Ethiopia is home to more than eighty ethnic groups or nationalities. As such it is a country that boasts ancient historical, cultural values and several heritages, which are untapped tourism potentials yet to be exploited. The Gurage Zone, where three hard working ethnic groups-Gurage, Kebena and Mareko-harmoniously coexist is found in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNPs) State.
These people are marked for their mouthwatering traditional meals like Kitfo, a type of flat bread prepared from a finely chopped red meat mixed with melted butter and chili powder. Kocho which is made of flour extracted out of a false banana through a strong fermentation process. On most occasions and while fasting it is served with Gomen Kitfo, a cabbage cooked with butter after chopped in small pieces like the meat.
Every year from January to February, the Gurage people, mainly the women, organize different cultural festivals. According to Meseret Argaw, Head of the Culture and Sports Directorate of the Zone, Women’s Day (Mothers’ Day) (what is currently referred as March Eight has been celebrated in their locality by the people beginning from ancient times. She says women are accorded great honor and respect in the society. She says that the first women’s rights activist, who had been struggling against such dominance, was from this particular society. She went by the name Yekake Wordwot.
Even if her brave struggles had not been well promoted over the past many years, historical writers and playwrights are currently alluding to her fight. She was a female who challenged men leaders of her time with the idea that women are capable of doing many things on par with men. She labored much to drive home that women should be given the chance to make equal decisions with men on every socioeconomic and cultural matter that concerns them. Yekake Wordwot has a very special place in the hearts of women in this society and they still remember her dignified glory.
Meanwhile, the objective of this story is to spotlight about the cultural festivals that the women celebrate on the months January and February every year. And the reason that Yekake Wordwot is mentioned to recall her deeds. She was the heroine who pioneered in setting an example for women to fight for their dignity and respect.
Even though peoples of the three ethnicities have their own separate cultures and festivals to celebrate, most of them have commonalities and similar values as they involve women, children and the elderly with honor. “For instance, there is a celebration that honors mothers during the Meskel or Demera festivity (The finding of the true cross). There is also Women’s Arefa as well as women’s or Mothers’ day with different traditional occasions,” says Meseret.
From all the above mentioned cultural occasions, Aboye, Neko, and Kurfwe are the salient cultural festivals that the girls and women celebrate during those two months. All have their own different meanings and causes of celebration.
Bahirwa Delkiro, a Traditional Singer and Dancer at the Cultural Band of the Gurage Zone of SNNPs State, told to The Ethiopian Herald that Aboye comes first in January. It is a preparation for Neko, which they go around their neighborhood singing for fifteen days and collect from the community some agricultural harvests of the year like coffee, maize, Teff, etc. Then they will take it to the market to sell it, so they will spend the money for the Neko festival that they will celebrate to welcome the Hudade (lent) or the Forty days fasting of Easter.
Whenever Easter approaches women would gather false banana’s roots called Yejib Enset and will lay it on the ground after it is wrapped up with a cloth. Then they would start preparing the traditional meals such as Kocho and Dabuye for a feast that is meant for the departure or a farewell to Jesus’s body. They also sing songs that depict the honor of Jesus and remember his sacrifice on the Cross. They say Kurwe is precious like their bracelets.
“We haven’t done much in promoting the culture but the way we celebrate the festivals is somewhat similar with the Ashenda festival in Tigray State and that is one of the new year celebrations in different parts of the country. “ Only the dates of celebration, ways we dress, the songs and what they depict could be different. For instance, girls celebrate the coming of Ethiopian new years on September with songs. Ours are not about celebrating New Year. They are events when girls display their singing and grooving ability, among other traditional activities”.
February is the month that the farmers collect their harvest and girls who are betrothed get prepared for their weddings, said Bahrwa adding “Those days of the month are times the girls stick out from the crowd. It is like the best month of the year that womenfolk exercise their freedom. Even parents expend from their savings on their daughters to make the occasion colorful. We will go to an open market singing and dancing on Tuesday and Saturday of the last week when the festivals come to an end”.
During the end, the girls will gather in someone’s home or dining hall. There they would be left alone and enjoy their feast with drinks. None is allowed to be a wet blanket or barge into their privacy to ruin their time of happiness and freedom.
Meanwhile, this cultural values that crown girls with most respect need more research and promotion by experts who are engaged in the tourism sector as well as the Zone Administration. A promising initiative is underway with annual cultural festival in Wolkite Town, capital of the zone. The effort is expected to bring more additional traditions that will create much bigger images of the people and their cultures.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 9 February 2020
BY
HENOK TIBEBU
