Over eight months’ time has elapsed since I paid a visit to East Gojjam of the Amhara State. It was to celebrate the Easter feast I went there last time and now for a traditional wedding that afforded me a better chance to see the cultural values of the people and the gray development which is underway in Debre Markos, the capital of East Gojjam Zone in Amhara State.
During my travel crossing through the vast Selale plain land of Oromia State, here and there scattered on the farm fields, I had been seeing the hard working farmers’ piles of harvest residues, which will be a fodder for their livestock throughout the year.
The renovation of the crossroad from Selale to the west is one point that indicates there has been less concern on quality while the first construction was undertaken some eight years ago.
We snaked through the rising towns of Mukka Tture, Debre Tsege, Fiche, Gebre Guracha and then to the Abay Gorge. Serenity had been stamped everywhere and we had our lunch at Gebre Guracha where people would welcome and serve guests wholeheartedly with a smile. Abay is the Amharic version for Nile. The road to cross this basin is unkempt due to some quality inconveniences during construction or natural causes, I guess.
When I arrived at Debre Markos, all I observed was a gray development, which the investors and the Town Administration are striving on. They have laid stones over stones but the idea of green seems to be forgotten.
The only big and commendable effort is the reforestation of the Yeraba forest, which is found close by Debre Markos, by the Amhara Forest Enterprise. They did a great job on rehabilitating the area with new trees of the same tree seedlings that have been there before and some new beautiful species evolved.
When you get to the old town, Debere Markos, you would know something is missing if you were born and raised there. You would notice everything is getting gray as some part of the town becoming congested by buildings and bustling with road constructions. I see gray stones growing with different architectural designs in many places, but greenery seems relegated to the town’s history. One of the major issues that investors, both local and foreign, do not have to forget is green areas, while they are bringing into life concrete jungles, I mean in their construction site. Even the town administration seems to forget considering environmental values in its road constructions. The only thing one could notice is some raising buildings, coble stone and asphalt roads that made me conclude the development in that particular town is totally gray.
Now let us talk about culture. It is the harvest and wedding season in most parts of the country. I have seen Selale to Gojjam’s farmers that completed their job in time. The wedding I have been invited to attend was somehow a mixture of traditional and modern values. Esayas Bekalu the young bridegroom was sitting with one of his best men Yehualaw Aynalem enjoying glasses of Tella (a traditional Ethiopian drink) on the porch when I arrived in his parents’ house. He was also restless trying to decorate the compound and make everything perfect for the wedding with his father Bekalu Kasse.
His mother, Mulugojjam Kirub and women of the neighborhood were busy preparing the drinks and cooking food for their guests.
Even if they have been busy for the past couple of weeks, they do not seem exhausted for the day that has to come was what the whole family and neighborhood have been graciously waiting for. For parents who wait to celebrate their children’s wedding, that particular day is a looked-forward once and as such they turn indefatigable, whatever their health conditions.
One of the major traditional ceremonies in most parts of Gojjam during the wedding day is picking Homa (Homa is an indigenous tree). This ceremony is performed and accentuated by both the groom’s and bride’s family and villagers. They would go singing and chanting to a nearby place where there is a Homa tree and pick some leaves. Demis Alamirew, in-law of the bride groom family, told The Ethiopian Herald that everyone who goes to the ceremony would bring leaves of the Homa tree and return singing and chanting as the groom’s mother awaits them by the gate.
The mother would have a traditional sieve or Wonfit (a traditional filter that separates neat cereal from the waste or chaff) on her head and welcome her son or daughter (groom or bride) with ululation and singing. Then everyone who went to the picking ceremony would return back to put the Homa leaves on the Wonfit and the mother would continue singing, because it is her day of the days. Demis said the Homa tree is the strongest of all and it is used to make several material meant for domestic use and farming.
“Any material made from Homa tree serves for too long. And most of all it is used as a pillar (Misoso) while building traditional houses. Therefore, the meaning of the Homa ceremony on wedding days is related with the hope that the marriage would be strong and long lasting as the tree.” Esayas was busy decorating the compound until midday. That was when many of his best men came to escort him to his bride’s home.
There had been a feast for the best men before they left the house. They needed to dine well to pluck energy because a struggle to get their way past through celebrants, fencing the bride’s home with ebullient mood while singing wedding songs replete with satirical remarks. Most of the time, such a wrestling-like theatrical acts take place on the front door between the groom’s best men and the bride’s family.
When the groom’s men try to break in to the house, the entire bride’s family, who stand on the door, would be singing that they would never give their sister (the bride) easily and block ways inside. The struggle would not easily die out even when one of the best men steps into the house to grab the bride’s hand. Then, agreements will be signed in front of the bride’s family and elders. After both the bride and the groom took the oath of marriage in the traditional ways, they would put the rings in one another’s fingers. Thenceforth the marriage will be official. Soon the best men start singing switching to tunes of their interest;
“We have grabbed her hand, we have made her sign” and they would go to the nearby Yeraba forest for a picnic and fresh air where most of the newlywed have some time with the best men and maids. This has been a tradition ever since I was a kid. And I believe that such days have always been joyful because of the existence of such beautiful forests like Yeraba. Therefore, it must be everyone’s concern to plant more trees and protect them as they grow.
When the groom and his best men escort the bride along with her maids to the newly wed’s would be home, I saw the groom breathing deeply as a sign of relief. It seemed like he pulled off a very big mission of not only making his parent happy but it was a victory he won to set a better and new future of a family life. He said that he has been planning the wedding for nearly six months. One thing that took more time was the traditional clothes both he and his wife dressed on the wedding day. “I spent 14,000 Birr for the clothes. If we wanted the modern suits, it would have taken only two days. But we preferred to be seen in original Ethiopian traditional dresses. We have got it made in the prison. There are prisoners who gained vocational training as they are doing their time.
It is not only about making our wedding colorful by the traditional clothes but they would also generate an income from the jobs they are doing and start their normal lives when they are released. On the other hand, we chose traditional clothes for we have to hold on the best cultural values that we would handover for our children and generations to come. We can also wear them on other cultural ceremonies or festivals including the days that our kids will be baptized,” said Esayas adding that modern suits could not express our people with their true features on such traditional occasions.
His best men and villagers made the traditional walk to the new life colorful but culture wouldn’t be colorful without the green blessings we ought to secure. And every cultural practice and urban development need to consider the value of green (plants), so we could embrace our culture and development being loyal to Mother Earth or nature from which we would only profit the most.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday edition March 1/2020
BY HENOK TIBEBU
