BY ELIZABETH MENGISTU
Inscribed in 2015 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Fichee-Chambalaalla is a New Year festival of Sidama people celebrated every year warmly and colorfully.
According to the oral tradition, Fichee commemorates a Sidama woman who visited her parents and relatives once a year after her marriage, bringing buurisame; a meal prepared from false banana, milk and butter, which was shared with neighbors. Fichee has since become a unifying symbol of the Sidama people.
As documents and community elders stated, Fichee-Chambalaalla is a day in which one who lends money will not ask his borrower to pay him, cattle will not be slaughtered, trees will not be cut down, and those who may have wronged, forgiven. The people of Sidama have been celebrating their New Year (Fichee-Chambalaalla) for more than 1800 years through studying the location/position of the moon and the stars.
However, the festival has no specific or fixed date. Rather, it is decided based on the proposal of the wise men; and then preparations for the festival will commence. The celebration starts from the eve of the actual day. Localities get together and eat a meal called buurisame made from Ensete (false banana) with milk.
Aside from the traditional meals prepared for the festival and traditional dances, several cultural programs are carried out. Songs such as Ketele, Nafarona will be performed and elders, community leaders, well-known personalities and celebrities will be honored.
On the first day, children go from house to house to greet their neighbors, who serve them buurisame. During the festival, clan leaders advise the Sidama people to work hard, respect and support the elders, and abstain from cutting down indigenous trees, begging, indolence, false testimony and theft. The festival therefore enhances equity, good governance, social cohesion, peaceful co-existence and integration among Sidama community and the diverse ethnic groups in Ethiopia.
Currently, the people of Sidama are celebrating their New Year warmly and colorfully with various cultural rites. Following the festival, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed extended his best wishes to all celebrating Fichee Chambalalla, the New Year festival of Sidama people.
Years have already elapsed since Fichee Chambalalla has become a heritage of Ethiopians and the world; aside from being the New Year festival of Sidama people. Gratitude should be extended to forefathers and foremothers who preserved and passed this festival on to this generation. We celebrate this year’s Fichee Chambalalla when the ray of peace, which is the symbol of the festival, has started beaming on the country.
“Peace, happiness, blessings and prosperity are the core values of the festival; and these values interrelate with our efforts to bring peace, alleviate poverty and ensure prosperity to our people,” the Premier remarked.
Thus, wise men of Sidama people, traditional leaders and the youth, understanding the relations between the core value of the festival and government’s path to peace, development and prosperity, should to stand by the side of the government and join us in the efforts exerted to detach the country from the multifaceted challenges it is in now, and create a prosperous country that is comfortable to its citizens to live in.
“Most importantly, prioritizing the fundamental essence of Fichee Chambalalla, which is peace, we urge you all to support us in our energies applied to make our country stable,” he added. He once again extended his best wishes to all celebrating the Fichee-Chambalaalla New Year festival.
According to Berhanu Hankara, Sidama Media Network Head, Fichee-Chambalaalla is about peace. Unity, love and togetherness are its essences. During the festival, those in gruesome, reconcile, and those in mourning, change their mourning clothes. It is also a rite that a newly married woman is joining other women concluding her wedding time; and a person who has been far away from his vicinity for long, returns home.
In related development, Tourism State Minister Selamawit Dawit also stated the cultural, social and economic importance of the festival in addition to promoting the culture and heritage of the people of Sidama and Ethiopia at large.
Approached by the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA), Selamwit stated that tourists who come to see the traditional performance in Fichee-Chambalaalla will do various transactions, visit different places and beautiful areas in Hawassa city. This will greatly contribute to the revival of the tourism sector.
Noting that tourism has been affected by the past conflict in the northern part of the country and the COVID-19 pandemic; the State Minister highlighted that the Pretoria truce is instrumental in increasing the flow of tourists to the country.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 21 APRIL 2023
