Gaaro is one of the prominent festivity among the Shinasha people. It marked as the beginning of the New Year among the Shinasha Community in Ethiopia. The Shinasha people celebrate the New Year festivals in an impressive manner, The Ethiopian Herald learnt.
According to Girma Regasa, Head of Communication Affairs Office at Bulen Worda Metekele Zone of Benishangul Gumuz State, most Shinasha people prepare a feast to welcome Gaaro as a New Year. It is also named as “Woro- Gawo or Woro-Bore”.
The individual Shinasha organizes service on the day before where all members of Shinasha meet and celebrate the Gaaro throughout the year. The Gaaro celebration has unique characteristics, which has been prepared without any sort of discrimination by age and sex. All sections of the society, men, women, youth and children together actively involved at the celebration, Girma noted.
This celebration held every year’s at the middle of September, a time in which new crops being harvested by local people. At the beginning of the celebration, the ceremony will be launched by elders of the community in a place named Gaari-jaba, where elders from three Shinasha clans intentionally select and bless as a special place to celebrate.
This place is intentionally selected
and blessed by elders from three Shinasha clans (Endi, Ennoro and Do’o). This place once blessed by these elders of the three clans will not easily change year to year. It served as a permanent place for the celebration of Gaaro.
The congregation also stands for a few moments to pray and show respect to the members of the Shinasha elders who had passed away in various years, recalling their names, and then announce the beginning of the New Year (Gaari-woro).
They pray for the Gaaro, seeking a blessing from God and offer thanksgiving for the past years’ mistakes. And then, they leave their home to the crowd to celebrate the New Year (Gaari-woro) so as to live in a happy, prosperity, peace and stable environment, especially for the youths’, children’s and the peoples of Shinasha and elsewhere.
During the celebration, peoples show colorful cultural dance and songs of different eventual expressions about the New Year. These festivities have been gone through three different stages prior to the actual day ceremony.
The first starts from the end of July to the day before Gaaro, actual day. The second starts from day before to until actual day celebration. The third stage goes through the actual day celebration until two-weeks later. In these various stages, different types of songs related to the New Year will be played.
Another most significant event that took place at Gaaro celebration (New Year festival) in the tradition of Shinasha is that quarrelling groups or individuals will discuss and resolved their disputes that might have further conflicting impact among each other.
Then after, these groups enjoy and celebrate the ceremony together. Next day, on 27 September, morning at 9:00 P.M, selected elders of the clan announced the actual beginning of ceremony by blessing and then after participants of the ceremony begun to celebrate the ceremonial by moving turn by turn into individuals’ house. While they meet or arrived at one’s house, there is special greeting for expression resolving dispute by the New Year.
At this event, the youths have a habit of gathering at a friend’s house or a selected place at night of the day before Gaaro and wait for midnight. The day is marked as the period of the transforming from the seasons of darkness to the bright and prosperous year. The activities performed by dancing, singing and related social expressions including selecting a future partner.
This annually gathering friend’s habit to singing and dancing is termed “Gaari-Douba” or “Guache Douba”. At the times of Gaari-Douba or Guache Douba, the singing or dancing action goes beyond midnight. The dancing and singing of Gaaro songs with the traditional drums accompanied by all types of Cultural musical instruments can be heard throughout the day.
After those activities have been done, the young boys and girls met each other at individuals’ house in which meeting held and exchanged their feelings of love and regard.
In indigenous traditions of the Shinasha, since the Gaaro and other related festivals are well-maintained as the affair of the whole community, the all sections of the community is particularly informed and involved. These trends continued until the actual day’s celebration took place. At the actual day of festivity, Messages are sent to the various relatives, supporters, including friends and relatives faraway.
However, for the people in nearby areas in which actual festivity of Gaaro conducted individuals could move by their own initiation accompanied by their relatives and families as a whole.
The holiday is cordially celebrated to wish a happy and prosperous New Year and to announce the beginning of harvesting seasons. On the holiday’s ceremony, the youths, men and women sing a song which contains a poem of best wishes and the end of the dark seasons. They wish the New Year would be a year of bright for all sections of the society. The elders of the community announced the so-called “Dark Age” or refer to the previous old year is passed and the bright future coming.
On the actual day of the ceremony, the operation of “Gaare-gindie gada” or in Amharic equivalent term is known as “Damera” have took place. The people of the neighborhoods are gathered together at selected and distinct place of “Gaari-jaba”, contributing local cultural food known as “Bori-Mesha” in local language “Chimbo”, and local drink, Bori-dawusa with a kind of cup named as “Wancha” or “Nawuro”.
It will be provided to selected elders from the clans at ceremony and it will be escorted with blessings, best wishes of New Year and will be followed by sacrificing of different cultural drinks and food. And after all, these participants of the holidays will be back to their homes.
After celebration at Gaari-Jaba, most of the participants of the community returned back to their homes, the participants of the holiday will express their prayer to the God of their fathers, grandfathers and concluded by eating the prepared food Bori-Mesha or “Chimbo” on cultural plate named “Mesob” or “Maara”.
The process of praying by the culture is “Mish kiira” in Shinasha language. After this process, the group of people or families eats prepared food.
Finally he noted that, this noble tradition has continued and must be preserved for the next generation. It is also growing every year. It is expanding and it is becoming more and more lovely celebration without leaving its religious draw. All sections of the societies are coming every year and the new generation is gaining cultural traits of their ancestor’s every year.
The Ethiopian Herald April 7/2019
BY MUSSA MUHAMMED
