Chaltu the mother of Gurraacha.

Chaltu’s disarming beauty, elegance, charisma, and intelligence coupled with her witty
personality added to her popularity. Chaltu’s tattoos from her chin to her chest, easily noticeable
from her light skin, made her look like of a “Red Indian descent” (Tesfaye’s words).

As per Tesfaye’s account, there wasn’t a parent among the well-to-do Oromos of the area who
did not wish Chaltu betrothed to their son. At 14, Chaltu escaped a bride-kidnapping attempt by
outracing her abductors.

Chaltu’s grandfather Banti Daamo, a well-known warrior and respected elder, had a big family.
Growing up in Koftu, Chaltu enjoyed being surrounded by a large network of extended family,
although she was the only child for her parents.

Recognizing Chaltu’s potential, her relatives suggested that she goes to school, which was not
available in the area at the time. However, fearing that she would be abducted, Chaltu’s father
arranged her marriage to a man of Ada’aa family from Dire when she turned 15.

Locals likened Chaltu’s mannerism to her grandfather Banti Daamo, earning her yet another
nickname as “Caaltuu warra Bantii Daamo” – Chaltu of Banti Daamo. She embraced the
namesake because many saw her as an heir to Banti Daamo’s legacy, a role usually preserved for
the oldest male in the family. Well-wishers blessed her: prosper like your grandparents. She
embraced and proudly boasted about continuing her grandfather’s heritage calling herself Chaltu
Banti Daamo.

Others began to call her Akkoo [sic] Xinnoo, drawing a comparison between Chaltu and a
legendary Karrayu Oromo woman leader after whom Ankobar was named.

Chaltu’s eccentric life took on a different trajectory soon after her marriage. She could not be a
good wife as the local tradition and custom demanded; she could not get along with an alcoholic
husband who came home drunk and abused her.
When Chaltu threatened to dissolve the marriage, as per Oromo culture, elders intervened and
advised her to tolerate and reconcile with her husband. Rebellious and nonconformist by nature,
Chaltu, who’s known for challenging old biases and practices, protested “an alcoholic cannot be
a husband for Banti Daamo’s daughter!”

Soon she left her husband and moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, to attend formal
education and start a new chapter in life.

Trouble ensues.

In Addis Ababa, her aunt Mulumebet’s family welcomed Chaltu. Like Chaltu, Mulumebet grew
up in Koftu but later moved to Addis Ababa, and changed her given name from Gadise in order
to ‘fit’ into the city life.

Subsequently, Mulumebet sat down with Chaltu to provide guidance and advice on urban
[Amhara] ways.

“Learning the Amharic language is mandatory for your future life,” Mulumebet told Chaltu. “If
you want to go to school, first you have to speak the language; in order to learn Amharic, you
must stop speaking Afaan Oromo immediately; besides, your name Chaltu Midhaksa doesn’t
match your beauty and elegance.”

“I wish they did not mess you up with these tattoos,” Mulumebet continued, “but there is nothing
I could do about that…however, we have to give you a new name.”

Just like that, on her second day in Addis, Caaltuu warra Galaan became Helen Getachew.

Chaltu understood little of the dramatic twists in her life. She wished the conversation with her
aunt were a dream. First, her name Chaltu means the better one, her tattoos beauty marks.

She quietly wondered, “what is wrong with my name and my tattoos? How can I be better off
with a new name that I don’t even know what it means?”
Of course she had no answers for these perennial questions. Most of all, her new last name
Getachew discomforted her. But she was given no option.

The indomitable Chaltu had a lot to learn.

A new name, new language, new family, and a whole new way of life, the way of civilized
Amhara people. Chaltu mastered Amharic in a matter of weeks. Learning math was no problem
either, because Chaltu grew up solving math problems through oral Oromo folktale and
children’s games like Takkeen Takkitumaa.

Chaltu’s quick mastery amazed Dr. Getachew, Mulumebet’s husband. This also made her aunt
proud and she decided to enroll Chaltu in an evening school. The school matched Chaltu, who’s
never set foot in school, for fourth grade. In a year, she skipped a grade and was placed in sixth
grade. That year Chaltu passed the national exit exam, given to all sixth graders in the country,
with distinction.

But her achievements in school were clouded by a life filled with disappointments, questions,
and loss of identity. Much of her troubles came from Mulumebet packaged as life advice.

“Helen darling, all our neighbors love and admire you a lot,” Mulumebet told Chaltu one Sunday
morning as they made their way into the local Orthodox Church. “There is not a single person on
this block who is not mesmerized by your beauty…you have a bright future ahead of you as long
as you work on your Amharic and get rid of your Oromo accent…once you do that, we will find
you a rich and educated husband.”

Chaltu knew Mulumebet had her best interest at heart. And as a result never questioned her
counsel. But her unsolicited advises centered mostly on erasing Chaltu’s fond childhood
memories and making her lose touch with Oromummaa – and essentially become an Amhara.

Chaltu spent most of her free time babysitting Mulumebet’s children, aged 6 and 8. She took care
of them and the kids loved her. One day, while the parents were away, lost in her own thoughts,
Chaltu repeatedly sang her favorite Atetee – Oromo women’s song of fertility – in front of the
kids.
That night, to Chaltu’s wild surprise, the boys performed the song for their parents at the dinner
table. Stunned by the revelation, Mulumebet went ballistic and shouted, “Are you teaching my
children witchcraft?”

Mulumebet continued, “Don’t you ever dare do such a thing in this house again. I told you to
forget everything you do not need. Helen, let me tell you for the last time, everything you knew
from Koftu is now erased…forget it all! No Irreechaa, no Waaree, no Okolee, no Ibsaa, No
Atetee, and no Wadaajaa.”

Amused by his wife’s dramatic reaction, Getachew inquired, “what does the song mean, Helen?”
Chaltu told him she could not explain it in Amharic. He added, “If it is indeed about witchcraft,
we do not need a devil in this house…Helen, praise Jesus and his mother, Mary, from now on.”

“Wait,” Getachew continued, “did you ever go to church when you were in Koftu? What do they
teach you there?”

Chaltu acknowledged that she’s been to a church but never understood the sermons, conducted in
Amharic, a language foreign to her until now. “Getachew couldn’t believe his ears,” writes
Tesfaye. But Getachew maintained his cool and assured Chaltu that her mistake would be
forgiven.

Chaltu knew Atetee was not a witchcraft but a women’s spiritual song of fertility and safety. All
Oromo women had their own Atetee.

Now in her third year since moving to Addis, Chaltu spoke fluent Amharic. But at school, in the
market, and around the neighborhood, children bullied her daily. It was as if they were all given
the same course on how to disgrace, intimidate, and humiliate her.

“You would have been beautiful if your name was not Chaltu,” strangers and classmates, even
those who knew her only as Helen, would tell her. Others would say to Chaltu, as if in
compliment, “if you were not Geja (an Amharic for uncivilized), you would actually win a
beauty pageant…they messed you up with these tattoos, damn Gallas!”
Her adopted name and mastery of Amharic did not save Chaltu from discrimination, blatant
racism, hate speech, and ethnic slurs. As if the loss of self was not enough, seventh grade was
painfully challenging for Chaltu. One day when the students returned from recess to their
assigned classes, to her classmate’s collective amusement, there was a drawing of a girl with
long tattooed neck on the blackboard with a caption: Helen Nikise Gala – Helen, the tattooed
Gala. Gala is a disparaging term akin to a Nigger used in reference to Oromos. As Chaltu sobbed
quietly, their English teacher Tsige walked in and the students’ laughter came to a sudden halt.
Tsige asked the classroom monitor to identity the insulting graffiti’s artist. No one answered. He
turned to Chaltu and asked, “Helen, tell me who drew this picture?”

She replied, “I don’t know teacher, but Samson always called me Nikise Gala.”

Tsige was furious. Samson initially denied but eventually admitted fearing corporal punishment.
Tsige gave Samson a lesson of a lifetime: “Helen speaks two language: her native Afaan Oromo
and your language Amharic, and of course she is learning the third one. She is one of the top
three students in the class. You speak one language and you ranked 41 out of 53 students. I have
to speak to your parents tomorrow.”

Athletic and well-mannered, Chaltu was one of the best students in the entire school. But she
could not fathom why people gossiped about her and hurled insults at her.

Banned from speaking Afaan Oromo, Chaltu could not fully express feelings like sorrow,
regrets, fear and happiness in Amharic. To the extent that Mulumebet wished Chaltu would stop
thinking in Oromo, in one instance, she asked Chaltu to go into her bedroom to lament the death
of a relative by singing honorific praise as per Oromo custom. Chaltu’s break came one
afternoon when the sport teacher began speaking to her in Afaan Oromo, for the first time in
three years. She sobbed from a deep sense of loss as she uttered the words: “I am from Koftu, the
daughter of Banti Daamo.” Saying those words alone, which were once a source of her pride,
filled Chaltu with joy, even if for that moment.

Chaltu anxiously looked forward to her summer vacation and a much-needed visit to Koftu. But
before she left, Mulumebet warned Chaltu not to speak Afaan Oromo during her stay in Koftu.
Mulumebet told Chaltu, “Tell them that you forgot how to speak Afaan Oromo. If they talk to
you in Oromo, respond only in Amharic. Also, tell them that you are no longer Chaltu. Your
name is Helen.”

Getachew disagreed with his wife. But Chaltu knew she has to oblige. On her way to Koftu,
Chaltu thought about her once golden life; the time she won Gurracha in what was only a boys’
competition, and how the entire village of Koftu sang her praises.

Her short stay in Koftu was dismal. Gurraacha was sold for 700 birr and she did not get to see
him again. Chaltu’s parents were dismayed that her name was changed and that she no longer
spoke their language.

A disgruntled and traumatized Chaltu returns to Addis Ababa and enrolls in 9th grade. She then
marries a government official and move away from her aunt’s protective shield. The marriage
ends shortly thereafter when Chaltu’s husband got caught up in a political crosshair following
Derg’s downfall in 1991. Chaltu was in financial crisis. She refused an advice from acquintances
to work as a prostitute.

At 24, the once vibrant Chaltu looked frail and exhausted. The regime change brought some
welcome news. Chaltu was fascinated and surprised to watch TV programs in Afaan Oromo or
hear concepts like “Oromo people’s liberation, the right to speak one’s own language, and that
Amharas were feudalists.”

Chaltu did not fully grasp the systematic violence for which was very much a victim. She
detested how she lost her values and ways. She despised Helen and what it was meant to
represent. But it was also too late to get back to being Chaltu. She felt empty. She was neither
Helen nor Chaltu.

She eventually left Addis for Koftu and asked her parents for forgiveness. She lived a few
months hiding in her parent’s home. She avoided going to the market and public squares.

In a rare sign of recovery from her trauma, Chaltu briefly dated a college student who was in
Koftu for a winter vacation. When he left, Chaltu lapsed back into her self-imposed loneliness
and state of depression. She barely ate and refused interacting with or talking to anyone except
her mother.

One afternoon, the once celebrated Chaltu warra Galaan took a nap after a coffee break and
never woke up. She was 25.

The bottom line: Fictionalized or not, Chaltu’s is a truly Oromo story. Chaltu is a single
character in Tesfaye’s book but lest we forget, in imperial Ethiopia, generations of Chaltu’s had
to change their names and identity in order to fit in and be “genuine Ethiopians.” Until recently,
one has to wear an Amhara mask in order to be beautiful, or gain access to educational and
employment opportunities.

Likewise, in the Ethiopia of today’s “freedom of expression advocates” – who allegedly sought
to censor Tesfaye – it appears that a story, even a work of fiction, is fit to print only when it
conforms to the much-romanticized Ethiopianist storyline.

So much has changed since Chaltu’s tragic death a little over a decade ago, yet, clearly, much
remains the same in Ethiopia. Honor and glory to Oromo martyrs, whose selfless sacrifices had
allowed for me to transcribe this story, the Oromo today – a whole generation of Caaltuus – are
ready to own, reclaim, and tell their stories.

Try, as they might, the ever-vibrant Qubee generation will never be silenced, again.

Origins of the Afrocomb: Exhibition: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK; 2nd July – 3rd
November

Origins of the Afro Comb: 6,000 years of culture, politics and identity

http://www.gatewayforafrica.org/event/origins-afro-comb-6000-years-culture-politics-and-
identity?
__utma=1.1154313457.1380212922.1382522461.1382771276.8&__utmb=1.217.9.13827723519
01&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1382771276.8.5.utmcsr=royalafricansociety.us2.list-
manage.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/subscribe/confirm&__utmv=-
&__utmk=134257777&utm_content=buffer9ca97&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook
&utm_campaign=Buffer

Even today, a significant number of mainstream Egyptologists, anthropologists, historians and

Hollywood moviemakers continue to deny African people’s role in humankind’s first and
greatest civilization in ancient Egypt. This whitewashing of history negatively impacts Black
people and our image in the world. There remains a vital need to correct the misinformation of
our achievements in antiquity.

Senegalese scholar Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) dedicated his life to scientifically
challenging Eurocentric and Arab-centric views of precolonial African culture, specifically those
that suggested the ancient civilization of Egypt did not have its origins in Black Africa.

Since some people continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence that indicates ancient Egypt
was built, ruled, and populated by dark-skinned African people, Atlanta Blackstar will highlight
10 of the ways Diop proved the ancient Egyptians were Black.

Physical Anthropology Evidence

Based on his review of scientific literature, Diop concluded that most of the skeletons and skulls
of the ancient Egyptians clearly indicate they were Negroid people with features very similar to
those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and East Africa. He called
attention to studies that included examinations of skulls from the predynastic period (6000 B.C.)
that showed a greater percentage of Black characteristics than any other type.

From this information, Diop reasoned that a Black race existed in Egypt at that time and did not
migrate at a later stage as some previous theories had suggested.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/10/25/10-arguments-that-proves-ancient-egyptians-were-black/

”’ኦሮሞና ኦሮሚያ”’

የኦሮሞ ሕዝብ መሠረተ አመጣጥ ከኩሽ ቤተሰብ የሚመደብ ነዉ። በቆዳ ቀለሙና በአካላዊ አቋሙ ከሃሜቲክ እስከ ናይሎቲክ
ያጣቀሰ ዝርያ ያለዉ ሕዝብ መሆኑ ታሪክ አረጋግጦታል። በሰሜን ምሥራቅ አፍሪካ ከሚኖሩ ህዝቦች ጋር በብዙ መልኩ
ተመሳሳይነት ያለዉ ነዉ። በዚህ ክልል የሚኖሩ ሕዝቦች ታሪክ መመዝገብ ከጀመረበት ጊዜ አንስቶ የኩሽ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ
መሆናቸዉ ተረጋግጧል።

ኦሮሞ የኩሽ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ ብቻ አይደለም። ይልቁንም ይህ ሕዝብ በአህጉረ- አፍሪካ ቀደሚ ዜጋ ሆነዉ ከኖሩት ሕዝቦች
መካከል የመጀመሪያ መሆኑ ይታወቃል። በዚህ የረጅም ዘመናት ታሪኩ ውስጥ ለሥልጣኔዉ የሚሆኑ ባህሎችን እስከማዳበር
ደርሷል። ሊንች እና ሮቢንስ የሚባሉ ሁለት የዉጭ ምሁራን ሰሜናዊ ኬኒያ በተገኘዉ ጥንታዊ አምድ ላይ ከትጻፈዉ መረጃ
በመነሳት ኦሮሞዎች በ 3000 ዓመተ-ዓለም አካባቢ የራሳቸዉ የሆነ የቀን መቁጠሪያ እንደነበራቸዉ አረጋግጠዋል። ይህም
ሕዝቡ በዚሁ ክልል ለመኖሩ አንዱ ተጨባጭ ማስረጃ ነው።

ከሊንች እና ሮቢንሰም ሌላ ፕራዉቲ እና ሮሴንፊልድ የተባሉ የታሪክ ሊቃዉንት “Historical Dictionary of

Ethiopia” ኢንዲሁም ባትስ : “The Abyssinian Difficulty” በተባሉ ሥራዎቻቸው ; <> በማለት ይገልጻሉ።

የኦሮሞ ሕዝብ የምስራቅ አፍርካ (የአፍርካ ቀንድ) ቀዳሚ ቤተኛ ስለመሆኑ አያሌ ማስረጃዎች ኣሉ። ስለዚሁ ጉዳይ ታሪካዊ
ሰናዶች በብዛት ይገኛሉ። አባ ባህሬይ የተባሉ የአማራ ብሄር ተወላጅ የጋላ ታሪክ ብለው በሲዳሞና ከፋ ዉስጥ በመዘዋዋር
ስላ ኦሮሞ በፃፉት መጽሃፍ በጥላቻ የተሞሉና ትክክል ያል ሆኑ ታሪኮችን ለማሳተም በቅተዋል። ክራፍ በ 1842 ፥ ፍት
በ 1913 በክልሉ በመዘዋወር ኦሮሞ በምስራቅ አፍርካ ከሁሉም የላቀ ስፍት ያለዉ ሀገር ባለቤት መሆኑን አረጋግጠዋል ።

ከ 1850 በፊት ዲ. አባደ ቤክ፥ እስንባርገር ኢንዲሁም ክራፍ የተባሉ አዉሮፓዊያን ዘጎች የኦሮሞን ሕዝብ ፖለቲካዊ ፥
ባህላዊና ማህበራዊ አኗኗር ሥራዓት በማጥናት ለዉጭዉ ዓለም አስተዋዉቀወል። ከዚያም ወዲህ በተለይ ከ 18 ኛው መቶ
ክፍለ ዘመንና በኋላም ኦሮሚያ በአፄ ምንልክ ተወርራ የኢኮኖሚና የፖለቲካ ሥራዓቷን ከመነጠቋ በፊት ሲቺ የተባለ
ኢጣሊያዊ እንዲሁም በሬሊ ; እና ሶሌይሌት የተባሉ የፈረንሳይ ዜጎች በኦሮሚያ ህዝብ ፖለቲኮ-ባህላዊ; ኢኮኖሚያዊና
ማህበራዊ ታሪኮች ላይ ያተኮሩ ሥራዎችን አዘጋጅተዉ ለአንባቢያን አቅርበዋል።

ታሪካዊ ጥናቶች አንደሚያረጋግጡት ኦሮሞና ኢትዮጵያ ከ 16 ኛዉ እስከ 19 ኛው መቶ ክፍለ ዘመን አንዱም ሌላዉን አሸንፎ
በ ቁጥጥሩ ሥር ሳያደርግ ጎን ለጎን ሆነው ሲዋጉ መቆየታቸው ሆሎኮምብ እና ሲሳይ ኢብሳ በ 1900፥ ፕሮ. መሐመድ ሐሰን
በ 1990፥ ፕሮ. አሰፋ ጃላታ በ 1990፥ መሐመድ አሊ በ 1989፥ ሌቪን በ 1965 ፥ ገዳ መልባ በ 1978… ሥራዎቻቸዉ
ዉስጥ በስፋት አቅርበዋል። እንዲሁም ጄስማን የተባሉ ጸሐፊ ከ 50 ዓመታት በፊት ባሳተሙት መጽሓፍ ከአፄ ምንልክ
የደቡብ ወረራ በፊት የነበረችዉ ኢትዮጵያ በሰሜን ከፍታዎች አካባቢ መሆኑን ከመግለጻቸዉም በላይ ማአከሏም በሰሜን
ትግራይ ፥ በጌምድር ፥ ላስታና ወሎ ፥ በመሃል ጉራጌ ፥ በ ደቡብ ሸዋ ነው ያሉት ከላይ የተጠቀሱ ምሁራን ያ ቀረቡኣቸዉን
ቁም ነገሮች በተጨባጭ መልክኣ ምድራዊ ገጽታ የሚያረጋግጥ ሆኗል።

ጥንታዊቷ አበሲኒያ ቀደም ብሎ በተጠቀሱት ክልሎች ላይ ብቻ የተወሰንች ለመሆኗ አፄ ቴዎድሮስ ኢየሩሳሌም ሳሙኤል ጎባ
ለተባሉ የእንግሊዝ ጳጳስ በጻፉት ድብዳቤ ውስጥ ከጠቀሱትም ቁም ነገር መገንዘብ ይቻላል። እችሳቸውም:-
Copyright © The Oromianeconomist 2014 and Oromia Quarterly 1997-2014, all rights are
reserved. Disclaimer.

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Published in:

 Humanity and Social Civilization

 Language and Development
 Oromia
 Oromian
 Oromo
 Oromo Identity and Culture
 Oromo Nation
 Oromo Social System
 Qubee Afaan Oromoo
 Sirna Gadaa (Gadaa System)
 State of Oromia
 The Oromo Governance System

on September 26, 2014 at 2:32 pm  Leave a Comment  

Tags: Africa and America, African Conditions, African Culture, African Diaspora, African
History, African Studies, Afro Combo, Ancient Africa, Ancient People, Ancient Writing System,
Awash Valley, Berbers, Black British, Black Latin America, Cushite, Cushitic (Kushitic)
languages, Dhidheessaa, East African Rift Valley, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fulani, Gadaa System,
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Nile

Mammaaksa Oromoo & the Making of African Philosophy: Converting Knowledge to

Wisdom in Traditional African Oromo Society

Mammaaks tokko dubbii fida tokko dubbii fixa. 

One proverb gives rise to a point of discussion and another ends it.
Malli garaa sijira bokkuun arka sijira. 
Wisdom is in your mind, “bokkuu” is in your hand.
True Knowledge is wisdom.  The Oromo value wisdom to the highest degree: ‘Rather than to be
kissed  by foolish man, I prefer to slapped by  a wise man.’ How is true knowledge acquired?
The Oromo proverbs  answers: By inference, by study, through suffering, by moulding another
person, by heart. ‘  One who does not  understand  an inference  will never  understand  the thing
as it is.. …  But the great school of knowledge is  experience, long life and old age. … The
Oromo proverb  offers  no definition of  knowledge; they are not interested so much in nature of
knowledge  as the type of knowledge  they propose  as  a model for  man-in-society, and  it is
clearly  a knowledge  obtained through  experience through proximity  to the object, as ‘the calf
is known by the enclosure to have become a bull.’ See   Claud Summer, Ph.D., Dr.h.c (1995),
Oromo Wisdom Literature,  Volume I , Proverbs Collection and Analysis.

The traditional Oromo society has been predominately in oral literate. Thus, in all aspects of
their life, orality

prevails. Historical, cultural, and political pieces of information go across generations and among
the people mainly oral. Information is transmitted from father to son and from person to person
in common sayings, folktales, proverbs, oral poetry, riddles etc. Mammaksaa (proverbs) are also
used as a medium of transmission of socio- cultural information (Customs, beliefs, norms, moral
codes etc.) from elders to the youth and among the people in the present times.

Mammaaksaa ( proverbs) are considered to be the wit and wisdom of elderly people. They are
mainly uttered by elders. In other words, conversations among elders in any occasion are rich in
proverbial sayings. Thus, the use of proverbs is more frequent in social and cultural occasions
where participants are elderly people. The study of Gujii Oromo demonstrates that:

In the contexts of Ebbisaa, elders utter proverbs to each other. Two or more elders may use
proverbs in a rapid succession in conversations. In such contexts, the speaker may not give
elaborations or explanations of the meanings of proverbs. This is because, all participants in such
conversations are elderly people; therefore, are expected to be conversant with the linguistic and
cultural information required to understand the meanings of the proverbs. Sometimes, an elder
calls attention of listeners (attendants) to a proverb performance by using phrases like mee
nadhagay (listen to me), Kun dhuga(this is true) e.t.c and another elder validates the
performance by restating the proverb or quoting another proverb with similar meaning.
However, in the contexts of Gumii Ganda, elders utter proverbs to those younger than them.
Here, two or more elderly people speak to a younger person with the purpose of informing,
admonishing, encouraging, praising criticizing, advising him/her. In this situation, proverbs
appear at widely separated intervals; their meanings and their relevance to a topic of discussion
are usually made clear. See http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?
q=cache:http://etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/bitstream/123456789/588/1/TADESSE%2520JALETA.pdf

Makmaaksa Oromoo (Oromo proverbs):

Abba hin qabdu akaakyuuf boochi

Abbaa iyyu malee ollaan namaa hin birmatu
Abbaan damma nyaateef ilma hafaan hin mi’aawu
Abbaatu of mara jedhe bofti hantuuta liqimsee
Abjuun bara beelaa buddeena abjoota
Addaggeen hamma lafa irra ejjettu nama irra ejjetti
Afaan dubbii bare bulluqa alanfata
Afaan gaariin afaa gaarii caala
Afaanii bahee gooftaa namaa ta’a
Akka madaa qubaa, yaadni garaa guba
Akka abalun sirbaan boquu nama jallisa
Akkuma cabannitti okkolu
Akukkuun yeroo argate dhakaa cabsa
Alanfadhuuti gara fira keetti garagalii liqimsi
ama of komatu namni hin komatu
Amartiin namaa hin taane quba namaa hin uriin
Ana haa nyaatuun beela hin baasu
Ani hin hanbifne, ati hin qalbifne
arrabni lafee hin qabdu lafee nama cabsiti
Asiin dhihoon karaa nama busha
“Aseennaa natu dide, kennaa warratu dide otoo nabutanii maal ta’a laata”,jette intalli haftuun
Badduun fira ishee yoo hamattee, baddubaatuun niiti ishee hamatti
Bakkka oolan irra bakka bulan wayya
Bakka kufte osoo hin taane, bakka mucucaatte bari
Balaliitee balaliite allaattiin lafa hin hanqattu
Bara dhibee bishaan muka namatti yaaba
Bara bofti nama nyaate lootuun nama kajeelti!!
Bara fuggisoo harreen gara mana, sareen gara margaa

Barri gangalata fardaati

Beekaan namaa afaan cufata malee hulaa hin cufatu
Biddeena nama quubsu eelee irratti beeku
Billaachi otoo ofii hin uffatiin dhakaatti uffisti
Bishaan gu’a gahe nama hin nyaatiin, namni du’a gahe si hin abaariin
Bishaan maaltu goosa jennaan waan achi keessa jiru gaafadhu jedhe
Bishingaan otoo gubattuu kofalti
Boru hin beekneen qad-bukoon ishee lama
Boftii fi raachi hanga ganni darbutti wal faana jiraattu
Bulbuluma bulbuli hangan dhugu anuu beeka
Buna lubbuuf xaaxa’u warri naa tolii kadhatu
Cabsituun tulluu amaaraatiin giraancee jetti
Citaan tokko luqqaasaniif manni hin dhimmisu
Dabeessa uleen (jirmi) shani
Daddaftee na dhungateef dhirsa naa hin taatu jette sanyoon
Dawaa ofii beekan namaa kudhaamu
Deegan malee waqayyo hin beekani
dhalli namaa otoo nyaattu diida laalti
Dhirsi hamaan maaf hin nyaatiin jedha niitii dhaan
Dhirsaa fi niitiin muka tokko irraa muramu
Dugda hin dhungatan, hunda hin dubbatani
Durbaa fi jiboota garaa gogaa lenjisu
Iyyuuf bakkeen naguma, dhiisuuf laphee na guba
Dhuufuun waliin mari’atanii dhuufan hin ajooftu
Diimina haaduun nyaatani,diimaa arrabaan nyaatu
Dinnichi bakka gobbitetti hordaa cabsiti
Doqnaa fi garbuu sukkuumanii nyaatu
Du’aan dhuufaa jennaan kan bokoke dhiisaa jedhe
Dubbii baha hin dhorkani galma malee
Dubbii jaarsaa ganama didanii galgala itti deebi’ani
Duulli biyya wajjinii godaansa
Eeboo darbatanii jinfuu hin qabatani
Edda waraabessi darbee sareen dutti
Fagaatan malee mi’aa biyyaa hin beekani
Farda kophaa fiiguu fi nama kophaa himatu hin amaniin
Firri gara firaa jennaan kal’een gara loonii jette
Foon lafa jira allaatti samii irraa wal lolti
foon lakkayi jennaan rajijjin tokko jedhe
fokkisaan nama qabata malee nama hin kadhatu
Fuula na tolchi beekumsi ollaa irraa argamaa jette intalli

Gama sanaa garbuun biile (asheete) jennan warra sodaanne malee yoom argaa dhabne jedhe
jaldeessi
Gaangeen abbaan kee eenyu jennaan eessumni koo farda jette
Gaangoonn haada kutte jennaan oftti jabeessite jedhani
Gabaan fira dhaba malee nama dhabinsa hin iyyitu
Galaanni bakka bulu hin beekne dhakaa gangalchee deema
Gaalli yoom bade jennaan, gaafa morma dheeratu bade
Gamna gowomsuun jibba dabalachuu dha
Ganaman bahani waaqa jalaahin bahani
Gara barii ni dukkanaa’a
Garaa dhiibuu irra miila dhiibuu wayya
Garbittii lubbuuf walii gadi kaattu, warri qophinaafi se’u
Jaalalli allaatti gara raqaatti nama geessa
Gaashatti dhuufuun daalattii dha
Gogaa duugduun yoo dadhabdu saree arisaa kaati
Gola waaqayyoo itti nama hidhe lookoo malee ijaajju
Goomattuuf goommanni hin margu
Goondaan walqabattee laga ceeti
Gowwaa wajjin hin haasa’iin bakka maleetti sitti odeessa, karaa jaldeesaa hin hordofiin halayyaa
nama geessa
Gowwaan ballessaa isaa irraa barat, gamni balleessaa gowwaa irraa barata
Gowwaan bishaan keessa ijaajjee dheebota
Gowwaan gaafa deege nagada
Gubattee hin agarre ibiddatti gamti
Guulaa hin bitiin jiilaa biti
Gowwaa kofalchiisanii, ilkee lakawu
Gowwaa fi bishaan gara itti jallisan deemu
Haadha gabaabduu ijoolleen hiriyaa seeti
haadha laalii intala fuudhi
Haadha yoo garaa beekan ilmoo jalaa qabani
Halagaa ilkaan adii, halangaan isaa sadi
Hanqaaquu keessa huuba barbaada
Haati ballaa (suuloo) ya bakkalcha koo jetti
Haa hafuun biyya abbaa ofiitti nama hanbisa
Haati hattuun intala hin amantu
Haati hattuun intala hin amantu
Haati kee bareeddi jennaan, karaa kana dhufti eegi jedhe
Habbuuqqaa guddinaaf hin quufani
Hagu dhiba jette sareen foksoo nyaatte
Hagu dhiba jette sareen foksoo nyaattee
Halagaa gaafa kolfaa fira gaafa golfaa
Hantuunni hadha ishee jalatti gumbii uruu bartii
Harka namaatiin ibidda qabaa hin sodaatani
Harki dabaruu wal dhiqxi
Harkaan Gudunfanii, Ilkaaniin Hiikkaa Dhaqu
Harree ganama badee, galgala kur-kuriin hin argitu
Harree hin qabnu, waraabessa wajjin wal hin lollu
Kan harree hin qabne farda tuffata
Harreen nyaattu na nyaadhu malee bishaan ol hin yaa’u jette waraabessaan
Harreen yoo alaaktu malee yoo dhuuftu hin beektu
Hidda malee xannachi hin dhiigu
Hidda mukaa lolaan baaseetu, hidda dubbii farshoo (jimaa)n baase
Hidhaa yoo tolcha, gadi garagalchanii baatu

hin guddattuu jennaan baratu dhumee jedhe

Hiriyaa malee dhaqanii gaggeessaa malee galu
hiyyeessaf hin qalani kan qalame nyaata
Hoodhu jennaan diddeetu lafa keenyaan hatte
Hoolaan abbaa abdatte, diboo duuba bulchiti
Hoolaan gaafa morma kutan samii(waaqa) arkiti
Ija laafettiin durbaa obboleessaf dhalti
Ijoollee bara quufaa munneen ibidda afuufa
Ijoollee hamtuun yoo nyaataaf waaman ergaaf na waamu jettee diddi
Ijoolleen abaa ishee dabeessa hin seetu
Ijoolleen quufne hin jett, garaatu na dhukube jetti malee
Ijoolleen quufne hin jettu beerri fayyaa bulle hin jettu
Ijoolleen niitii fuute gaafa quuftu galchiti
Ijoollee qananii fi farshoo qomocoraa warratu leellisa
Ijoollee soressaa dhungachuun gabbarsuu fakkaatti
Ilkaan waraabessaa lafee irratti sodaatu
Ilmi akkoon guddiftu dudda duubaan laga ce’a
Intalli bareedduun koomee milaatiin beekamti
Intallii haati jajju hin heerumtu
Itti hirkisaan kabaa hin ta’u
Ittiin bulinnaa sareen udaan namaa nyaatti
Jaamaan boru ijji keen ni banamti jennaan, edana akkamitin arka jedhe
Jaarsi dhukuba qofaa hin aaduu, waan achisutu garaa jira
Jaarsii fi qalqalloon guutuu malee hin dhaabatu
Jabbiin hootu hin mar’attu
Jaalalli jaldeessa yeroo fixeensaa garaa jalatti, yeroo bokkaa dugda irratti nama baatti
Jaalala keessa adurreen ilmoo nyaatti
Jaalalli allaatti gara raqaatti nama geessa
Jarjaraan re’ee hin horu
Jarjaraan waraabessaa gaafa ciniina
Jibicha korma ta’u elmaa irratti beeku
Jiraa ajjeesuun jalaa callisuu dha
Kadhatanii galanii weddisaa hin daakani
Kan abbaan gaafa cabse halagaan gatii cabsa

Kan abbaan quba kaa’e oromi(namni, halagaan) dhumdhuma kaa’a

Kan afaanii bahee fi kan muccaa bahehin deebi’u
Kan bishaaan nyaate hoomacha qabata
Kan citaa qabaa tokko namaa hin kennine mana bal’isii gorsiti
Kan dandeessu dhaan jennaan gowwaan galee nitii dhaane Adaamiin ollaa hagamsaa jiru bara
baraan boo’aa jiraata
Kan gabaa dhagahe gowwaan galee niitii dhokse
Kan hanna bare dooluutu sosso’a
Kan hordaa natti fiiges, kan haaduun natti kaates bagan arge jette saani du’uuf edda fayyitee
booda
Kan humnaan lafaa hin kaane yaadaan Sudaanitti nagada
Kan ilkaan dhalchu kormi hin dhalchu
Kan namni nama arabsi irr, kan abbaan of arabsutu caala
Kan of jaju hin dogoggoru

kan qabuuf dabali jennaan harreen laga geesse fincoofte

Kan quufe ni utaala, kan utaale ni caba
Kan tolu fidi jennaan, sidaama biyya fide
Kan tuffatantu nama caala, kan jibbanitu nama dhaala
Kan tuta wajjin hin nyaanne hantuuta wajjin nyaatti
Kan waaqni namaa kaaße cululleen hin fudhattu
Karaa foolii nun hin jedhani jette wacwacoon
Karaan baheef maqaan bahe hin deebi’u
Karaan sobaan darban, deebi’iitti nama dhiba
Karaa dheeraa milatu gabaabsa, dubbii dheeraa jaarsatu gabaabsa
Karaa fi halagaatu gargar nama baasa
Keessummaan waan dhubbattu dhabde mucaa kee harma guusi jetti
Keessummaan lolaa dha abbaatu dabarfata
Keessa marqaa boojjitootu beeka
Kijiba baranaa manna dhugaa bara egeree wayya
Kokkolfaa haati goota hin seetu
Kormi biyya isaatti bookkisu biyya namaatti ni mar’ata
Kursii irra taa’anii muka hin hamatani
Lafa rukuchuun yartuu ofiin qixxeessuu dha
Lafa sooriin du’e baataatu garmaama
Lafaa fuudhuutti ukaa nama bu’a

Lafti abdatan sanyii nyaatee namni abdatan lammii nyaate

Laga marqaa jennaan ijoolleen fal’aanaan yaate
Lama na hin suufani jette jaartiin qullubbii hattee
Leenci maal nyaata jennaan, liqeeffatte jedhe, maal kanfala jennaan, eenyu isa gaafata jedhe
Lilmoon qaawwaa ishee hin agartu, qaawwaa namaa duuchiti
Lukkuun(hindaaqqoon) haatee haateealbee ittiin qalan baafti
Maa hin nyaatiin jedha dhirsi hamaan
Maal haa baasuuf dhama raasu
Mammaaksi tokko tokko dubbii fida tokko tokko dubbii fida
Mana haadha koon dhaqa jettee goraa bira hin darbiin
Mana karaa irra kessumaatu itti baayyata
Manni Abbaan Gube Iyya Hin Qabu
Maraataa fi sareen mana ofii hin wallalani
Maraatuun jecha beektu, waan jettu garuu hin beektu
Marqaa afuufuun sossobanii liqimsuufi
Marqaan distii badaa miti, irri ni bukata, jalli ni gubata
Marxoon otoo fiiganii hidhatan otuma fiiganii nama irraa bu’a
Mataa hiyyaassaatti haaduu baru
Midhaan eeguun baalatti hafe
Mucaa keetiin qabii mucaa koo naa qabi jettehaati mucaa
Muka jabana qabu reejjiitti dhibaafatu
Morkii dhaaf haaduu liqimsu
Nama foon beeku sombaan hin sobani
Namni akka fardaa nyaatu, gaafa akka namaa nyaate rakkata
Namni beela’e waan quufu hin se’u
Namni dhadhaa afaan kaa’an, dhakaa afaan nama kaa’a
Namni gaafa irrechaa duude, sirba irreechaa sirbaa hafa
Namni guyyaa bofa arge halkan teepha dheessa
Namni hudduu kooban galannii isaa dhuufuu dha
Namni mana tokko ijaaru citaa wal hin saamu
Namni nama arabsu nama hin faarsu
Namni badaan bakka itti badutti mari’ata
Namni gabaabaan otoo kabaja hin argatiin du’a
Namni qotiyyoo hin qabne qacceen qalqala guutuu dha
Nama kokkolfaa nama miidhuu fi bokkaan aduu baasaa roobu tokko
Niitiin dhirsaaf kafana
Niitiin marii malee fuudhan marii malee baati
Niitiin afaan kaa’aami’eeffatte yoo kabaluuf jedhan afaan banti
Nitaati jennaan harree qalle, hin tatuu jennaan harree ganne, qoricha jennaan isuma iyyuu
dhaqnee dhabne
Obboleessa laga gamaa mannaa gogaa dugduu(faaqqii) ollaa ofii wayya
Obsaan aannan goromsaa dhuga
Obsan malee hn warroomani
Ofii badanii namaa hin malani
Of jajjuun saree qarriffaan udaani
Ofi iyyuu ni duuti maaliif of huuti
Ofii jedhii na dhugi jedhe dhadhaan
Okolee diddu okkotee hin diddu
Ollaa araban jira akkamittin guddadha jette gurri
Ollaan akkam bultee beeka, akkatti bule abbaatu beeka
Ollaafi garaan nama hin diddiin
Ollaa fi kateen nama xiqqeessiti
Ol hin liqeessiin horii keetu badaa, gadi hin asaasiin hasa’aa keetu bushaa’a
Otoo beeknuu huuba wajjin jette sareen
Otoo garaan tarsa’e jiruu, darsa tarsa’eef boossi
Otoo farda hin bitiin dirree bite
Otoo fi eegeen gara boodaati
Otoo garaan dudda duuba jiraate, qiletti nama darbata
Otoo sireen nama hin dadhabiin tafkii fi tukaaniin nama dadhabdi
Qaalluun kan ishee hin beektu kan namaa xibaarti
Qaban qabaa hin guunnee gad-lakkisan bakkee guutti
Qabbanaa’u harkaan gubnaan fal’aanan
Qabanootuharkaa, hoo’itu fal’aanaan
Qabeenyi fixeensa ganamaati
Qalloo keessi sibiila
Qalladhu illee ani obboleessa eebooti jette lilmoon
qaaqeen yoo mataan ishee marge bade jetti
Qarri lama wal hin waraanu
Qeesiinwaaqayyoo itti dheekkam, daawwitii gurgurtee harree bitatte
Qoonqoon darbu, maqaa hin dabarre nama irra kaa’a
Qoonqoon bilchina eeggattee, qabbana dadhabde
Qorichaofii beekan namaa kudhaamu
Qotee bulaa doofaan, miila kee dhiqadhu jennaa, maalan dhiqadha borus nan qota jedhe
Qurcii dhaan aboottadhu jennaan, qophoofneerra jedhe
Raadni harree keessa ooltedhuufuu barattee galti
Sa’a bonni ajjeese ganni maqaa fuudhe
Saddetin heerume jarjarrsaa akka baranaa hin agarre jette jaartiin, salgaffaa irratti waraabessi
bunnaan
Salphoo soqolatte soqolaa gargaaru
Saree soroobduun afaan isheef bukoo ykn. dudda isheef falaxaa hin dhabdu
Sabni namatti jiguu irra gaarri (tulluun) namatti jiguu wayya
Sareen duttu nama hin ciniintu
Sanyii ibiddaa daaraatu nama guba
Sareen warra nyaattuuf dutti
Seenaa bar dhibbaa baruuf bardhibba jiraachuun dirqama miti
Shanis elmamu kudhanis, kan koo qiraaciitti jette adurreen
Sirbituu aggaammii beeku
Sii uggum yaa gollobaa, anaafoo goommani ni dorroba inni gurr’uu soddomaa jette jaartiin horii
ishee gollobaan fixnaan
Sodaa abjuu hriba malee hin bulani
Soogidda ofiif jettu mi’aayi kanaachi dhakaa taata
Sombaaf aalbee hin barbaadani
Suphee dhooftuun fayyaa gorgurtee, cabaatti nyaatti
Taa’anii fannisanii dhaabatanii fuudhuun nama dhiba
Takkaa dhuufuun namummaa dh, lammmeessuun harrummaadha
Tikseen dhiyootti dhiifte fagootti barbaacha deemti
Tiksee haaraan horii irraa silmii buqqisaa oolti
Tokko cabe jedhe maraataan dhakaa gabaatti darbatee
tokko kophee dhabeetu booha, tokko immoo miila dhabee booha
Tufani hin arraabani
Udaan lafatti jibban funyaan nama tuqa
Ulee bofa itti ajjeesan alumatti gatu
Ulee fi dubbiin gabaabduu wayya
Ulfinaa fi marcuma abbaatu of jala baata
Waa’een garbaa daakuu fi bishaani
Waan ergisaa galu fokkisa
Waan jiilaniin kakatu
Waan kocaan kaa’e allaattiin hin argu
Waan namaa kaballaa malee hin quufani
Waan samii bu’e dacheen baachuu hin dadhabu
Waan uffattu hin qabdu haguuggatee bobbaa teessi
Waan warri waarii hasa’aan, Ijoolen waaree odeesiti
Wadalli harree nitii isaa irraa waraabessa hin dhowwu
Wal-fakkaattiin wal barbaaddi
Wali galan, alaa galan
Wallaalaan waan beeku dubbata, beekaan waan dubbatu beeka
Waaqaaf safuu jette hindaaqqoon bishaan liqimsitee
Warra gowwaa sareen torba
Waraabessi bakka takkaa nyaatetti sagal deddeebi’a
Waraabessi biyya hin beekne dhaqee gogaa naa afaa jedhe
Waraabessi waan halkan hojjete beekee guyyaa dhokata
Yaa marqaa si afuufuun si liqimsuufi
Yoo ala dhiisan mana seenan, yoo mana dhiisan eessa seenan
Yoo boora’e malee hin taliilu
Yoo ejjennaa tolan darbatanii haleelu
Yoo iyyan malee hin dhalchanii jedhe korbeesi hoolaa kan re’eetiin
Yoo suuta ejjetan qoreen suuta nama waraanti
yoo dhaqna of jaalatan fuula dhiqatu
Yoo namaa oogan eelee jalatti namaa marqu
yoo ta’eef miinjee naa taata jette intalli

Qawwee dhufe dubbin dhufe

When an Amhara came, a problem came
Yaraadha jennaan kan nadheen dhiitu.
A bad man is he who kicks a woman.
Abbaan waraanaa dubbii waaraana dubbata. 
A leader of war talks about war.
Olkaa’an fuudhan malee olka’an hinfudhan. 
One takes tomorrow what he/she puts by today.
Mataa malee balbala hinbaan. 
Head goes through a door before the other parts of the body.
Mana ofii dhakaa itti baatan. 
One carries a stone in his home.
Nama duloometu waa hima. 
It is an elderly person who tells something.
Nama dubbiin nama dhibe cal’dhisan dhiban. 
When a person troubles you with a disappointing word, trouble him with silence.
Beekaan afaan cufata malee balbala hincufatu. 
A wise man shuts his mouth, but not his door.
Kan suuta deemu qoraatiin suuta seent.
A thorn slowly gets into the body of a person who walks slowly.
Dhugaan ganama huqqattee galgala gabbatti.
Truth looks thin in the morning but grows fat in the evening.
Dhugaan niqallatti malee hincabdu. 
Although it is thin, truth doesn’t break.
Cubbuun dura furdifte booda qallisti. 
Sin makes someone plump at first and emaciated later.
Cubbuun takka tratii takka dhaqabdi.
Sin goes slowly but reaches timely.
Nama abbaa jedhaniin obboo hinjedhan. 
One doesn’t call someone “brother” after he has called him “father”.
Nama sobatanu hinsobanu. 
One doesn’t lie to a person he/she likes.
Durba qaban qabaa qaddi.
Abusing a girl is calling for a problem.
Mukiti Lubbu, lubbuu hinuban. 
Trees are life, one doesn’t harm life.
Qoosa ilaa jettee ballan.
Don’t be careless to an eye said a blind person.
Garibicha lubbuuf dheechu, Ormi jabina jaja. 
While a slave runs to save his life, observers appreciate his strength.
Bultiin bultuma akka itti bule abbaatu beeka. 
Life appears to be similar, but only individuals know how they live.
Namni iyyoome takka lafa reeba, takka nama reeba. 
A poor person, sometimes beats the ground, and at other times persons.
Okkoteen Waaqa hinbeekne eelee bishan kadhatti.
A pot that doesn’t know God, begs “eelee”∗ for water.
Madaan hiyyeessaa madaa bineensaati. 
The wound of a poor person is the wound of a beast.
Maali maqnee” jette sareen jaamaa sagal dhalte. 
“What’s our sin” said a bitch after giving birth to nine blind pups.
Garaan gadde imimmaan hinqusatu. 
A sad heart never lacks tear.
Manni abbaan gube abbaa hube. 
A house burnt by its owner harms the owner himself.
Dhibeen finyaan qabe hidhii hinanqatu. 
A disease that has infected the nose doesn’t fail to reach the lips.
Nama gurraan du’erra nama lubbuun du’e wayya. 
A person who lost his life is better than a person whose name is
spoiled.
Namin ulfina hinbenne ulfina hinfedhu. 
A person who doesn’t know the value of respect doesn’t need respect.
Of beektuun sooda lagatti.
A boastful person abstains from salt.
Odeessaan oduu yakka dhuufuun hirriba yakka. 
A talkative person distorts information as fart disrupts sleep.
Namin ofiif hintolle ormaaf hintolu. 
A person who can’t help himself can’t help others.
Odoo kolfatuu ulfooftee gaafa daya booche. 
She conceived while laughing and cried during labour.
“Waan hinjirree hinjirtu,”jedhan.
It is said, “nothing is new”.
Warri Badu Walhinbadadu. 
A discordant family doesn’t care for its members.
Warri horu wallirra hingoru. 
Members of a concordant family care for each other.
Dubbiin dubbii fida. 
A vicious word gives rise to another vicious word.
Madaa hamtuu fayyan malee jecha hamtuu hinfayyan. 
Bad wound does heal but bad word doesn’t.
Namin nama abaaru nama hinfaarsu. 
A person with scoffing tongue doesn’t praise.
Allaatiin waan lafaaf lafatti waliloolt.
Hawks quarrel on the ground for something on the ground.
Bubbeef bara hamaa guguufan bayani.
One goes by wind and hard time by bowing down.
Baraaf furgugoo gadijedhan dabarfatan. 
One lets the passage of time and furgugoo (a thrown stick) by bowing
down.
Bara Baraan dabarsan. 
A time passes after a time.
Keessummaan akka warri bulutti bulti. 
A guest sleeps in a manner the host sleeps.
Madda bu’anii Jiidha hinlagatan. 
After coming to stream, exposing oneself to damp is inevitable.
Lafa ilaalanii muka dhaabani. 
One plants a tree after observing the ground.
Karaaf dubbii arganuu dhiisan. 
One turns back from road and dubbii (abnormal speech) observing them.
Karaa malee deemuun laga nama bulcha.
Going on a wrong way makes someone face a problem.
areen qaroon untee qadaaddi. 
A wise dog covers a container after drinking what it contains.
Waraana jannatti dheessanii dubbii qarootti dheesssanii.
As war is prevented by a patriot; a problematic case is solved by a
wise man.
Hantuunni boolla lamaa daftee hinduutu. 
A rat, which has two holes, lives long.
Kan farade dhabe harreen garmaama. 
Someone who doesn’t have a horse rides on a donkey.
Aanaan reeffatti aana. 
A person stays close to a dead body of his relative.
Ollaaf aduutti gadi bahan. 
One comes out to the sun and his neighbour.
Ballaan fira qabu ila qaba. 
A blind person who has relatives can see.
Kophaa dhiqanii xurii hinbaasan. 
By washing alone, one can’t avoid dirt.
Kophaa nyaattuun qophaa duuti. 
A person who eats alone dies alone.
Harki nyaate nama hinnyaatu. 
A hand that has been helped doesn’t refuse to help others.
Harkaan harka fuudhan. 
One receives a hand by his hand.
Nama jaalatan bakka rafisan hindhaban.
One doesn’t lack a bed for a person whom he loves.
Laga malee garaan walittinyaa’u. 
Without a course, hearts may not come to each other.
Marii’ atan malee maraatan biyya hinbulchan. 
It is possible to administer people by discussion but not by force.
Warri marii qabu dibicha qalata warri marii hinqanne raadaa
qalata. 
A concordant family slaughter a young bull while a discordant
one slaughters a heifer.
Nama mannatti walii galetuu alaa waliin gala. 
People who agree with each other at home can come back
home together.
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Mammaaksota Dubartootaa Oromoo

1.     Heeruma dharraanee(hawwinee) heerumnaan rarraane (rakkannee)

2.     Asuu oolle jette tan heerumaaf muddamte”

3.     Takkattii qayyannee taduraa hanqannee  ykn takkaa qayyannee lukaa gubanne

4.     Bakka dhiiganii hin fiigan.

5.     Kana muranii kamiin fincaayan jette haati manaa inni ofirraa mura jennaan.

6.     Kaanittuu abbaa argadhu jette haati intalaan.

7.     Intalti ariifattuun haadha ciniinsuubarsiifti

8.     Akka beekutti dhalaa(dahaa) nadhiisaa jette intalti harka namaa diddu

9.     Sirbaaf bayanii morma hin dhofatan jettee intalti waa hin saalfannee.

10.  Akka ebaluutti sirbaan morma nama jallifti jette intalti qalbii qabdu.
11.  Mucaa deenna malee mucaa hin geennu jette intalti of tuffatte.

12.  Wol  akkeessee ollaan marqa balleesse jette intalti ofiin bultun .

13.  Akka aadaa teennaa gaara gubbaa baanee teenna jedhe harmi dubartootaa.

14.  Ati baldi ta dhiirsa ka’imaa jette intalti abbaan manaa isii jaarsaa.
(Baldu : ashuu,qoosuu,taphachuu, busheesuu)

15.  Har’allee moo jette haati ijoolleen beelofne (shoomofne) jennaan isiin bakka cidhaatii
quuftee waan galteef

16.  Ani ufiif hin jennee, mucaan keessan ka hangafaa sun fuudha hin geennee? jette intalti
mucaa kajeelte.

17.  Soddaa fi dayma hin duudhatan.

18.  Osoo dhukubsataan jiru, fayyaalessi du’a.

19.  Ana bakki na dhukubu asii mitii maraafuu bakkuma gooftaan kiyya jedhe san kooba jette
bookeen.

20.  Makkitu malee makkaa hin hajjan

(Makkitu : naamaaf mijooftu/mijaa’u)

21.  Akka dida’aa fi akka didanaatti na galchi

22.  Daalun xaraan kaanu tara.

Qopheessan : Abdii Boriiti

http://opride.com/hamba/?p=231

 
Tokko Jennee, lama Jenna jedhuu Oromoon.

First you say “one” then you can say “two”.

Mila mataa hoo’qu.

The feet scratching the head.

Dubbin dubbii fida, mammaaksi dubbii fixa.

Trouble will only bring trouble, but a proverb can end troubles.

Qeeransa eegee hin qaban qaban hin gadhiisiin.

Don’t grab leopard’s tail. If you do, don’t let go.

Beekan namaa afaan cufata malee hulaa hin cufatu.

A wise man shut his mouth, not his door.

Gaariin mudaa hin’dhabu jedhuu Oromoon.

Even a good person is not faultless.

Foon lafa bu’e huba malee hin’deebu jedhuu Oromoon.

If a piece of meat drops on the ground, it can never be picked up without particles of dust.

 
Arrabni lafee hin qabdu garuu lafee nama cabsiti jedhuu Oromoon.

The tongue has no bones, but it can break bones.

Luka lama qabaataniif, muka lama hin koran jedhuu Oromoon.

Just because you have two legs, it does not mean you can climb two trees.

Abbaan damma nyaateef ilma hafaan hin mi’aawu jedhuu Oromoon.

Just because the father eats honey it does not mean the son’s mouth is sweet.

Waaq nagaan nu oolche, nagaan nu haa bulchu. Kan nagaan nu bulche, nagaan nu haa oolchu.

God has given us a good day, may He also give us a good night. He that has given us a good
night, may he also give us a good day.

Ariifataan hori gata jedhuu Oromoon.

One who hurries throws away money.

Gowwaan bara soorome nyaatee, bara deege nagada jedhuu Oromoon.

A foolish person eats when he is rich and trades when he is poor.

 

Dharraa fooni hancooteen hin’baasu jedhuu Oromoon

The craving from meat cannot be cured by eating a root plant.

Amali Hamadan abba rakkisa jedhuu Oromoon.

Evil habits give birth to problems.

Arrabni lafee hin qabdu garuu lafee nama cabsiti jedhuu Oromoon.

The tongue has no bones, but it can break bones.

Fagaara dhuufetu na’a jedhuu Oromoon.

A farting buttock is frantic.

It is easier to catch a flame using another’s hand.

Harka abbaa tokkotin ibidda qabbaachuun nama hindhibu jedhu Oromoon.

 
Jabbiin harree waliin oolte dhuufuu bartee galtii.

if only our tongues were made of glass,then we would be very careful when we speak!

Wal sobuu mannaa, wal gubuu Wayya jedhuu Oromoon.

Rather than lie to each other, it is better to fight it out.

Fardi harree wajjin oole, akka harree Nama dhiita jedhuu Oromoon.

The horse which grazes with a donkey kicks like a donkey.

Dubbii barbaacha sareen gabaa baate jedhuu Oromoon.

To look for trouble the dog goes to the market.

Qaalluun Kan bira himiti malee, kan shee hin beektu jedhuu Oromoon.

A soothsayer tells for another but does not know for themselves.

Sannyii Kan facaasantu marga jedhuu Oromoon.

What is sow will sprout.

 

Surree fi niitii wajjin kufuu jedhuu Oromoon.

Like the trousers fall together with the man, So the man falls together with his wife.

Gowwaan bara soorome nyaatee, bara deege nagada jedhuu Oromoon.

A foolish person eats when he is rich and trades when he is poor.

What God has preserved for the tortoise, the eagle can never take it.

Kan Waaqi qocaaf kaa’e, cululleen hin fudhattu jedhuu Oromoon.

Indaanqoon ka’a ganamfattee, gombisaa jala ooltin jedhuu Oromoon.

Though a chicken rises early, it spends the whole day under the grain store.

Harmatu lama malee, aannan tokkichuma jedhuu Oromoon.

There are two breasts but the milk is the same.

Qunceen wol gargaartee arba hiiti jedhuu oromoon.

A strip of bark united will tie an elephant.

Abbaa hinqabdu akaakayyuuf boosi jedhan.

He does not have a father so he cries for his grandfather.

Niitii waa lama jaallattu gabaa hin’basin jedhuu Oromoon.

Never send a woman who likes two things to the market.

Biyya goophoon baay’atutti isa ol jedhee deemutu fokkisa.

In the land of the hunchbacks those who walk upright look ugly.

Speaking gave me troubles, scratching gave me scabies.

Dubbannaan dubbii ta’e, hooqqannaan cittoo ta’e.

Silaa hinolu, kajeelaa dura waami.

Since he is going to come anyway, invite the freeloader first. (i.e. accept the inevitable).

Yaa marqaa, sii afuufuun, sii liqimsuufi jedhuu Oromoon.

Dear porridge, the reason why I blow when your hot is so that I can swallow you more easily.

Looni hinqabnu, hattuu jibba hindhaqnu, jedhe gowwaan.

We don’t have cattle, hence we don’t hate thieves, said the fool.

Utuu ani gaafaaf bohuu, gurra nakutani jette harreen.

While I cry for horns, they cut my ears said the donkey.

* Dubartii waa sagaliin horatu!

~ Sadi gorsaan
~ Sadi obsaan
~ Sadi dhoksaan
* Ilmi namaa haala jireenya isaatiin bakka
saditti qoodama!
~ Tokko kan biyya jiru
~ Tokko kan biyyaaf jiru
~ Tokko kan biyyatti jiru
* Namni lafee coru waa sadi fakkaata!
~ Yoo ija itti babaasuu, goota fakkaata.
~ Yoo afaan itti banu, waraabessa
fakkaata.
~ Yoo itti gororu, daa’ima fakkaata.
* Namni kijibu waa sadihiif muddama!
~ Hanga dhagahuuf
~ Hanga himuuf
~ Naa dhoksaafis ni muddama.
* Gowwaan waa sadi jaalata!
~ Osoo hin dubbisin dubbachuu
~ Osoo hin gaafatin himuu
~ Osoo hin tuqin aaruu
* Keessummaa waa sadihiin kabaju!
~ Erbee rifeensa hin qabne
~ Lafee foon hin qabne
~ Foon lafee hin qabne
¤ Hiikni isaas:
~ Erbeen rifeensa hin qabne, fuula ifaan
simachuudha.
~ Lafeen foon hin qabne, ilkaan gaariin
wajjiin kolfuudha.
~ Foon lafee hin qabne immoo, arraba
qajeelaan itti haasahuudha.
* Waa sadi fafa, waa sadi fafaa miti!
~ Lolaaf bahanii waraana dhabuun fafa.
Lolaaf bahanii waraana dhabuun fafaa
mitii, onnee dhabutu fafa.
~ Du’anii ibaadaa dhabuun fafa. Du’anii
ibaadaa dhabuun fafaa mitii, durumaan
ibaadaa dhabutu fafa.
~ Barumsaaf bahanii qalama dhabuun fafa.
Barumsaaf bahanii qalama dhabuun fafaa
mitii, kaayyoo dhabutu fafa.
* Waa sadi dura badee, waa sadi tura bade!
~ Makkalli dura badee, hayyichi tura bade.
~ Maxaanaan dura badee, arreedaan tura
bade!
~ Doqnichi dura badee, arjichi tura bade.
* Ilmi namaa sadi!
~ Tokko kan abbaa caalu
~ Tokko kan abbaa dhaalu
~ Tokko kan abbaa dhaanu
WAAQNI ILMA KASAARAAFI ABBAA
DHAANU IRRAA NU HAABARARU!
* Namni dhugaan wal-jaalatu waa sadiin
wal-jaalataan
Garaa dhaan
Onnee dhaan
Dhugaa dhaan

EEBBA FUDHAA (Oromo Blessing)

Hin ta’iina warraa umurii gabaaba
Umurii ga’aa raagaa
Gurraan aaga dhaga’aa
Ijaan waan gaarii argaa
Harkaan hojii qabadhaa
Miillaan deemaa qaqqaba
Yaada keessaniin of ta’aa
Afaaniin dhugaa lallabaa
Kan yaaddaa milkaa’aa
Raftan Abjuu qabadhaa
Jaalaalan waaqa qabadhaa
Akkoof akaakayyuu argaa
Abiddaa bira ijoollee
Goorroo duuba jabbilee
Sanyii facaasaa haammadhaa
Isiin jalaa hin ta’iin armaa
Dheebottan dhugaa booka
Beeloftan nyaadhaa cooma
Hunda quufaa
Golaa gumbii quufaa
Goodaa calla quufaa
Dallaadhaa horii quufaa
Sa’aa fi nama biqilaa
Qilxuu ta’aa irraa dagaagaa
Qilxuu ta’aa jala jabaadhaa
Waleensuu kormaa ta’aa
yaabbiif bu’a dhowwadha
Abidda gaara yaade ta’aa
Gamaaf Gamanattii mul’adha
Waaqni isinirraa ha dhowwuu
Jalloo jallattuu, kan sobdee boquustuu
Sanyii sanyii ishee nyaatuu
Rabbii isinirraa haa ifatuu
Yaada isiin haa laatuu!!!
Gaadaan Gaddaa Bilisummattii!!
Injifaannoon kan ummata oromottii!!

Published in:

 Afaan Oromo
 Afaan Oromoo (The Oromo Language)
 Africa
 African Philosophy
 African Studies
 Ancient Egyptian
 Ancient Languages
 Ateetee (Siiqqee): Oromo Women social Power and Institution in Gadaa System
 Chiekh Anta Diop
 Cushitic
 Cushtic (Kushitic) Langauges
 Language and Development
 Mammaaksa Oromoo (Oromo Proverbs)
 Ormomummaa
 Oromia
 Oromian
 Oromiyaa
 Oromo Heritage
 Oromo Identity and Culture
 Oromo Music
 Oromo Nation
 Qubee Afaan Oromoo
  Safuu: The Oromo Moral Code and Philosophy
 State of Oromia

on August 29, 2014 at 9:36 pm  Leave a Comment  

Tags: African Culture, African Studies, Cushite, Cushitic (Kushitic) languages, Indigenous
people, Mammaaksa Oromoo, Oromia, Oromiyaa, Oromo and Ancient Egypt, Oromo Culture,
Oromo Music, Oromo People, Oromo theory of knowledge & Philosophy, Oromummaa, Qubee
Afaan Oromoo

Waaqeffannaa (Amantii Oromoo):The traditional faith system of the Oromo people

Waaqeffannaa (Amantii Oromoo), the traditional faith system of the Oromo people, is one
version of the monotheistic African Traditional Religion (ATR), where the followers of this faith
system do believe in only one Supreme Being. African traditional religion is a term referring to a
variety of religious practices of the only ONE African religion, which Oromo believers call
Waaqeffannaa (believe in Waaqa, the supreme Being), an indigenous faith system to the
continent of Africa. Even though there are different ways of practicing this religion with varieties
of rituals, in truth, the different versions of the African religion have got the following
commonalities:

– Believe in and celebrate a Supreme Being, or a Creator, which is referred to by a myriad of

names in various languages as Waaqeffataa Oromo do often say: Waaqa maqaa dhibbaa = God
with hundreds of names and Waaqa Afaan dhibbaa = God with hundreds of languages; thus in
Afaan Oromoo (in Oromo language) the name of God is Waaqa/Rabbii or Waaqa tokkicha (one
god) or Waaqa guraachaa (black God, where black is the symbol for holiness and for the
unknown) = the holy God = the black universe (the unknown), whom we should celebrate and
love with all our concentration and energy

– No written scripture (ATR’s holy texts are mostly oral), but now some people are trying to
compose the written scripture based on the Africans’ oral literature.

– Living according to the will of the Supreme Being and love also those who do have their own
way of surviving by following other belief systems, which are different from that of the
Waaqeffannaa. It includes keeping both safuu (virtues) and laguu (vices); i.e. to love safuu as
well as to hate and abhor cubbuu (sin).

– Correspondence with the Supreme Being in times of a great need (i.e. in times of natural
calamities, unexplained deaths) and try to walk always on the karaa nagaa (on the way of peace =
on the way of righteousness, on the road of truth).

 
– Having a devout connection with ancestors; in case of Oromo, the ancestors are all ways
blessed and celebrated for the good inheritance we got from them, but not worshiped as some
people want to mis understand.

The word “culture” is most commonly defined as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and
practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group; different cultures are the distinct
ways that classified people living in different parts of the world, that represented their
experiences and acted creatively. African peoples have got our own culture, which distinguish us
from other parts of the world, of course also having our own sub-cultures among ourselves.
Aadaa Oromoo (Oromo culture) being one part of the Cush culture is one of the sub-cultures
within the common African culture, which consists also the faith system of Waaqeffannaa as part
and parcel of the Oromo/African culture.

Waaqeffannaa’s interaction with other religions

According to the expert opinions written up to now, the concept of monotheism is the whole
mark of African Traditional Religion including the faith system of the Cush nations. It seems that
this concept of monotheism have moved from Cushitic black Africans (including the Oromo)
first to ancient Egypt, secondly, further to Israel of the Bible and lastly to the Arab world of
Koran. The experts tell us that Moses was not the first monotheist, but Akhenaten was the first
revolutionary monotheist; they even claim that Moses might have been black. It is also argued
that Moses was an Egyptian Pharaoh known as Akhenaten before the exodus. Additionally, they
do argue that Akhenaten’s monotheism revolution in Egypt was not inspired from inside, but
induced from outside by the Cushites, i.e. Akhenaten might have derived his monotheism
concept from Africa’s/Oromo’s concept of Waaqa tokkicha in a form of “Waaq humna malee
bifa hin qabu (God has no physical form, but power).” This concept may have been
misinterpreted so that the other religions later started to talk about God with a physical form.

 
It is also interesting to observe many similarities between some old Egyptian words and Afaan
Oromo words; for instance, the similarities of the ancient Egyptian words “Anii and Matii” with
the Oromo words of “Ana (Ani) and Maatii.” Anii of Egyptians, which means I (I am who I am),
that is equivalent to God is similar to the Oromo word Ani, which also means I and refers to the
first person singular (the actor = the main character of GOD). Matii being the designation of
God’s congregation and the Oromo word Maatii for the family which is the “congregation” of
ani (first person = God) are surprisingly the same. This is only one of many similarities between
Oromo and Egypt registered by experts till now. It is not my intention to talk about this historical
relationship here, but just to show the relation between Oromo’s traditional religion and the three
Abraham religions, even though Judaism is not part of the current religions practiced by the
Oromo. It means the new acceptance of both Christianity and Islam by Africans is the coming
back of the same belief in Waaqa tokkicha to Africa in different forms.

This historical relation between Amantii Oromoo and the two big religions of the world suggests
that Waaqeffannaa is the older version of monotheism and humanism. Waaqeffannaa as a faith
system and Irreechaa as a major national celebration were part and parcel of Oromo public life.
Now, some Oromo nationals prefer the name Amantii Oromo/Amantii Africa to Waaqeffannaa.
It is important if we all can agree to call the Oromo traditional religion as Amantii
Oromo/Amantii Africa, just like we agreed on calling our language Afaan Oromo and our
country Biyya Oromo. So in short, we can say: Our land is Biyya Oromo, our language is Afaan
Oromo and our religion is Amantii Oromo. It is known that some people may argue by saying
“how can we call it Amantii Oromo, when we do see that more than half of the Oromo nowadays
have Christianity and Islam as their religion?” Are Oromo with other first language rather than
Afaan Oromo not Oromo, despite their lost Afaan Oromo? Should we say just because of these
Oromo, who nowadays speak only English, German, Amharic, etc., that Oromo language is not
Afaan Oromo? The same way, it is not logical not to call Oromo religion as Amantii Oromo
because of the Oromo who overtook other religions. Actually, the designation Waaqqeffannaa
(believing in and living with Waaqa) can also be applied to Christian Oromo and Islam Oromo
even though most of the Islam Oromo prefer the name Rabbii to the name Waaqa. They all are
believers in Waaqa = God = Allah = Rabbii. Amantii Oromo differs only because of its
specificity for it is the older Oromo faith embedded in only Oromo/African culture without any
influence from alien culture.

The fact to be accepted here is that God is universal even though we call HIM Waaqa, Rabbii or
Allah. But, Amantii Oromo is the way how our forefathers believed in this universal Waaqa of
humankind. We don’t have God or Waaqa, who is specific only to Oromo/Africa and doesn’t
care for other nations. Waaqa is the God of nations. But, we Oromo do have a specific way and
culture regarding how we do practice our belief in Waaqa. This way of practicing our faith is
what we call Amantii Oromo. Amantii Oromo is simply the Oromo way of practicing the faith in
the universal Waaqa. It is part of the Oromo way of dealing with the problems of life (it is part of
Aadaa Oromo). Accordingly, aadaa (culture) can also be defined as the way, in which a certain
collective or group of people deals with its own life problem.

The difference between this Amantii Oromo and the other two big religions practiced by Oromo
is that the other two got not only the faith in one God, but also the elements of cultures from the
people in which they first emerged. We can see here the Arabs accepted the concept of Waaqa
tokkicha while still keeping pre-Mohammad Arab culture in Islam, which is far different from
Oromo/from African culture, but Islam practiced by Oromo in Oromia is colored by Arab culture
for it is adopted from there. Interestingly, this is the difference between Islam Arab and Islam
Oromo; Islam Arabs adopted only the concept of Waaqa tokkicha from Cush of
Africa/Egypt/Israel, but don’t seem to exercise alien culture from these areas, whereas Islam
Oromo tend to adopt both the faith and the culture from Arabs. Egyptians and Israelis, who
accepted the concept of the same Waaqa tokkicha, also do practice their faith being colored by
their own previous culture; they don’t seem to practice Cush culture; but again Christianity
practiced in Oromia is mostly colored by the culture of the Israelis, the Habeshas as well as by
that of the Western world for Christian Oromo tend to adopt not only the faith, but also the alien
culture.

 
That is why it is not actually bad that some Oromo nationals accept and believe in the two
monotheist religions (Christianity and Islam) per se, but not good is giving more value to the
culture of the nations from which the religions come to us, at the cost of the very valuable Aadaa
Oromo. Of course, good elements of foreign cultures can be accommodated without damaging
the good elements of our own. For instance, the similarity between dibbee Qaallu (Qaallu’s
drum) and the beat of Tigrinya music shows how Tegarus have inherited and kept some elements
of Oromo’s culture. This can verify that the suggestion of Donald Levine, who in his book called
Greater Ethiopia wrote that “Tegarus are part of the Cushites of the Old Testament who denied
their identity”, may be true. After all, why do they call their mother Aadde? Where does the
name Barentu in Eritrea come from? Are they only inheritance of names or were they part of the
lost Oromo/Cush? Anyways, it is good to follow the advice given once by Luba Shamsadin. He
said (paraphrased here), when we try to accept religions from other nations, we have to identify
and separate “the bone of the fish from the meat”; i.e. we need to identify and leave the
unnecessary cultural elements of other nations, which are usually mixed with their religions we
Oromo do tend to accept and adopt.

So as it is put here in short,

Waaqeffannaa (believe in one Waaqa of the universe) is practiced not only among the Cush
nations, but also among almost all African nations. This faith system of Africans including
Waaqeffannaa has been devalued as something “paganism, barbarism, religionlessness,
uncivilization, Godlessness, animism, primitivism, etc”. The black color, which is the symbol of
holiness in Waaqeffannaa was/is demonized as a symbol for Satan. All the blessing ceremonies
of Waaqeffannaa and the utensil used for the blessings are condemned as a service, an instrument
and worshiping of demons/Satan. Despite this denigration, the current revival of Waaqeffannaa
and the celebration of Irreechaa in Oromia can be a good example-setting for the other African
nations to revive their hitherto devalued and almost lost culture and religion.

 
To serve this purpose of revival, the right way of Waaqeffannaa (believing in, celebrating of and
living with Waaqa) must be cleaned from alien non-constructive elements as well as from non-
productive practices and rituals like that of “qaalichaa” (infiltrating idolatry), which are not
serving the purpose of Waaqa in our personal or national life. That means, we have to
differentiate Waaqeffachuu (realizing God’s purpose in our life) from waaqessuu (serving alien
gods). Waaqeffachuu is applying Waaqa’s goodwill in our practical life, whereas waaqessuu is
making someone or something be our Waaqa, i.e. practicing idolatry. The Oromo people in
general have never had an idol to worship, but always had only one Waaqa to believe in and to
celebrate. Of course, there are very few Oromo individuals nowadays tending to practice
waaqessuu. Such purification of the African faith system from unimportant and useless elements
must be done in all versions of the practices and rituals among all African nations.

Concept of God in Waaqeffannaa

To make Waaqeffannaa a little bit clear, here is a short narration about this faith system in
practice. Oromo nationals practicing this faith do talk about Waaqa tokkicha, which is one of the
evidences for the faith to be monotheism, just as the Christianity and Islam are. The concept of
God among these believers is summarized by their usual saying: “Waaq humna malee bifa hin
qabu.” These believers do not misinterpret Waaqa tokkicha as an expression of physical form for
even the whole nature as a physical form is also an expression of his power. The believers and
the Qaalluu or Qaallitti (local spiritual leader) are usually very lovely; specially the leaders are
simply like a love in person. All their followers are selfless people full of good deeds and love;
they do talk about Waaqa, calling him as abbaa koo (my father), and they usually do pray for
children saying: “akka ijoollee keenyaa eebbisuuf abba keenya gaafanna (let’s ask our father to
bless our children),” they usually don’t say “abba keenya kadhanna (let’s beg our father).”

Whenever they are challenged by life problems, they do assert by saying: “Waaq abbaan keenya
eessa dhaqeetu (our God is not far away)”, denoting that Waaqa is always ready to help his
children. They some times also talk as prophets in a way: “Abbaan keenya akkas jedha, ani sin
wajjin jira, ani nan sin gargaara (our father says, I am with you and I will help you)”. According
to them, the spiritual father is Waaqa garaa gurraachaa, i.e. Waaqa with holy heart, symbolized
with black color, most of whose holiness is unknown to humans. Knowledgeable believers do
tell that the concept “Waaqa gurracha garaa garba (black God with heart like ocean)” actually
refers to the unknown future. What Waaqa may bring in the future is unknown, and that is
signified by black color. Here, garaa garba is also about the unknown. One couldn’t know what
is inside the body of water from afar. This point of view seems to be the reason for the color
black in the Oromo tricolor to signify the unknown future.

In some regions of Oromia, there are a lot of congregations visited by Oromo at some big houses
called gimbi (galma) which have got different names: gimbii diloo, maram, abbaa jama, hiike,
etc; the spiritual practices done there include the following: dalaguu (dancing), irreenssa kennu
(green leaf as a gift), wareeguu (offerings), hammachiisaa (blessing babies), gashaa (delicious
food brought to gimbi), etc. Actually, people go to such gimbi regularly carrying green leaves of
Irreensaa. In this culture, green grass or green leaf is a powerful symbol for life and prosperity,
and it is an element present in all public rituals of Waaqeffataa Oromo, including funerals and
prayers of remembrance, during which grass is spread on the ground or grave. The above listed
different names of gimbi are Oromo spiritual holy places and palaces, which are equivalent to
temple, church and mosque. In all the places mentioned, everyone prays to Waaqa. The practices
mentioned above are just variations of spiritual practice to Waaqa.

It is also to be observed among the practicing Waaqeffattaa how balanced is their way of
discussion and relationship. During sorts of discussions, they often discuss very wisely. For
example, when they give comments, here is a sample of how they do: “Ilaa, kanaa fi sana waan
gaarii jette. Haa ta’u malee, kunimmoo otoo akkana ta’e wayya (here and there you said good,
but it is better if this one be so and so)”. They do not denigrate the opinion of the other side, but
tell the better alternative to the opinion they do disagree with. They do tolerate the mistake of
others and just tell the consequence of the mistake. As far as they are concerned, there is always
cubbuu (sin) in their consciousness, but no concept for hell or condemnation after death. This
simply implies that we all do experience the consequence of our trespasses regarding the safuu
(virtues) and laguu (vices) expected from us during our life time.

Not to suffer such consequences of cubbuu, Waaqeffattaa Oromo have got a lot of very well said
prayers in their practical life activities. The following are very few of the impressive prayers in
the day to day life of the Oromo, which need to be presented here as examples. They are usually
heard from the believers of Amantii Oromo, and they are almost similar to what the believers in
Christianity and Islam do pray, let alone the similarity of the greatly formulated prayers we do
hear during Irreechaa celebration with what the Christian Qesis and the Islam Sheiks usually do
pray:

– Yaa Waaq kan dubbatee nu dubbachiisu fi kan hamaa nutti yaadu nurraa qabbi (God keep us
from those who speak evil and make us speak the same).

– Yaa Waaq mirga nu oolch (help us to walk on the right way); hamaa nurraa qabi (protect us
from evil).

– Yaa Rabbii, ilmi ga’e haa fuudhu (Oh God, let the young man be married), dubarri geesse haa
heerumtu (let the young woman be married), this prayer shows howimportant family building for
human blessing is.

 
– Yaa Waaq, ani galee, kan galee hin rafne narraa qabi; ani rafee kan rafee hin bulle narra qabi (I
am now at home to sleep, save me from the evil ones who didn’t yet be at their home and didn’t
sleep).

– Yaa Waaq galgala koo hin balleessiin (let my old age not be cursed), this is related with the
conse -quence of cubbuu. The believers are asking Waaqa to help them stay away from cubbuu
so that their “galgala (late age)” will not be bad/painful. Here we see something similar with the
native American’s culture. They say: “when you came to this world, you cried and everybody
else laughed; live your life so that when you leave this world, you laugh and everyone else
cries”; i.e. to say live your life free from cubbuu and its conse -quence (suffering), the life style
which leads you to the blessing in your old age.

This prayers indicate the fact on the ground how Oromo look at Waaqa and at the human-being.
Waaqa is conceived as a holy father with whom we can correspond during our day to day life
problems or when ever we face calamities or difficulties for his will is always good, whereas
human-beings can be with either bad or good intention in relation to each other. Both Gadaa and
Qaalluu institutions look at all individuals as human with equal rights in front of Waaqa; that is
why there is no a “respect form” of addressing human-being or God in Afaan Oromo, just as
there is non in English language. After losing our sovereignty, the Oromo people had to learn
how to “respect” authority figures. For there is no such option in Afaan Oromo, we had to use
plural verbs to address the authority figures. Even Abbaa Gadaa (chief of the government) and
Abbaa Mudaa (the spiritual leader) were addressed as “ati = you in a singular form,” not as “isin
= you in a plural form.” Today, we have to address our fellow human being with certain
authority as “isin” to show “respect.” It is not bad if such addressing would have been
mutual/symmetrical as for instance it is in German language. But such “respect,” which we are
now applying is asymmetrical (only the authority figure is addressed with the “respect” form,
whereas the authority figure can address the other person without using the “respect” form.
Where it is the reality that we don’t use the “respect” form during addressing our Waaqa, as seen
in the above prayers, why should we bother to use it in addressing our fellow human being? It
would be better if we leave this culture, which we adopted from others with authoritarian culture
in contrast to our own egalitarian one. Our concept of Waaqa doesn’t allow us to behave so
submissively to any human being, who is equal to us.

Virtues and Vices of Waaqeffannaa

Here in short, safuu (virtue) can be defined as the “to do list” in order to serve Waaqa and to
achieve his kaayyoo/goal in our personal and national earthly life; whereas laguu (vice) is the
“not to do list” or the taboo, so that we can refrain from doing such activities diverting us from
the kaayyoo Waaqa for our life. Cubbuu (sin) then in short includes both not doing the safuu and
doing the laguu. Just as an example, if we take bilisummaa (national freedom) as Waaqa’s
kaayyoo for the Oromo nation, what are the safuu and the laguu to be respected? If the kaayyoo
of Waaqeffannaa is individual healing from any sort of illness, what are the safuu and the laguu,
which both the healer and the sick person should respect?

In order to look at the virtues and vices of the traditional Oromo/African belief system for our
earthly life, let us now try to describe Waaqeffannaa as we experienced it and knew it. Note that
all the descriptions and notions we try to put here on paper are based on our own argaa-dhageetti
(based on our own perception), which may differ from that of the other Oromo nationals. For
instance, we could observe that Oromo is a nation filled with celebrations of eebba (blessing),
who do have different celebrations for almost everything and everybody related to our life. For
instance, taaboree as a blessing ceremony for young boys; ingiccaa for blessing young girls;
ayyaana abbaa for blessing the ancestors for the good inheritance we got from them; ateetee for
blessing our women; borantichaa for blessing adult men; jaarii looni for blessing our useful
animals; jaarii qe’e or jaarii kosii for blessing our residence area; jaarii midhaani to bless our
farms; garanfasa mucucoo as a celebration of the rainy season and, of course, gubaa and
irreechaa for celebration of the coming birraa (the coming spring season) etc. We hope that
Oromo students of anthropology, sociology and theology will make a scientific research on these
blessing ceremonies and tell us the constructive and non-constructive elements of the activities in
them.

But, let us mention few of the virtues (positive aspects) of Waaqeffannaa in our earthly life time.
Here the reference point to judge certain elements as negative or positive is the position of the
purpose, which Waaqa do have for our personal and national life, i.e. based on the kaayyoo
(goal) our Waaqayyoo do have for us. To elaborate this relationship between kaayyoo and
Waaqayyoo, we can ask: is Waaq-aayyoo our ka-ayyoo / is our ka-ayyoo the Waaq-ayyoo? It is
about knowing what purpose we do serve in our daily life both cognitively and behaviorally, as
individuals or as a nation. Be it that we do think and walk at political, religious or private level,
we do try to serve certain purpose in life. In order to identify that purpose, we only need to be
conscious about it, reflect on it and ask our selves: whom do we privately or collectively serve in
our endeavors? Do we serve Waaqa’s purpose for us or that of the others’? Simply put, which
purpose should we serve? Fortunately the hitherto cumulative knowledge and wisdom of
different societies in general and that of the Oromo society in particular tell us what we ought to
serve: i.e. to serve Waaqa’s purpose which is good for us as an individual and as a collective.
This good purpose is given a sacred name and it seems to be what people call the will of Waaqa.

As a support for this assertion, we can look at an example written in the Bible of Christians, that
states : “God is my objective”. Is this to be understood also as: “my objective is God”? Can we
say that our good personal or political purpose is the will of Waaqa, whom we ought to serve?
To comprehend this, it is no where clearly written other than in Afaan Oromo. Surprisingly the
words kaayyoo and Waaqayyoo in our language do indicate to have the same source. As we
know, the short word KA is the name given by our Cushitic ancestors to God and the word
aayyoo is, of course, the name given to a mother, who does wish all good things for her children
and does plan and try to fulfill it. So KA can be defined as the Supreme Being, which has good
purpose for ayyoo’s children. This purpose is the “Goodness” for her children. So KA-ayyoo is
God’s will (his good objective to her beloved children). The term Waaqayyo is the short form of
waan-KA-ayyoo (what is planned from KA for aayyoo and for her children). So we can see that
the good end, we have to serve, can be called kaayyoo from Waaqa. So the will of Waaqa is
simply to be defined as the good end we should choose to serve as part of the balanced universe
created by HIM.

To fulfill this service to the good end, fortunately the best thing we do observe among
Waaqeffataa Oromo is the work-ethics they do have to achieve the purpose of Waaqa in their
earthly life, specially in the life areas of career and family. They do love to be the best in both
life areas; they love their family and most of them are very enthusiastic to be successful in their
profession. They usually say “Waaq taa’i taa’i namaan hin jedhin (let HE not make us idle);”
simply put, diligence is part of safuu and to be idle and lazy is part of laguu. We know that there
are certain contamination from other cultures to be practiced as rituals contradicting this virtue
and which are not serving the purpose of Waaqa for us. That is why we do recommend not only
the revival of this marvelous belief system, which was the creation of our forefathers, but also we
do suggest a necessary reformation to make the faith system to be fit, so that it can help us to
cope with the 21st century challenge and situation. Waaqa’s creation and his keeping the balance
of the universe is still going on, so that HE demands also a dynamic creative work from his
creature, from the human being. Another impressive virtue of Waaqeffannaa necessary to be
mentioned is its relation with nature and its persuasion to help us keep the environment healthy;
it is the faith system which is simply through and through green.

Waaqeffannaa’s position on the life after death

According to this belief system, we all will live further after death as ekeraa (in a form of
soul/spirit) with our father, with Waaqa, without any possibility of punishment in hell. We
recently read Martial De Salviac’s translated book, in which he wrote “Oromo invariably believe
that they will go to heaven.” So, the consequence of our cubbuu is not losing eternal life, but
suffering in our earthly life. To Waaqeffataa Oromo, Waaqa is the one who wants us not to do a
collective cubbuu, but expects us to protect the balanced nature, in which HIS power is
manifested. The wisdom that guides Waaqeffataa Oromo in fulfilling this mission seems to be
our arga-dhagetti (believe and act on a principle of reality, i.e. based on what we see and hear).

According to argaa-dhageetti, the concepts like “cubbuun ni qabdi (sin has got consequence),
cubbuun ni sirriqxi (the consequence of sin can be inherited), cubbu abbaatu eeggata or cubbuu
irra abbaatu uf eega (everyone should keep him-/herself from committing sin and everybody is
responsible for the consequences of the sin he/she commit)” are nice and practical. What we
liked most from the principles of Waaqeffannaa is this concept of cubbuu. The consequences of
cubbuu are only to be seen here on this earth, not in the coming life after death. There is no hell
that Waaqayyoo has prepared to punish the people with cuubbu. This is hilarious and very
healing for those who always have to live with the fear of hell or punishment after death.

Another interesting aspect of Waaqeffannaa is that we never heard from the practicing believers
that they are believing in the presence of an evil spiritual power in the form of Satan, which acts
and lives against the almighty power of Waaqa. Accordingly, there is only one sovereign power
doing and undoing all things in a universe, that is Waaqa. Unfortunately, the concept Satan is
now already spread among the whole Oromo population as a contamination taken from other
religions. Waaqeffataa Oromo do believe that the evil things we do experience in life are due to
the imbalance of nature as a result of the unwise or wicked deeds of humans as collective, i.e. it
is a human cubbuu with its consequences on the earth. That is why they usually ask their Waaqa
for wisdom to keep the balance of nature and that HE lead them to only those with good
intention and protect them from those with bad intention, for example, in a prayer like: “yaa
Waaq tolaa nutti qabi, hamaa irraa nu eegi (God lead who is good to us and keep away who is
evil from us). Here it seems that good is someone, who works to keep the balance of nature; and
evil is the contrary.

 
According to the faith system of Waaqeffannaa, there is nothing we have to do now to earn
eternal life after death; life after death is simply a free gift we got from our father, Waaqayyoo,
whom we just need to celebrate and thank as we do daily and during the yearly celebrations like
Irreechaa. We also don’t need a savior, who has to suffer and die for us, so that we can get life
after death. The only area where we have to work on is trying to live the quality life (the
character of the eternal life) according to the will of Waaqa here on earth. To live this quality
life, we need to activate our potentials given to us from Waaqa and then walk on the karaa nagaa
towards the kaayyoo Waaqa for our life, being free from cubbuu by keeping both safuu and
laguu.

Further recommendation

The very important aspect of Waaqeffannaa as part of Oromo/African culture is its principle of
argaa-dhaggeetti (it is relatively an evidence based faith system, possibly trying to be free from
superstition). This principle is about reading the real situations at hand and finding the
appropriate solutions for the situations. Waaqeffannaa teaches that only Waaqa is not prone to
change for HE is perfect, but all his creature and all the situations are changing with time; that is
why his creative action is still going on and that we also need to be in a position to find new
solutions for the changed situations. In short, we need to be situation oriented, time oriented and
live accordingly. That means, it is good to know the past version of aadaa and Amantii
Oromo/Africa; but better is to live and practice the present version of aadaa and Amantii Oromo;
of course the best is to create the most beneficial version of aadaa and Amantii Oromo as well as
to inherit it to our coming generation. So let’s learn from the past version, live the present
version and love to create the future verion of aadaa Oromo in general, and Amantii Oromo in
particular.

This article is of course coloured by subjective perceptions, so that Oromo nationals are welcome
to complement or contradict it. All the sub-titles given in this article need a further meticulous
research and study. Through scientific studies, it can be possible to cleanse Waaqeffa -nnaa from
certain meaningless rituals adopted from the other sub-cultures, e.g rituals like that of
“qaalichaa” (idolatry), xinqolaa (sorcery), etc, where the practitioners are actually making
business in the name of the religion. Waaqeffannaa needs not only revival, but also reformation
as part and parcel of the ongoing liberation from such sensless practices. Elements, which are
against the will of Waaqa for all human-being in general and for African nations in particular
must be removed, so that we can say Waaqa bless Oromia/Africa and then live accordingly.
Adopting good elements, which serve the will of Waaqa for us, from other cultures and faiths is
not bad as it is usually said: “waan gaariin bade hundi kan Oromo ti” (every good thing lost
belongs to Oromo). Again, good and bad is defined from the position of the will of Waaqa for
our life, i.e. from the position of his kaayyoo in our life, which is always a good purpose.

So, only celebrating the holidays and reviving the religion are not enough, if we want to be fit for
the present 21st century situation and for the situation in which our future generation will live.
Our forefathers created a faith system as part of the solution to their situation; we also need to do
the same. So let’s not try to use the same key used by our forefathers in the past to open doors
with totally different keyholes at the present and the future or we don’t need to ride a donkey at
this age of driving a limousine; in short we need a right solution for the present and the future
situations. Our next generation need to inherit from us the latest and modern
model/edition/version of our faith system, Waaqeffannaa, which they also can reform, edit and
secure for their children and grand children, so that we human-being continue to be as creative as
our father, Waaqa.

Let’s give a simple suggestion as an example in the required reforming: why can’t we use bundle
of flowers for Irreechaa, instead of only grass used by our forefathers? Why don’t we use water
or oil, instead of butter to anoint others during the blessing ceremonies just for the sake of
hygiene? Why don’t we use candle light or the modern beautifully colored electric light
decorations instead of bonfire during wa-maraa (demera)? etc. Now it is a time to have
Waaqeffannaa free from non-productive and untimely elements, so that it will be a faith system,
which will be accepted and believed by the enlightened and informed Oromo in particular as
well as by Africans in general (so that it will be a faith system serving the will of Waaqa for
Oromia in particular, and for Africa in general).

Last but not least, Waaqeffataa Oromo need to be creative in realizing the will of Waaqa in our
life, which is the only way to “evangelize” and convert others to the “karaa nagaa (to the right
way) HE wants us to walk. We need to learn from the past (the known part of life, which is
symbolized by white color), live the present (the challenging part of life symblized by red color)
and love to know the future (the unknown part of life symbolized by black color). The karaa
nagaa at this particular era/time includes the virtue of a passinate struggle in life both
individually and collectively, not an attitude of the pacifistic stoicism. Waaqeffannaa doesn’t
persuade us to do things to secure life after death, but it tells us that our effort and enthusiasm are
part of the safuu we have to keep and implement in order to make our life here on earth the
excellent success story.

Read the full article from original source

@http://gihonpostsite.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/waaqeffannaa-the-african-traditional-faith-
system/

Published in:

 Africa
 Ancient Egyptian
 Ancient Languages
 Ateetee (Siiqqee): Oromo Women social Power and Institution in Gadaa System
 Chiekh Anta Diop
 Cushitic
  Cushtic (Kushitic) Langauges
 Development and Change
 Humanity and Social Civilization
 Meroitic Oromo
 Ormomummaa
 Oromia
 Oromo Heritage
 Oromo Identity
 Oromo Identity and Culture
 Safuu: The Oromo Moral Code and Philosophy
 The traditional faith system of the Oromo people
 Waaqeffannaa (Amantii Oromoo)

on August 10, 2014 at 5:59 pm  Leave a Comment  

Tags: African Culture, African Studies, Ancient Africa, Ancient People, Awash Valley, Berbers,
Black British, Black Latin America, Cushite, Cushitic (Kushitic) languages, Dhidheessaa, East
African Rift Valley, Fulani, Gadaa System, Indigenous people, Irreecha, Irreessa, Kemet, Kush,
Madda Walaabuu, Martin Bernal, Nation and Nationalism, Oromia, Oromiyaa, Oromo and
Ancient Egypt, Oromo Culture, Oromo Music, Oromo People, Oromummaa, Qubee Afaan
Oromoo, The Gibee (Omo) Valley, The Nile Valley and Oromiyaa, The traditional faith system
of the Oromo people, Waaqeffannaa (Amantii Oromoo)

Meroe, Oromo and Old Nubian: Solving the Mystery of Meroitic Language

  
Meroe, Oromo and Old Nubian: Solving the Mystery of Meroitic Language
By Dereje Tadesse Birbirso (PhD),  College of Social Science and HumanitiesHaramaya
University, Ethiopia
Abstract
 
  Meroitic language is one of the most controversial ancient languages but one of the few having
advanced writing systems. Some classify it Asian, European, non-African, Semitic,or
‘unclassified’. This paper contends Meroe, similar to their Cushitic friends, are left victims of
preconceived ideas based on an entirely argument from silence, an hegemonic epistemology that
elevates a single perspective and silences other(s). This paper, thus,comparatively analyzes
Meroitic and Old Nubian lexical and grammatical items with corresponding Oromo, a Cushitic
family which, 

a Cushitic family which,vocabulary possibly the Ancientlanguage of the Nile Valley and/or Horn
of Africa. Meroitic and Old Nubian lexical, grammatical and epigraphic data were collected
from secondary sources by Meroitic researchers. Oromo corpora are obtained both from
classical and modern descriptions  and native-speakers. Results indicate Oromo lexemes show
significant level of cognates with not only Meroitic and Old Nubian, but also with the Ancient
Egyptian to their northern part.

Keywords:  Oromo, Meroe, Nubian, Ancient Egyptian, Cushitic, Chiekh Anta Diop

Read the full article @
https://www.academia.edu/5847718/Meroe_Oromo_and_Old_Nubian_Solving_the_mystery_of_
Meroitic_language#

Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1336
Published in:

 Afaan Oromoo
 Afaan Oromoo (The Oromo Language)
 Afar & Sidama
 Africa
 African Heritage
 African Philosophy
 African Studies
 Ancient Egyptian
 Ancient Languages
 Ateetee (Siiqqee): Oromo Women social Power and Institution in Gadaa System
 Chiekh Anta Diop
 Cushitic
 Cushtic (Kushitic) Langauges
 Gadaa System
 Humanity and Social Civilization
 Language and Development
 Meroe
 Meroitic Oromo
 Musicians and the Performance of Oromo Nationalism
 Nubia
 Ormomummaa
 Oromia
  Oromia's Conditions
 Oromian
 Oromiyaa
 Oromo
 Oromo Heritage
 Oromo Identity
 Oromo Identity and Culture
 Oromo Nation
 Oromo Social System
 Prof. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
 Qubee Afaan Oromoo
 Safuu: The Oromo Moral Code and Philosophy
 Sirna Gadaa (Gadaa System)
 State of Oromia
 The Oromo Democratic System
 The Oromo Governance System

on July 23, 2014 at 8:29 pm  Leave a Comment  

Tags: African Culture, African Studies, Ancient Africa, Ancient People, Ancient Writing
System, Awash Valley, Berbers, Black British, Chiekh Anta Diop, Cushitic (Kushitic)
languages, East African Rift Valley, Irreecha, Irreessa, Kemet, Kingdom of Kush, Kush, Madda
Walaabuu, Martin Bernal, Oromia, Oromiyaa, Oromo and Ancient Egypt, Oromo Culture,
Oromo Music, Oromo People, Oromummaa, Qubee Afaan Oromoo, The Gibee (Omo) Valley,
The Nile Valley and Oromiyaa

Ateetee:The divinity for motherhood and fecundity in Oromo mythology

Yaa Maaraam furootu gahee

Waliin nu Gahee

Emmoo yaa obbolee emmoo

Ateetee:The divinity for motherhood and fecundity in Oromo mythology

Maaram is believed to be the divinity of women. Maaram was created by Waaqa and 
addressed as haadha boor (the mother of ocean). I think this is to indicate that Maaram 
came to the Oromo from outside. The Oromo believe that Mooram is the mother of a 
child. The Oromo women perform traditional ceremonies in respect of Maaram. It is 
believed that Maaram will help barren women to beget a child, and help pregnant 
women to give birth to a child. When a woman gives birth to a child Oromo women will 
gather and ululate (say ilili ilili). They also prepare porridge, and splash butter. It is 
normal for the Oromo to sacrifice an animal during this ceremony. Moreover, Maaram 
is worshipped for the health of the environment, animals, human beings and crops. 
The Oromo Qoolluu leaders pray to Maaram every two weeks for the continuation of 
offspring of humans. Maaram has her own ritual house. Ritual goods include Jaaloo
(earthen caldron), and Qoloo (traditional shirt). It has also madabii (raised platform of 
Earth). The dancing ceremony is performed on Tuesdays, Thursdays,. and Saturdays.

Some writers have explained the nature of Ateetee and Maaram. Knutsson states that the
names Ateetee and Maaram are used interchangeably for the same kind of being (Kmitsson
1967,55). Daniel states that  the various songs of Ateetee imply that “[a]teete is a ceremony
prepared for Ayyolee, Maaram and Waaqa as thanksgiving by those who have children
and a lamentation by the barren women” (Daniel 1984, 111). Bartels, however, questioned
this assertion. To the Oromo of Western Matcha, Ateetee is the name of the ritual in which
Maaram is invoked (Bartels 1983). Baxter (1979) had similar observation concerning the
belief of the Arsi Oromo. For Cerulli, Ateetee is conceived as the goddess of fecundity
(Cerulli 1922,127; Harris 1968,50).

– http://www.ossrea.net/publications/images/stories/ossrea/ssrr-19-p-3.pdf

In the traditional Oromo society, women played distinct roles through an institution called
the Siiqqee (a symbolic decorated stick given to all women by their mothers upon
marriage). This is an exclusively women’s solidarity institution sanctioned by tradition and
respected by society. It is a sort of sorority that provides women with channels to
participate in village councils, and a cultural vehicle to mobilize en masse against violence
and abuse. Infringement of certain rights that women enjoy is regarded as an attack on
human rights. In the event of violation of their rights, women take out the Siiqqee and
mobilize to fight for the respect of rights, and for any perpetrator of abuse to be tried by
society. The use of Siiqqee draws an enormous religious, ritual and moral authority and in
the pursuit of peace and social tranquility. According to tradition peace is not merely the
absence of war, but a constant state of unity and cooperation among the people as well as
harmony with God and nature, with the power to bless or curse. Historically, women as a
sector of society were designated as strangers and excluded from the Gadaa structures and
rituals, but, they stuck together through the Siiqqee counting on one another within this
common sorority. -http://oromowomensinternationalconferenceonline.com/general-
information.html

http://portal.svt.ntnu.no/sites/ices16/Proceedings/Volume%203/Marit%20Tolo%20%C3%98steb
%C3%B8%20-%20Wayyuu%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Respect%20and
%20Rights.pdf

http://books.google.co.uk/books?
id=gCxLwdmLNMIC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=siiqqee+Oromo+institution&source=bl&ot
s=TFj2Y7vo_G&sig=IrqVfrNe8PKIgo2ZCTkL0DtVtJE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TxSwU8DwBYiK1
AWaoYH4BQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=siiqqee%20Oromo
%20institution&f=false

http://www.academia.edu/4604793/Qaallu_Institution_A_theme_in_the_ancient_rock-
paintings_of_Hararqee-implications_for_social_semiosis_and_history_of_Ethiopia

http://www.slideshare.net/chalihundu/oromo-peoplehood-historical-and-cultural-overview

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=utk_socopubs

http://zelalemkibret.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jos-volume-4-numbers-12-1997.pdf

Weedduu Maaram / Weedduu Ateetee

(Translation: Zelelaem Aberra Tesfa)

http://www.zelealemaberra.com/?page_id=388

In Oromo mythology, the divinity for motherhood and fecundity is Ateetee or Maaram. Maaram
or Ateetee is invoked and praised on birth-rituals. In addition, women prepare a feast and invoke
Her, praise Her kindness so that they could be fertile, healthy, prosperous, and happy (Bartles,
1990,124; Cerulli 1917, 127, Tilahun Gamta, 2004,101)

Atoomaa hardhoo Maarami!

Maa mukoofna yee!

Yaa Maaram yaa Maaramii,

Wallaalaaf araarami.
Yaa Maaram, yaa kuullee koo,
Kottu taa’i fuullee koo.

Ciniinsuu afaa butuu

Miixuu dagalee butuu
Da’anii mucaa butuu
Iddoo ciniinsuu kee tii
Guddeen kun kan kee ti.

Yaa deessuu waalluu kobe,

Maaramtu boroo gonfe,
Dhirsatu balbalaa kolfe.
Yaa dhabduu waalluu moojoo
Dhirsatu aaree guungume,
Maaramtu boroo sokkee.

Utuun Balasiin ta’e,

Balas Boongaa ta’e,
Dhabaadhaaf mirgan kenna;
ittiin haa doorsifatu.
Utuun Maaramiin ta’e,
Maaram giiftii ta’e,
Dhabduudhaaf ilman kenna,
Dhirsa haadoorsifattu.
Yaa Maaram, yaa Maaramee
Dhabduudhaaf araarami mee.
Yaa Maaram godeettii koo
Yaa dhiiga toleettii koo
Yaa Maaram marmaartuu koo
Yaa hiika gargaartuu koo.
Aayyoleen walii lama
Tokkoo ishee carii gamaa
Tokko ishee asii kana.

Akka abbaa fardaa beeka

Irraangadee kaachisa
Akka abbaa warraa beeka
Niiti deessuu caalchisa
Gaangoo jedhee na cabsee
Gindoo saa nabaachisa
Yaa maaram hundaaf giiftii
Rakkoo kiyya naaf hiiki
Yookaan ilmaa naa kennii,
Beekaattan moggaafadha
Yookaan durba naa kennii
Beektuuttin moggaafadha
Yookaan dua naa kennii
Waayeekoon obbaafadhaa.

Get-together, for today is Maaram

Let us rejoice, throw away the boredom!

O Maaram, O dear Maaram,

Reconcile, with us who lack wisdom.
Maaram with beautiful eyes, O Maaram,
Have a sit, in front of me, please come!
When in pain, the mattress one clutches
When in labour, the wall one clutches
After delivery, a baby one snatches!
In return for your labour pain
Here, the little one is your gain.

O prolific woman, your clothes smell bad,

But Maaram has adorned your backyard,
The husband laughs from the front yard.
O sterile woman, with beautiful dress
Your husband furiously grumbles,
For your backyard, Maaram avoids.

If I were Balas,
That Balas of Boongaa,
To a bad-shooter his trophies I give;
So he could boast about it with relief.
If I were Maaram,
Our great lady Maaram,
A son I would give to the sterile woman,
So she could intimidate her man.

O Maaram, my dear Maaram

Be merciful to the childless.
O Maaram, with beauty and grace
You have revered blood in your face
O Maaram, you are my commuter [between me and God]
My parturifacient mother.
Two kinds of mothers are there
One is far across the river [The biological one]
The other one is the one here. [Maaram]
I know a rider’s thought and will
He gallops down the hill
I know a husband’s thought
He loves the prolific wife the most;
He equates me to a mule, dry and bare
and makes me carry his ploughshare.
O Maaram every women’s’ queen
Resolve this problem for me
Either grant me a baby boy
I call him “he the wise”
Either grant me a baby girl
I call her “she the wise”
Or either give me death
So I could get done with my worries.

The following stanza is taken from a birth song:

Odoshaa gofaa ka’u

Sareen agartee laata?
Agartee nyaattee laata?
Dhabduu ishee mucaaf boossu,
Yeelalaa fayyaaf boowu,
Adeemsa mirgaa boowuu
Maareen agartee laata?
Agartee laattee laata?

Ililleen Waaqa akka

Ililcheen Waaqiin kadha;
Gabaa shaqaxxuu faaqi
Anoo sagadduu Waaqi!
Loome qoraan karaa
Yomiree wal agarraa?
Bor guyyaa afaan waaree
Loonee wal agarra.

Garbuu kaballaa tokko

Manteessuun akaawwatte
Kan maseente ittiin horte
Kan deesse lakkaawwatte.

Deessuun akka naan jette

Mucaa koo hinargin jette
Diinqa koo hindarbin jette.
Maali yoon diinqa shee darbee?
Maali yoon mucaa shees argee?
Mucaa sheef argaan laadha
Garaa koof marqaan nyaadha
Jabbisheetu gola miti
Mucasaheen dhora miti.

Yaa dhabduu anaa nyaatu

Ulfooftee gumaa hin nyaannee
Deesse gumaata hindhugne.
Dhagaa kakatta guutuu
Rarra’etu wal baachise
Dhabduun dawuu hinjibbine
Maaramtu wal caalchise

Yaa deessuu waalluu qobe

Ayyaanni boroo gonfe.
Yaa dhabduu waalluu moojoo
Ayyaanni boroo sokke.
Yaa dhabduu masoo dhirsa
Dhirsatu dhaanu hawwee.
Yaa saree eegee dabbasaa
Kan quufee Waaqiin darbata
Kan Maaram namaa gootu
Haati ofii namaa hingootu.
Sibiila mutaa gootee
Kan djiiga mucaa gootee.

Baddaan qullubbii hinqabu

Muree laga dhaabbata
Kan kee dhukkubbii hinqabu
Turtee nama yaadattaa.
Araarfanne yaa maaram
Sirraa deenyee.
Gadi jedheen xaafii haamaa
Ol jedheen Waaqiin waama

An old horse’s rise from the stable,

I wonder if dogs have seen it and been able?
To have eaten it, and then did settle?
Cry of a baby-longing childles
Lament of a health-longing patient
A trophy-longing hunter’s plight
I wonder if Maaree have seen?
If She has seen and granted!

Ululation for Waaqa is a must

I ululate and beseech Waaqa;
Market of the taxing tanner
I am Waaqa’s earnest prayer!
The Loomee firewood of the street
When do you think we could meet?
Tomorrow, around mid-day
We will meet slipping away.

A handful of barley
That a widow parched and eat
the sterile prospered with it
the prolific counted it. [To equally divide.]

You know what the prolific said?

“Do not see my baby.” she said
“Do not enter my inner-room” she said.
What if I enter her inner-room?
What if I see her baby?
To her baby, I give a gift
To my stomach, porridge I eat.
No calf is kept in her inner-room,
She thinks I pine her child, I presume.

What a pity for the sterile lady

She could not get pregnant and eat a hunk of meat
She could not deliver and have showers of gift.
Abundance of rock and escarpment
Is hanging and piling up
The sterile did not hate giving birth
It is Maaram that un equalizes.

The prolific with smelly skirt

Her backyard is full of spirit.
But, the childless in a pretty skirt
Her backyard is devoid of spirit.
The sterile, the husband’s name-sake
The husband wishes to punish her.
O dog with a hairy tail
The over-fed hurls at Waaqa
The favour Maaram does for one
One’s own mother would not do.
She turned iron to needles
She turned blood to a baby that toddles.

The high land does not have onion

They cut and plant in the valley;
Your delay is not offensive
for you compensate gradually.
Reconciliation with you, O Maaram
You gave us deliverance.
I bow down and harvest xaafi [food plant]
I rise up and invoke Waaqi

Iyya Siiqqee

BY HUNDASAA
Hoga iyya Siiqqee

Ilmaan hidda Horoo,

Guchuma baattee siida Ateetee

Siiqqeen iyyite seenaaf godaante

Safuuf nagaa waaqa tokkichaan dursa

Na ofkolchaa iyya Siiqqeefan tumsaa
Godaana siiqqeefan imimman robsa!

Safuu! Hoga iyya Siiqqeef

kan mandiisu akka bakakkaa
Safuu! Godaana faana Siiqqeef
Seenaa hin duune, kan hin qabne fakkii fi akka!

Uggum! Hoga iyya Siiqqeef

Iyya eenyummaa – diroon fufe gumaaf birmatu
Uggum! Godaana faana Siiqqeef
Adeemsa seenaa – qaraan-qara hin dhaabbatu

Hoo dhommoqxes Siiqqeen hin cabdu

Harooressa hin haanxoftu – gogdee hin baddu

Ni latti akka coqorsaa – jilbeeffattee dhukaan riqxee

Ni lalisti akka saardoo – margee leensa diroon cobxee
Ni daraarti akka keelloo – kuusaa aadaan booka naqxee

Sarara ulumaa Siiqqeen hareeroo

Hormata eenyummaa seenaa iyya Horoo
Duudhaa ganamaa irkoo fi utubaa boroo
Jandoo baaxii galma suuqa sororoo
Siiqqeen hin baddu dagaleen Gadaa
Kanaaf iyyatti – qabattee guchuuma aadaa!
Kan Waaqni mildhate Ayyaantuun eebbaa
Eenyummaaf birmadhu jamaan kaabaa fi kibbaa
Hoga dabarsaa, bahaa fi lixaa seenaa utubaa
Seenaa iyya Siiqqeef goonni dhiiga roobaa!

Kuusaa Oromummaa fi Hooda Ayyaantuu

Bir’uu eenyummaaf Siiqqeef birmatu!
Gadaan quufaa fi gabbina
Gabbisi ya Waaq, keenniif humna!

Humna Siiqqee kan hin cabne

Humna Gadaa kan hin dabne
Humna Oromummaa kan hin banne
Dilbii- Kuusaa kan hin dhumne
Seenaa boonsaa eenyummaa abdanne!

Gadaan gabbina Siiqqeen hareeroo

Gabbisi yaa waaq nurraa cabsi roorroo!

http://waaqeffannaa.org/iyya-siiqqee/

Oromo and Greek based Democracies

By Ibsaa Guutama

This article is for those who did not have the opportunity to know how democracy evolved in
human society. Democracy is only one type of government supposedly based on the will of the
masses. There had been other types of government like monarchy or aristocracy, dictatorship or
autocracy and totalitarian. One can find overlapping characters in all these. So what ever form
we may talk about we have to expect element of one in the other. For much, democracy is an
ideal type of government but not all proclaimed democracies are fully pro-people. Here the
writer is trying to introduce the essence of both Western and Oromo democracy in an easy way. 
For those who are well versed in theory and practice of democracy this is an opportunity to
enrich this work for the benefit of the youth. In particular the young generation that is showing
pride in its historic past from oral tradition if armed with the facts may show more interest and
start to inquire about it. To prepare the following information in addition to oral tradition and
experience this writer was exposed to, the books: Gadaa and Oromo Demokrasii by Asmirom
Laggasaa, The Oromo by De Salviac as translated by  Qannoon, Folk Litrature by Ceruuli,
Aadaa Booranaa by Ton Leus, Ethiopia through Russian Eyes by Bulatovich and Wikiipedia
from internet  were refered to.

Short note on Western Democracy 

Democracy is a term frequently heard from lips of everyone to express equality, justice and
liberty in one word. There are no governments that do not claim to follow democratic principles
in their governance. Even totalitarian states call themselves “democratic republics” (probably
with exception of fascism) in spite of flagrant violation of their subjects’ rights. Just like true
democrats they talk about the inviolability of people’s and human rights and respect for the rule
of law and fair and free election.  They claim that it is to protect these rights on behalf of the
masses when they take what are inhuman actions for others. Their founding documents are full
of borrowed phrases from ideal democracies. Democratic governmental structures are adopted
minus their functions from different countries.

Democratic models many emulate are American governmental structure with its system of
separation of powers. The functions of legislature, executive and judiciary are separated into
three branches in such a way that one can check on excesses of the other to maintain the balance
of power. The executive or President and the legislative or members of Congress are elected
directly by the people. Members of the Supreme Court are nominated by the president and
endorsed by the legislature for life. The other models are Parliamentary Democracy where the
executive is elected by the legislature. Those can be its members or non elected persons that are
answerable to it. Britain and European governments fall under this. They have mainly different
styles of organization. Still others are traditional rulers blended with modern jargons.

All these claim their objective to be safeguarding peoples’ democratic interests. The term
democracy is a legacy of ancient Greek city state, Athens. It is derived from Greek demokratia
which means government of the people (“demos”, people, and “kratos”, power).  In this aspect
“people” for Athens includes only male citizens above 20 years of age. That does not include
women, children under 20, those not born in the city state and slaves.

In the city state all those qualified had the right to be present at meetings and participate in
deliberations directly. That is why it is now referred to as direct democracy. After many
modifications it has reached the present level of modern Western democracy. Here people elect
representatives that participate in deliberations on its behalf. The two methods of electing
representatives are plurality and proportional voting systems. In the first one with the highest
vote is elected even if one represents minority of voters. The second shares votes in proportion of
the votes parties got in overall election. Those are the features of modern indirect democracy. In
both not all electorates are represented.

Now in most cases men and women above certain age have the right to vote depending on the
law of each democratic country. The right to vote for women was achieved, for example, for
Switzerland in 1971 on federal level and 1990 at Canton levels. It took a long time and a
relentless struggle to attain universal suffrage. Though all accept these basics of democracy the
structure and function of elected offices are not yet standardized and methods of elections fall
short of including every voter’s voices. For example if hundred people vote for three persons and
two of them got thirty votes each and the third one gets forty he/she wins the whole thing. That
leaves 60 persons unrepresented. Proportional representation may improve this but cannot totally
correct it. Here seats are divided in proportion to votes parties got overall.

For African countries democracy was imposed on them by departing colonial masters that keep
on insisting to this day not to abandon it even if it was a fake one. Africans did not participate to
construct a government relevant to their culture and tradition. Even those who later wanted to
introduce amendments tried to mix the various world systems instead of looking into their own
history and tradition and make it reflect national personality or psyche.  As copy and eclectic as
it is, it is understood only by elites who themselves are copies of colonial culture.

They rule the way they wanted, constitutions are only window dressings. On the other hand the
West had modified the concept of democracy in such a way that it fits their particular national
needs not as it was practiced by Athenians or any other pioneer democracies. Therefore there is
no one common blueprint for it.

Had it not excluded a segment of the population Athenian democracy could have been an ideal
one where the concern of every member is taken care of. Much has been tried to approximate
that but the world did not yet achieve flawless democracy. Abraham Lincoln’s famous
Gettysburg Address “Government of the people, by the people for the people shall not perish
from the earth.” reflects that aspiration. The question to be answered is who are the people that
influence decisions, are they really the people or oligarchs?  Though the ideal is not yet achieved
there are those that had come nearer and worth emulating. Had Oromo democracy been able to
answer that question?

Be as it may there are certain basics that underlie every governance of those that claim to be
democratic. Principles like equality, freedom, fair and free election; rule of law and respect for
people’s and individual rights run through all of them. Even dictators and totalitarian government
claim to apply these principles in their own way.   Thus these are universally accepted principles
of governance though malpractice is rampant in so many countries. Ethiopian rulers had tried to
adopt constitutionalism under pressure against their established tradition.  The emperor had
instituted a semblance of Westminster parliament without political parties. His successor (Darg)
had one party state. The next (Wayyaanee) is a pseudo multiparty system but only its party is
destined to win.

Be him the last emperor or the two dictators after him used democratic phraseology to cover up
their core authoritarian values. Their inherited autocratic practices could not go away. The
Habashaa in most part of their own history were ruled by forces that come through coup d’états
violently or outlaws overthrowing the preceding government. That was so before they formed the
empire and remained so even after it.  All the three came to power overthrowing their
predecessors. The first two staged coup d’états the third was an outlaw.

It was not consensus but brut force that kept that highland kingdom together under one crown.
Democracy assumes one man one vote in a fair and free election that should be carried out
periodically. Democracy is the rule of majority. Who ever gets most of the votes comes to
power. In numbers they are the minority in the empire and are scared of others outnumbering
them at the ballot box. They have no confidence of winning an election by strength of their
platform and performance. Therefore they believe that many opportunities would be at stake if
they really change from the old ways bowing down for democratic principles. The situation
makes the rulers greedy, self centered, chauvinistic and paranoid that they believe only in their
own ways and wisdom and are not permeable to new possibilities.  They do not believe that even
their own people would elect them in a democratic election.  That is why human right abuse
became their trade mark.

Brief note on Gadaa Democracy 

When one discusses Gadaa it would be preposterous to claim understanding its depth and
breadth. It was a highly complicated and sophisticated societal system to be attributed only to
few generations. That it has a background of ancient civilizations can be deduced from
organization of society, its legal system and patterns of knowledge it emanates. For this reason
what this article presents is only a simplistic superficial aspect of it, which yet could give a clue
to its democratic legacy. Leaving aside procedures, rituals and the regalia what interests us here
is the legal and democratic principles enshrined in it. To discover the truth of it much effort is
needed from nationals that so far considered it to be just one among the age grade initiation
systems found in so many societies. They have to erase all they learned about the Oromo in
colonial schools and start unraveling the truth about this so far neglected great African nation.

Gadaa was an all encompassing national system where by every male of all ages had roles to
play in groups based on peerage.  Accordinglly all institutions in society were managed by
elected bodies that decide in counsel. Though all activities in general fall under the Gadaa
system, it was more visible in its political aspect.  Major divisions to be considered are the
temporal and the spiritual institutions and within the temporal one the social and the political
functions.  Gadaa is temporal while Qaalluu is spiritual. It is said that the Qaalluu office used to
assist in Gadaa operations like elections. But sovereignty is vested in Gadaa Assembly.
Therefore Qaalluu as an institution does not interfere in running political affairs of the country.
That means Gadaa was secular. Here we are more interested in Gadaa secular democracy. The
social and political aspect of the spiritual institution may worth following for its historical and
academic significance.  There are several Oromoo that follow traditional religion to this day.
Gadaa was practiced by the Oromo people from time immemorial. In social aspect male
members of society are grouped into age grade “hiriyaa” (peer) system. To simplify, these were
Dabbalee from 1-8 years, Foollee or Gaammee 9-24 and Qondaala or Kuusaa 25-33, Raaba
didiqqaa 30-38, Raaba Doorii, 38-46 Luba 46-54 and Yuba 55-78 and gadamoojjii or jaarsa
above 78 (taken from different regions practice for convenience). Each member of a society had
rites to pass through. At each grade there were roles to be played and training to go through.

Activity of a hiriyaa group starts from cradle to calf herding, to different hurdles of fitness that
include military training to ruling and counseling the country. It is from these hiriyaa groups that
members of national leadership evolve and gradually become Luba, members of the Gadaa
ruling group. These leaders in most cases had been leaders of hiriyaa group from the beginning.
Women, non naturalized aliens (kan luba hin bahin) and artisans were not included in Gadaa
power sharing process.

One Gadaa period is eight years. At the end of that period there used to be great feast. That
ceremonial feast was called “Buttaa”. Buttaa also served as measurement of time. To know
someone’s age one asks “how many Buttaa did you eat?”  All those who were born during the
eight years tell the same age, one, two, three etc.  Buttaa. From that a wise man could tell to
which hiriyaa group or Gadaa party one belonged. Five buttaa are slain in one Gadaa cycle of
forty years. Those born into each Gadaa are hiriyaa (peers) irrespective of up to eight years
possible differences. A boy born at the beginning of the eight years and one born on Buttaa day
after eight years are considered to have eaten one Buttaa.

On the political side society is divided into Gadaa of five parties. Members in each Gadaa party
were recruited from their own generational age grades. Each Gadaa has a role to play in the
political life of the nation depending on the time and level in the Gadaa tier. The oldest group is
the Yuba. It is composed of person whose members were in power in previous times. Next is
Luba, the ruling party. Below that is the Itmakoo or Raba Doorii (these may have other names
with different tribes) juniors that lead in defense and nation building. The next group follows the
foot steps of their seniors and engages in different aspects of society appropriate for their ages.
Each hiriyaa group maintains close relationship and prepare themselves for the next stage of
partisan responsibility. They all elect their leaders. Those at the bottom of the ladder are the
dabbalee to whose raising society gives much attention. It is there that the basis of Oromummaa
is laid down and hunting for generational leaders start.

At any one period there are three Gadaa levels that engage is serious party work and has
conventions or yaa’a. The bottom one is Raabaa Doorii a group that is preparing to take power
after eight years (from), the middle one is the Gadaa in power Luba and the last one is the one
that leaves office, Yuba. Each Gadaa comes to power after a cycle of forty years. Since there is a
party in waiting to replace the other no party can stay in power for more than eight years. No
crisis can be obstacle to transfer Baallii for there is a ready made leadership. To transfer Baallii
means to transfer authority. As symbol of authority the old Abbaa Gada hands over to the
incoming ostrich feather that was in his custody. Each Gadaa proclaims its own constitution and
laws. Therefore there is no stagnation in waiting for cumbersome methods of amendments. Even
if there is no article to be changed the past law is formally made null and void and proclaimed
again as new. The five Gadaa had set names or are called after their leaders.

The highest Assembly of the nation is Caffee or Gumii. The Caffee sits under shade of an Odaa
tree. The General Assembly includes all members of the ruling party and any such persons that
want to attend it. In this way it is a representative indirect democracy with some elements of
direct democracy. Living Abbaa Gadaas and the Yuba can also participate in the assembly.
Abbaa Gadaa or Abbaa Bokkuu is the head of the Caffee and the chief executive as well. There
is a case where their were two heads of Caffee, one ritual head called Abbaa Bokkuu and another
elected head, Abbaa Gadaa. The Luba usually consults “raagaa” wise man or philosopher on the
future or consequences of certain decisions. But the raagaa has no power to avert a decision.

In addition to mentioned institutions there are several others that should not escape our attention.
For example the institution of clan elders which are hereditary have no place in the Gadaa
structure but has important role in organizing and guiding the tribe. Members of Gadaa were
recruited (nominated) from tribes they lead. They have ritual symbols and roles to play in cursing
and blessing. When Gadaa is the national leadership these ones are tribal ones. It was from
among these ones that the colonizers embraced and recruited as agents for all their grassroots
activities. In tribal protocol the eldest of the clans is called or seated first. Since tribal structures
have already been rendered obsolete it has no nationwide political relevance in modern setting.
There is also the Siiqqee institution that gives women social and political authority to some
degree. In principle this can be integrated into any modern adaptations.

For the Oromo rights like equality, freedom, fair and free election; rule of law and respect for
people’s and individual rights, respect and protection for environment and wild life are inbuilt
qualities of Gadaa democracy. All human beings are equal; no one is above the law;
discrimination because of origin, color or economic status etc is unjust. Respect for human
rights, freedom of expression that are not safuu or morally repulsive, freedom of movement and
association are protected by law. Elected officials are loved and respected as long as they serve
the people whole heartedly and with the highest morale standard.  An incompetent and corrupt
official can be removed from office by the assembly before the expiry of his term of office. In
meetings it was preferred if decisions were reached by consensus. Each member of a meeting or
assembly has the right of veto to halt a discussion. Once decisions were reached all are required
to acclaim and the law becomes sacred.
Gadaa Assembly combines executive, legislative and judiciary powers. Gadaa here is to mean
the ruling class as well as the eight years of their rule. Leaders of current Gadaa are called Luba.
The outgoing Gadaa which participates as advisors and judges are called Yuba. The Yuba group
includes two previous Yuba. Though all powers and responsibility lie with the Luba, Yuba and
all living Abbaa Gadaas had also roles to play in matters of law and checking on excesses of
Luba and had great influence on all political matters. Full retirement comes three Gadaa after
they leave office. From thence they are called gadamoojjii or jarsaa. Another hiriyaa group that
is active during a Gadaa period is the Itmakoo or Raaba Doorii with defense as their major
activity with their eye on the bokkuu when the time comes.

In Oromo society there was a tendency of the weak to form alliance against the strong. For
example grandparents and grandchildren ally against parents. In the same way it is logical for
Raabaa Doorii to ally against the strongest institution of the land, Luba. In that way power of
Luba can be checked before it gets corrupted and become abusive.

The chief Luba is the Abbaa Bokkuu or Abbaa Gadaa (Hayyuu Fiixee). In places he has two
deputies one having greater power than the other. The executive power is held by Salgee, the top
nine Luba or six in some places. Those were elites elected by the people for eight years with
Abbaa Gadaa as their leader. Committees were usually formed at different levels for different
functions. Prerogatives of decision making at each level is known. There will always be
consultation before decisions are taken. They were it is believed, those frequent meetings to
make seera (law, legislation) that gave rise to Amaara legal term “seeraa” to mean conspiracy.

Abbaa Bokkuu implements what is decided by Salgee. Abbaa Bokkuu’s role as a chief is defined
by law. Thus he has internal constraint imposed on him by peers and external ones by Yuba and
Raaba Doorii and Caffee periodic assembly that is chaired by Abbaa Seera who is a well
respected past Abbaa Gadaa.  The limitation of office term of only eight years for a party is by it
self a reason not to get corrupted lest face humiliation with no chance of reelection. Thus Gadaa
democratic system was a well balanced system with inbuilt checks and balance mechanism. The
Abbaa Gadaa and Luba had assistances called makala (Makkala). Makala kan be compulsory
service to Gadaa offices.

Military functions are assigned to Raaba Doorii by law and tradition. But Abbaa Gadaa was
commander in chief and only Caffee can declare war. Commanders are appointed by Abbaa
Gadaa for each engagement. After a campaign is over the person went back to his normal duties.

But lack of efficient communication and contingent law enforcement mechanism had given rise
for Abbaa Duulaas to defy tradition starting in the course of the 16th century.

Some cardinal points of Gadaa system

1. Gadaa is equal: There should be no one to be denied passing through Gadaa process, elect
and be elected when ones turn comes. There should not be partiality or discrimination in
services and protections Gadaa provides. Every member has the right to directly or
through elected representative be heard in all affairs that affect people’s life; to be equally
treated in matters of administration of justice. No one is above the law. No one may be
prohibited to attend Gadaa deliberations.
2. Odaa is equal: Odaa is a national symbol for people’s government, demokratia. It
represents freedom of speech and expression, freedom of assembly, equality of all
participants that meet there, freedom of worship, peace and araaraa (reconciliation) and
liberty to rest for persons and animals under its shade without worry of being disturbed.
 3. Malkaa is equal: Ford or river crossing (confluence) is open to all for crossing; perform
rituals; using water for drinking, washing etc for humans and animals. No one for any
one reason can bar any one from using it. Malkaa is a symbol of transiting from status
quo to something new.
4. Market is equal: every one has equal rights to take ones produce to the market and
exchange with goods and services that it provides. Every one is free to participate in such
exchanges and any trade of ones liking that the market provides
5. Road is equal: every one is entitled to the right of way; no one can be denied an access
from his home to outer world or restricted from using of existing roads like all others;
there will not be restriction to the right of travel; no one has the right to close an existing
road for own use.

Is there any point that modern society discard from these? So far we have tried simplistic
approach to uncover old Gadaa practice. Gadaa was more inclusive in its membership than
Greek City state democracy. It involves every member of society to equally participate in all
activity of the nation according to generations. All male nationals are grouped into generational
hiriyaa and play roles society assigned for them. For this reason the Gadaa system involves all in
the process of managing a society. Each division stays in the age grade for eight years before it is
initiated into the next level. Probably except kids under nine all elect their leaders through
electoral process. Gadaa was a representative democracy with some elements of direct
democracy. Anyone that can travel to Caffee Assembly can participate in its deliberations and
express ones opinion. That gives it semblance of direct democracy. Gadaa was practiced when
Qaalluu institution had significant role in Oromo society and the nation was at a different level of
economic and technological development than the present. Taking these variations into account
let us see if there are principles that we could salvage for new democratic Oromiyaa.

1. Societal development takes place on two lines. One is the social age grade system and the
other is the party system. One follows the gradual mental and physical development of a
child, while the other handles its political development. At stage of adult hood both
overlap. In the political aspect society is grouped into five hiriyaa category and a party
name is attached to them. Each party takes turn in governing every eight years. A party
 has to wait for forty years to reign again. All five parties exist at the same time with
different roles to play.
2. In Gadaa executive and legislative functions are combined. Bokkuu and Caffee (Gumii)
are the highest authority of the land. Sovereignty lies with the people but expressed
through Caffee and Bokkuu.
3. Decisions are reached by consensus how ever long it may take. That means minority
opinion is never neglected.
4. Abbaa Bokkuu is the commander in chief of the fighting force. Caffee is the only power
that can declare war. People love and respect the leaders because of their valor and
uprightness not out of fear and threat.
5. Yuba is the highest advisory body and also heads the supreme court of the land. Its head
is the most respected among the living retired Abbaa Gadaas and usually taken as the
Supreme Judge (Chief Justice).
6. Itmakoo/Raaba Doorii is a power in waiting to replace the incumbent Luba. It is
responsible for recruiting, training military personnel and conducting war.
7. Qaalluu is the spiritual leader with some functions concerning elections but never
interferes in secular affairs of the Gadaa. Gadaa was a temporal institution.
8. Women were recognized as subjects of rights through Siiqqee institution. There were also
rituals that cannot be performed without them. But full equality was not guaranteed.
9. The top Gadaa counselors were nine ( Salgee) or Six
10. The Luba are assisted by unelected official called makala (Aide de camp)
11. Each Gadaa general assembly convenes at the beginning of its term to declare laws. Then
it will assemble in its mid term to make progress report. Then members can be criticized,
condemned or uprooted for wrong doings if any. That means electors had the right to
recall their representatives for corruptions and abuses. Caffee meetings are open for
citizens that can attend.
12. Raagaa is a wise usually old man or philosopher that can advise on the future
13. Hayyuu were notables (elites) that can give decisions and counseling on several issues.
They were knowledgeable members of the society without any flaw in character.
To summarize, the people are sovereign; representative system mixed with direct democracy
were practiced; rulers were elected for a limited term of only eight years; citizens had the right to
elect and be elected according to their ages; no one was above the law; people can recall their
representative; humans, animals and nature are protected by law; the welfare of children was
concern of all members of society; their was majority rule but by making decision by consensus
minority views were protected; all human being were equal, ill treatment was abhorred; right to
assemble and freedom of expression were protected; right to engage in any trade was protected;
right to travel were granted; right to worship was recognized and discrimination based on race,
age, gender and economic status are forbidden. There was inbuilt check and balance system in
the political process but not so spelled out.

Now, that we have seen a brief introduction to western and ancient Oromo Gadaa democracy, let
us try if we can come out with a fitting system for reorganizing modern Oromiya. The system of
dividing and managing society into generations is not different from modern world school
systems. Children learn what is assigned them according to peerage, “preschool, kindergarten,
primary, secondary, college”. This is not far from what they call “dabbalee, Foollee, Gaammee,
Raaba etc.” Existing political parties recruit members from this school system. But the Oromo as
different as they are, had something to add and their own outlook. Oromo see the system in
interrelation with all other societal activities. To pass from one stage to the other are rights of all
citizens not of particular classes.

Probably it would be essential to revise certain things and see how they may serve modern
society better.  Instead of collectively saying Oromo youth association if one says association of
Foollee, Gaammee, Raaba etc it will help to mobilize in unison generation that under stand each
other better. It may also give better opportunity to develop future leadership for society. In the
past stages in the Gadaa were seen from fathers’ point. For this reason the age at which one has
to produce a child was determined. If one is born before that it was bad omen. Now all children
should be treated equally and age has to be considered from childrens point. So, age should not
be calculated by butta and father’s Gadaa grade, but the exact date of a child’s birth. All those
excluded to participate in gadaa activities and elections must now be included to make true that
all humanbeing are eqal. This is only the skeleton otherwise social functions require deeper
research. During the period of Abbaa Gadaa there was only one Qaalluu, now they are numerous
(in addition to those of other religions). In the past we go for pilgrimage only to Abbaa Muudaa
now we crossed the sea and added Mecca and Jerusalem etc. After all, what do you think?  This
is a big challenge for Oromoo intellectuals. It may require liberating ones mind from the shackles
of foreign influences to appreciate what we had. Gadaa is never obsolete but may need
refurbishing. Go and make research before responding.

Let us get prepared to be ourselves and show the world that Gadaa still dwells in our minds and
body.  This will not be difficult for one who has pride in Oromummaa.

Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living
and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our fore parents!
Ibsaa Guutama
July  2011

http://gubirmans.com/Oromo%20and%20Greek%20based%20Democracies.html

…The presence of the aged, both men and women who attired in traditional costumes, and
carrying ritual sticks—bokkuu and siiqqee—the symbols of power and justice of
the gadaa system decorated the march which reflected the authentic Oromo tradition. This
authenticity is articulated not only in the words spoken by the elders and sung by the artists but
also expressed in the peacefulness of the gathering of millions of people. Oromo nationalism is
reviving and thriving in the fertile soil of rich symbolic cultural resources that have come to the
open since the 1990s. The array of national symbols such as the odaa tree which decorate the
costumes worn by men, women and children, the siiqqee, the bokkuu and other pre-colonial pan-
Oromo symbols carried by men and women at the festival represent and reinforce the pride of the
nation and unite the multitude gathered for the festival through a common imagery of shared
memories, myths and values—in other words the shared structures of feeling.

http://maddawalaabuupress.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/oromo-freedom-from-what-and-for-
what.html

 
Related Article:

Safuu, the Oromo moral value and doctrine

by Rundaasaa Asheetee Hundee 

is the principle of deep moral honor and accountability that was fostered by Waaqayyo fearing
people of Oromia. “Yoon maqe, Waaqni na arga” is the principle rooted in each Oromo proven
to be worthy of wholesomeness, to have virtue, and love other. These type of people have a
desire to understand and live by traditional values.

Young Oromo children often spoke about the fundamental principle that telling the truth,
respecting nature, being trustworthy, and standing for the right thing is natural to human beings.
As an Oromo, we were taught these values and it made us women and men of such noble
character.

Not only our characters were shaped by Safuu Oromo, even the process of Seera tumu (law
making) was inspired by this principle and the Gadaa system was framed on the basis of Safuu.
Basically then, Safuu is the principle of restoration of human dignity in a significant way.
Because of Safuu, Birmadummaa and honesty is expected from each Oromo so that we all can
live virtuous life of divine purposes.

When the Oromo people lived according to the Gadaa system, they dominated the horn of Africa
and established their republic, and the Oromoo Foollee turned into statesmen and defended the
norm of Gadaa governance. Because they believed in being honest, true, benevolent and virtuous
in doing good to humanity, they demanded no money for their work and time. They worked on
their farms but served their country as abbaa Seeraa, abbaa Alangaa, abbaa Caffee, abbaa Bokku
and as Hadha sinqee etc..

Because of Safuu, the Oromos are inspired to respect nature and committed to deal justly with
humankind! That’s why we are indebted to freedom-loving individuals everywhere who had the
integrity necessary to build the foundations of human societies upon safuu’s fundamental moral
values. Only in an atmosphere of freedom and trust could values like honesty and integrity truly
flourish.

Safuu Oromo therefore is an expectation that people must rise above self-interest and act in the
public interest with wisdom and courage both on the national and the local political scene.

One reason for the decline of Safuu in Oromia to day is that people invented new standards that
constantly changes and undependable moral conduct. As a result, individuals define good and
evil as being adjustable according to each situation but doing so is in direct contrast to the Safuu
standard.

The vast majority of so called educated Oromos speak or think based on this mindset where right
and wrong are calculated to either remain neutral or to be liked by others at the expenses of own
value, the Safuu. In the process, our people lost their ancestral knowledge of what is right and
what is wrong and went astray by longings for luxury and leisure that they think will be found in
the western world style of living and thinking.

The devastation that comes from such fraudulent life style and self misrepresentation is
immeasurable. It leads to a false belief that they can worship anything they want following the
rules they set for themselves.

However, the continued survival of a free and open society is dependent upon a high degree of
divinely inspired values and moral conduct (safuu), as stated by the Oromo Ayaantus. People
must have trust in their institutions and in their leaders. Hence, a great need today is for
leadership that exemplifies truth, honesty, and decency in both public and private life.

Honesty is not only the best policy, it is the only policy according to Safuu Oromo.
There are several things we can do to develop SAFUU.

Desire It (Fedhii Safuu horadhu)

Live honest life (hin Maqin)

Be Humble (Fayaalessa ta’i)

Study (Qu’adhu)

Search and ponder on ideas (Yaada xiinxali)

Love nature ( Umaa jaaladhu)

Read @ http://advocacy4oromia.org/home/safuu-the-oromo-moral-value-and-doctrine/

http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/oromia/safuu-the-oromo-moral-value-and-doctrine/

Published in:

 Afaan Oromo
 African Heritage
 African Philosophy
 Ateetee (Siiqqee): Oromo Women social Power and Institution in Gadaa System
 Gadaa System
 Ormomummaa
 Oromia
 Oromian
 Oromiyaa
 Oromo
 Oromo Heritage
 Oromo Identity
 Oromo Identity and Culture
 Oromo Nation
 Oromo Social System
 Safuu: The Oromo Moral Code and Philosophy
on July 13, 2014 at 10:38 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: African Culture, African Studies, African Women, Ancient Africa, Ancient People, Awash
Valley, Berbers, Black British, Black Latin America, Cushite, Cushitic (Kushitic) languages,
East African Rift Valley, Fulani, Gadaa System, Indigenous people, Irreecha, Irreessa, Kemet,
Kingdom of Kush, Kush, Madda Walaabuu, Martin Bernal, Nation and Nationalism, Oromia,
Oromiyaa, Oromo and Ancient Egypt, Oromo Culture, Oromo People, Oromummaa, Qubee
Afaan Oromoo, Safuu:Safuu, Siiqqee (Ateetee): The Oromo Women Ancient Institution, The
Nile Valley and Oromiyaa, the Oromo moral value and doctrine

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