I want to say to my hitherto readers, including my critics, have a life of Ora-omo aka Life of Oromo i.e. life of resurrection which means life of a NEW beginning and success in the rest of your lifeโs journey. I will try to explain what is meant by Oromo life in this article.
First let me try to elaborate what I mean by life of resurrection.
This term is often used by all three major Judeo-Christian religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). But its origin seems to be from earlier beliefs likeย Waaqeffannaaย as we will look at it below.
Nowadays, resurrection is used as a metaphor for the new beginning towards success, new start, new plan, new goal setting, new life journey, and after having experienced death. For Oromo people, resurrection may mean a new start and success after setbacks in our hitherto liberation journey. How is the process of resurrection viewed according to Oromo religion (Waaqeffannaa)?
To be successful in push forward, Oromo people need to empower our Oromo emancipation wing which would mean striving to give confidence and power to ourselves- so that Oromo people can be free from setback
As we approachย Irreechaaย (Irreessaa,ย Eretcha, orย Irreensa) celebration, we have to think about the two meanings of the wordย Irreessaa.ย Irreessaaย can be defined as both thanksgiving and empowering. Let us celebrate this yearโs Irreechaa in both senses. Let us give thanks toย Waaqaย and as well empower our nation.
We can empower the great Oromo nation in two ways. First, we should start by coming together beforeย Waaqayyooย and committing ourselves toย Tokkummaa. Secondly, by avoiding all possible things that contribute to our division and subsequent weakening like the inner wrangling we have among ourselves. I hope theย Irreessaaย holiday will be the time to empower Oromo nation and all for the new start and for devising new and more efficient means of struggle to achieve ourย Kaayyoo.
The story of Irreechaa
Here I will demonstrate how the notion of resurrection is original to Oromo religion before it was taken over by Judeo-Christian beliefs. The celebration of the first harvest of the Ethiopian Spring in September is a story told by the late Poet Laureate Tsegaye G/Medhin (Tsegaye was an Oromo poet who wrote mainly in Amharic). He narrates the story as follows. โ12,000 years ago,ย Asraย the God of sun and of sky, God of Cush Pharao, begottenย Seteย the older son, Ora the younger son and a daughter named as Asis (Ateteย orย Adbar).
The olderย Seteย killed his younger brotherย Oraย andย Asisย (Ateteย orย Adbar) planted a tree (Odaa) for the memorial of her deceased brotherย Oraย at the bank of Nile in Egypt where the murder had taken place, and she requested her father who was the God of Sun to make peace among the families ofย Seteย andย Ora. Then rain has come and the tree (Odaa) grew. It symbolized that peace has taken place. Later, during the Stone Age, the tree that had been planted for the memorial of the killed,ย Oraย was substituted by a statue of stone that was erected 8000 years ago.
The festival for theย Oraย statue has been celebrated in September of every year when Nile flows full in Nubia and black Egypt. In Ethiopia, during the Axumite and pre-Axumite period a great festival has been held around the statue that was planted byย Asisย (Ateteย orย Adbar) for the memorial ofย Ora, the son of the sunโs God, who risen up from death (Ora-Omoย orย Or-omo) for the purpose of celebrating the peace made between the two brothers. After the memorial was the great herald performed in thanking the God of sun and of sky withย Chibo.
The Eyo KA Abebaye, the traditional and popular song performed atย Demeraย events and during the Ethiopia New Year, has been performed since then. โKAโ is the first name of God that our Cush Fathers have inherited to us before the introduction of Christianity and Islam to our sub-region. Since that time the Oromo, Gurage and other nations in southern Ethiopia have been calling God as โWakaย orย Waaqaโ.
Therefore, it should be noted that when Oromos singย Eyokaย orย Eyohaย at New Year, we praise โKAโ, the God. โGadaaโ orย KA Aadaโ is the law or rule of God. โGadaaโ (KA Aada) is the festival by which the laws and orders of God are executed. Japan, China and India reached their current stage of civilization following basic cultural traditions; they inherited from their forefathers (Hindu, Shinto and Mahiberata).
They also kept their own beliefs intact, even at the time when they were receiving Islam, Christianity, and other ideologies such as democracy. They did not come this far by undermining the culture and traditions of their forefathers.
Culture is the collection of many Chibos or Demeras. โIrreechaaโ or โIrreesseaโ one of the part and parcel ofย Gadaaย (KA Aadaa) system is the corner stone of and the turning point to the new year for whichย Asisย (Ateteย orย Adbar) has put up the dead body of her brother,ย Oraย who was killed by his older brother (like Abel of Bible) from the place where he died at the river bank of Nile and planted a statueโ.
The Oromo people of Ethiopia believed in one Supreme Being calledย Waaqaย (Equivalent of God) since time immemorial. Their religion is called โWaaqeffannaaโ which means believing in one God that is the creator of the whole universe.ย Irreeechaaย means a celebration where people get together and perform their prayers and thank God for the rain, good harvest, peace and all the blessings that he has afforded them.
Waaqeffannaaย is a religion that is free from anything and an integral part of theย Gadaaย System. Our forefathers hold fresh green grass and flowers to perform their prayers and thank their God by going to mountains, to the lake or a riverbank.
Oromos chose mountain tops or riverbanks not to worship the mountains or rivers. For instance, they go to the mountain top to get away from any noise and worship God (Waaqa) with concentration. And they go to riverbanks or a lake because they believe that green is holy, water is life and the places are peaceful where the spirit of God is abundant.
In the Oromo culture, the rainy season is considered as the symbol of darkness. At the beginning of September; the darkness is gone, rivers run shallower and cleaner, and the mud has dried up. As sunshine rules the land, the Oromo people go out to celebrate this great natural cycle with the spirit of worshiping God (Waaqa).
It is interesting to see that the meaning of the word Oromo meansย Ora-Omo, the resurrectedย Ora, the resurrected human being, the person of the new beginning and success. Do we want to be Oromo in such a sense? This year when we celebrateย Irreechaaย around the world where Oromos reside, let us consider having the life of Oromo or the life ofย Ora-Omo, the life of resurrection, which in general means life of new beginning and success after the hitherto failure or after the repeated setbacks we had based on many factors which are in and out of our control.
I hope Oromos everywhere will commit themselves to such a new beginning for the success both in our collective national interest and individual personal life.
Mayย Waaqayyooย help lead such an Oromo life.
Merryย Irreechaaย to Oromo! Mayย Waaqayyooย bless Oromia.
BY FAYYIS OROMIA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER 2024
