Ethiopia has more than 80 Nations, Nationalities and Peoples which have their own cultures, language, customs, values and beliefs. Enhancing, promoting and preserving such ethnic diversities would have pivotal contribution for the development of the smokeless industry, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Cultural Industry Development and Cooperation Director at the Ministry, Yisma Tsige told the Ethiopian Herald that Ethiopia has planned to exploit its huge untapped multicultural blessings through revising policies and scaling up best practices.
‘‘Promoting, developing and preserving our cultural heritages should not be for the sake of solely promoting tourism. Rather we have to preserve our cultural mosaics because they are part of our identity and way of life. We cannot live without them. As long as we develop our cultural blessings we could enhance our tourism sector,’’ he notes, adding: ‘‘tourists will come to understand who we are. They would visit us being attracted for what we have.’’
Though Ethiopia is culturally very rich with immense tangible and intangible cultural heritages, these wealths have not yet been utilized properly, as to the director.
He adds that festivals, dressing, proverbs, songs, dances, ornaments, traditional arms, household utensils, wedding and funeral ceremonies, food and drink customs are among the astounding cultural blessings that Ethiopians have been proudly inherited from their forefathers.
Even though Ethiopia has peculiar cultures and practices, there are challenges in identifying and documenting those peculiar cultural blessing using modern technologies.
‘‘There are still limitations in promoting the cultures and traditions of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. However, encouraging activities are being undertaken since recent years. Cultural performances and research accomplishments have been undertaken in all states of the country. Hence, fruitful results have been gained in identifying cultures which are on the brink of extinction. This would help us to set solution to preserve them,’’ he points out.
Meanwhile, as long as registering, preserving, promoting and developing cultural heritages, the Authority for Research and Conservation for Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) has been playing a gigantic role in collaboration with other concerned bodies. Public and International Relations Directorate Director at ARCCH, Fanta Beyene insists that the identification, registration, preservation and promotion of cultural heritages have been successful over the last couple of years.
He adds that new cultural artifacts were discovered through excavation and research activities and the authority has been striving to save those cultures which were under the threat of destruction.
‘‘First you have to know the cultural practices every nation and nationality possesses. You need to register and conserve them. Regarding this, we have been conducting research on identifying our cultural heritages both the tangible and intangible ones. Then we have displayed encouraging results in conserving them in safe place. Furthermore, we are working to rescue those facing extinction,’’ he said.
Recalling that cultural heritages like the Gadda system, Meskel celebration, Irreecha, Konso Cultural Landscape have been already inscribed under UNESCO list, Fanta has explained that ARCCH is working to register more heritages in the coming years.
On the other hand, sensitization trainings have been provided for the society to upgrade their awareness on conserving and transferring their cultures to the coming generation, according to him.
Culturally, Ethiopia is a highly diversified nation. One could surmise how much the over 80 ethnic groups’ cultures would create an astounding beauty. In every corner of the country, there is a mesmerizing cultural mosaic. Nevertheless, there were limitations in preserving, developing and promoting them. Cognizant of the problem, in collaboration with domestic and international stakeholders the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Authority for Research and Conservation for Cultural Heritages, and Culture and Tourism Bureaus have been working to conserve and develop cultural practices of the society.
My field is on culture an innovation. If we exploit it using modern technologies, we could preserve and promote them well. In addition to this, we could get what we intend to get from them. Developing cultural heritages would strengthen tourism. The development of tourism could generate foreign currency and create job opportunities. Developing culture will not be left for one body. Rather it needs the involvement of pertinent stakeholders such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Culture and Tourism Bureaus, Tour and Travel Agencies and other concerned bodies. Thus, they should work hand- in-hand for the development of the sector.
The Ethiopian Herald, June 16/2019
BY TSEGAY HAGOS
