Irreechaa bara 2013 Kana’ratti Hundi Keenyaa Harka Wal-Qabannee Wayyaanee Haa Balaaleffannu

Baarentuu Gadaa | Fulbaana 24, 2013

Irreechaa bara 2013 Kana’ratti Hundi Keenyaa Bakka Itti Ayyaaneeffannutti Harka Wal-Qabannee Dhiittaa Mirga Namoomaa fi Ukkaamsaa Wayyaaneen Nurraan Gahaa Jirtu Haa Balaaleffannu, Adduunyaattis Sagalee Keenya Haa Dhageessifannu!

Impaayera Itiyoophiyaa keessa ayyaanoonni fi qophiileen sabaa fi sablammoonni biyyatti heeddumminaan irratti hirmaatan danuu dha. Ayyaanoonnii fi qophiileen kun baay’een isaanii kan amantiidhaan walitti hidhaman yoo tahan kaan isaanii ammoo kan mootummoonni abbootiin irree Impaayerittii bulchaa turanii fi jiran dirqiidhaan akka uummattoonni biyyattii irratti hirmaatan taasifamanii dha. Qophiilee fi sirni kabaja ayyaanota uummattoonni biyyattii keessattuu uummanni Oromoo heddumminaan fedhiidhaanis ta’ee dirqiidhaan irratti hirmaachaa ture heddu kaasun ni danda’ama. Kanneen uummanni Oromoos ta’ee saboonni Impaayera Itiyoophiyaa keessa jiran fedhiidhan irratti hirmaatan keessaa ; kan akka guyyaa Irreechaa/Waaqeeffannaa, Iida, fi guyyaa Dhaloota Kiristoosii fi kanneen biroo kaasuun ni danda’ama.

Itiyoophiyaa keessatti qophiilee dirqamaan mootummoonni abbootiin irree humnaan akka uummattoonni biyyattii bahanii kabajan taasisaa turanis heeddu tarreessuu dandeenya. Akka fakkeenyaatti bara mootii H/Sillaasee “guyyaa dhaloota isaa fi hangoo itti qabate” uummanni bahee kabajuun, hiriiruun, isaaf sagaduun dirqama ture. Bara Dargii ammoo guyyaa” Abiyootii” bahanii hiriiraan kabajuu diduun nama adabisiisa, farra warraaqisaatiis nama taasiisa. Bara ammaa; bara wayyaaneen uummattoota Impaayera Itiyoophiyaa keessa jiran humnaan dhiittee saamaa bulchaa jirtu kana keessa ammoo wanti hunduu caalaatti cimee guyyaan hiriiraa fi ayyaanaa mootumichaa dachaa heedduun dabaleera. Kan akka “Ginboot 20, ye higga mangisti qan, ye biheerasabooch qan, Ye baandiraa qan”, fi kanneen kana fafakkaatan hedduu dha. Irratti argamuuniis dirqama.

Qophiilee fi ayyaanoota mootummoota abbaa irreetiin qophaawan kana hundumaa yoo walitti qabnee laallu garuu kan faayidaa uumataatiif qophaawan osoo hin taane; sirnoota abbootii irree kana dheereessuuf kan akka waltajjii holoolaatti tajaajilanii dha. Mootummaan wayyaanee / IHDG ammoo sirumaawuu hiriiraa fi ayyaanoota ofii qopheessee uummattoota biyyattii humnaan irratti hirmaachisu itti hanqannaan yeroo ammaa kana akkuma argaa fi dhagahaa jirru sirna Irreechaa/waqeeffannaa, Guyyaa ayyaana amantaa Musliimaa, Kiristaanaa fi kanneen biroo waltajjii sanarratti argamuun keessas galuudhan akkan ani isin qajeelcheetti deemaa, akkan ani fedhuu fi hawwutti tarkaafadhaa jechaat jira. Guyyaa ayyaanni akka Irreechaa, Iidaa, kiristaanaa fi kanneen biroo kabajaman dabbaloota isaa bobbaasuun amantii gara dirree siyaasa wayyaanee/IHDGtti jijjirat jira. Oggantoonni amntoolee kanaa akka isa faarsan, akka isa deeggaranii fi isaaf sagadan taasisaat jira. Haala kanaanis uummattootaa fi Ordooftoota amntii gar-gar keennaa fi gurshaa adda addaatin qooduun wal dura dhaabbachiisuuf amma danda’e wixxirfachurratti argama. Yoo dafee itti yaadamee deemsi isaa kun gabaabatti cite malee gochaan wayyaanee kun uummata gabrummaa jala jiruf, uummata bilisummaa dheebootee jiruuf balaa guddaa qaba. Oolee bulee rakkina wal-xaxaa uumuu danda’a.

Uummattoonni biyyattii yeroo sirna waaqeeffannaaf, adaa isaanii agarsiisuudhaaf, ykn dirqiisiisa mootummaa wayyaaneetin iddoo tokkootti wal argan/dhufan ykn hiriira adda addaarratti hirmaatan waa heddu dalaguu danda’u. uummattoonni cunqurfamoonni biyyattii keessa jiran shira wayyaaneetiin wal-dura dhaabbachuu dhiisanii iddoo waaqeeffachuuf walitti qabamniittis haa tahu iddoo hiriira adda addaatiif walitti dhufanitti humna isaanii iddoo tokkootti walitti dhufe sana faayidaa walootiif, kabajamuu mirga isaaniitii fi bilisummaa isaanitiif oolfachuu danda’u. Keessattuu uummanni Oromoo yoo itti yaadee, karoorfatee ka’ee mirga isaa kabachiifachuuf iddoon akka Irreechaa, masijiidaa fi mana amantaa kiristaanaa bakka olaanaa qaba. Madda jijjiramaa fi sirreefama sirnaa ta’uu danda’a. Kanaaf fakkeenya guddaa tahuu kan danda’u qabsaawaa mirga gurraachoota Ameerikaa kan ture DR. Maartine Lutter King 2ffaa dha. Ka’uumsi nama kabajamaa fi jaalatamaa kanaa fi Ordoftoota isaa mana amantaa Kiristaanaa ture waan ta’eef.

Har’a Impaayera Itiyoophiyaa keessatti fedhii fi dirqiidhaan Ayaanaa fi qophiilee gara garaa sababeeffachuun walgahii fi hiriirri hedduumaatee jira. Keessattuu ayyaanootaa fi qophiilee fedhii uummataatiin qophaawanirratti kan hirmaatan lakkoofsaanis haata’u fudhatamummaadhan iddoo olaanaa qabu. Sabaa fi sablammoonni hedduuniis ayyaanoota kanarratti ni hirmaatu. Carraan akkasii ammoo uummatoota cunqursaa fi gabrummaa jala jiraniif keessattu uummata akka Oromootiif carraa faayidaa guddaa qabuudha. Kan yeroo ammaa kana biyyoota gara garaa keessatti argaa fi dhagahaa jirus kanuma. Uummanni ayyaanoota adda addaa kana kabajuuf walitti dhufes haa tahu inni dirqamaan mootummaaan baafame eennaa mirga isaa fi bilisummaa isaaf falamatu argaina. Qaanqeen iddoolee sirni amanataa fi aadaa itti gaggeefamuu kaate yoo biyya heedduu keechatti laboobdee abbootii irree waaddituu fi hangoo humnaan qabatanirraa buuftu argaat jira.

Yeroo ammaa kana biyya arbaatti, salaata jimu’aan booda, biyya kiristaanaatti kadhannaa sanbataatiin booda, hawaasni iddichatti argame gaafii mootuummoota abbaa irreerratti kaase yoo jabeessee itti fufu argaa jirra. Kan bilisoomees kan bilisummaaf karaa gahees argaa fi dhagaat jirra. Gama uummattoota cunqurfamoo Itiyoophiyaa keessa jiraniitti yoo deebine ammoo carraan fi iddoon gaafilee akkasii; gaafii mirgaa , dimookiraasii fi bilisummaa itti kaasan hedduu dha. Inni tokko hiriira mootummaan koottaa na deegaraa jedhee humnaan isaan baasurratti isuma mootumaa wayyaaneetti gargaluudhaan jibbaa fi diddaa qaban agarsiisuu fi ofirraa fonqolchuuf gamtaan sochoo’uu yoo tahu; inni lammataa ammoo manneen amantaa adda addaa fi bakka akka Irreechii itti kabajamuuutti gaafii fi jabba mootummaa abbaa irreef qaban sagalee tokkoon ol-fuudhanii adduunyaaf dhageesifachuu dha.

Muuxannoo fi dhugaa adduunyaa kanarratti argaa jirruun abbootiin irree keessattuu kanneen akka wayyaanee uummanni gocha isaanii hiriira bahee akka balaaleffattuf hin heyyaman. Mootummaa akka wayyaanee kan hiriiraa hin heyyamne kana ofirraa buusuuf ammoo carraan jiru uummanni cunqurfamaan akka Oromoo wayitii ayyaanootaa fi sababa adda addaatiin walitti dhufu mormii fi jibba mootummaa abbaa irreef qabu tokkummaan dhaabbatee adduunyaaf agarsiisudha. Isa aksiitiif ammoo sirni akka ayyaanaa Irreecha Bishooftuu fi Oromiyaa Iddoo gara garaatti kabajamuu iddoo olaanaa qaba.

Uummanni Oromoo mootummaa abbaa iirree fi saamichaa wayyaanee ofirraa buusuu fi gocha isaa gara jabinaa kana adduunyaatti muldhiisuuf carraalee qabu hundattuu fayyadamuu qaba. keessattuu dargaggeessi/Qeerroon/ Oromoo karaa saaquudhaan adda duree tahuun fardii dha. Uummanni Oromoo Qabsoo hidhannoo dhaaba ijoolleen isaa ijaaran ABOdhan gaggeeffamu cinaatti bakka jirutti gurmaawee murna isa saamaa , ajjeesaa fi hidhaa jirtu wayyaaneerratti sagalee diddaa gabrummaa dhageessiisuu qaba. wayyaanee ofirraa buusuuf lafa amantaa isaa, aadaa fi duudhaa isaa itti gaggeessuu hundattuu sagalee diddaa dhageessifachuun murteessa dha.

Akkuma beekamu dhuma fulbaanaa kanarra ayyaanni Irreechaa uummata Oromoo guutuu biyyatiiraa dhufu fi jaalattoota aadaa isaatiin sirna hoo’aadhaan ni kabajama. Sirni kabaja Ayyana Irreechaa Oromoon miliyoona hedduun lakkaawwamu irratti argamu kun ammoo sirna achumatti wal arginee Irreeffannee sirbinee, dhiichifnee gallu qofaaf oolu tahuu hin qabu. Akkuma biyyoota Arabaa fi biyyatoo amantiilee biraa hordofan keessatti argine iddoon akkasii madda jijjiramaa fi mirga ofii itti kabachiisuuf socho’an ta’uu qaba. Ummanni Oromootis kana hubachuun sochii isaa cimsee irree tokkoon sirna Irreechaa booda mirga isaa wayyaaneedhaan sarbame gaafatachuu qaba. Kanarratti dargaggeessi Oromoo /Qeerroon/, sabboontoonnii fi jaalattoonni bilisummaa Oromoo uumata cinaa goruun gaafii uummataichaa adduunyaaf calaqqisiisuudhaaf of qopheessuu qabu. uumata sochoosuudhaan, ijaaranii iddoolee akkasii baayyee murteessaa tahanitti akka sagalee tokoon rakkina isaa beeksifatu gahee guddaa taphachuu qabu. Iddoo mirgii fi bilisummaan isaa wayyaaneedhaan sarbamee, ijoolleen isaa ajjeefamaa fi hidhamaa jirtutti dhiichisee, Irreefatee galuu qofti Oromoof Gammachuu hin kennu.

Dhiichisanii sirbanii “kan baranaa kan bara egareetiin nu gahii” jedhanii irreefatanii galuun yoo mana nagahaa, tasgabaahaa fi kan ofii qabaatanii dha. Kan Oromoon keessa jiru gabrummaa dha. Gabrummaa kana jalaa baanee abbaa biyyaa fi abbaa malkaa ta’uuf ammoo hundii keenyaa carraa aragannee fi qabnuun mirga keenyaaf falmachuutu nurraa eegama. Birraan kunis yoos; birraa jijjiramaa, birraa bilisumma taha. Kanaafuu ayyaana Irreechaa bara 2013 kan akka walii galaatti magaalaa Bishooftuu Hora Arsadiitti kabajamurrattis ta’ee Malkaa Oromoon qabu maraarratti mirgaa fi bilisummaa keenyaaf sagalee keenya tokko goonee ol kaafnee yaa iyyinu, Adduunyaatti haa dhageechifannu! Yoo Abbaan iyyate Ollaan namaaf mirmata waan ta’eef!

–Baarentuu Gadaa, Gessogeda@gmail.com

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Maal Dhaammate Gootnii?/Musaa D.Ibraahimiin

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Irreecha: From Thanksgiving Ritual to Strong Symbol of Oromo Identity

By Asebe Regassa*

Introduction

It has become evident since recently that the Oromo across religious, political and geographical boundaries have converged together in celebrating an annual ritual/festival called Irreecha. Historically, Irreecha has been understood and practiced within the context of the Oromo religion, Waaqeffannaa – a belief in one supernatural power called Waaqa (God). However, as I will discuss shortly in this piece, Irreecha has undergone some transformations in accommodating non-religious aspects of the Oromo culture, and thus has played significant role in building the Oromo identity and sense of unity. In the contemporary context, where the ritual brings Oromos across different walks of life, Irreecha should be understood more as an arena where the Oromo identity is articulated, reconstructed, built and practiced, rather than as a religious-oriented or a mere thanksgiving celebration. Before delving into some historical trajectories that shaped Irreecha to be the way it is practiced today, I will briefly clarify on some conceptual understandings of the ritual itself.

Traditionally, the Oromo practiced Irreecha ritual as a thanksgiving celebration twice a year (in autumn and spring) to praise Waaqa (God) for peace, health, fertility and abundance they were given with regards to the people, livestock, harvest and the entire Oromo land. Irreecha is celebrated as a sign of reciprocating Waaqa in the form of providing praise for what they got in the past, and is also a forum of prayer for the future. In such rituals, the Oromo gather in places with symbolic meanings, such as hilltops, river side and shades of big sacred trees. Here, I would like to make clear that the Oromo people never worship any of these physical landscapes though some outsiders and detractors of the Oromo culture and religion represent it as such. Rather, these physical landscapes are chosen for their representations in the Oromo worldview, for example, green is symbolized with fertility, peace, abundance and rain.

In Oromia, the core center of Irreecha celebration has been around Hora Arsadi in Bishoftu town, some 25kms to the south of Finfinne, the capital city. Annually, particularly during the Irreecha birraa (the Autumn Irreecha) in September or October, the Oromo from different parts of the country come together and celebrate the ritual. In the past few decades, Irreecha celebrations have been expanded both in content as well as geographical and demographic representations. This short commentary deals with such historical trajectories by contextualizing the changes within political discourses in Ethiopia vis-à-vis Oromo nationalism.

Irreecha in Pre-1991 Periods

Any analysis of the rights of the Oromo people to exercise its culture, religion, economy, governance, language and identity within the Ethiopian state should be positioned within the historical trajectories that brought the birth of the modern Ethiopian state, and the subsequent political, economic and cultural domination unfolded upon the subjugated peoples of the South, in which the Oromo people were a part. Following the military conquest of the different hitherto autonomous states of the South by the army of Menelik II in the late 19th century, the Amhara ruling group imposed its culture, language, religion and political dominance over the subjugated nations and nationalities. Menelik’s soldiers dispossessed the land of the conquered people and reduced them to the status of tenancy. In areas of religion, Orthodox Christianity was installed as the only legitimate religion while other religious practices were denigrated, discouraged, and at times, banned. For instance, Orthodox priests took the place of the Oromo Qaalluu and other religious leaders. The Oromo religious and cultural practices became targets of state repression during those times. Irreecha rituals were very restricted and were portrayed by state backed Orthodox Christian church as a practice of devilish worship.

The military regime, that overthrew the imperial regime in 1974, initially seemed to have tolerated traditional cultural practices, language diversity and religion, but its communist orientation and ‘modernist’ discourse had placed the regime at odds with these fundamental rights of the peoples of the country – the right to cultural and religious practices. While it outlawed ‘religion’ – though Orthodox Christianity did not face state persecution as other religious sects – it labeled traditional cultural practices, such as Irreecha, as ‘backward’ and obstacles to development and revolutionary ethos of the regime. As a result, Irreecha and other Oromo religious and cultural practices were banned by the government.

It is imperative to mention two fundamental motives behind state suppression of Irreecha (as common to other Oromo cultural practices) during those eras. First, successive Ethiopian regimes had subtle and overt policies of establishing culturally, linguistically and religiously ‘homogenized’ Ethiopia in their quest to build Ethiopian nationalism as a replica of Amhara, and to some extent Tigrayan identities. Secondly, the Ethiopian state was built on a cultural and political identity that depicted Amhara/Tigrayan cultural/political superiorities. The myth of ‘great tradition’ that portrays the North as cradle of ‘civilization’ and conversely demotes the South to the opposite was in the center of Ethiopian state identity. This myth has been used to legitimize exclusionary policies of the state against the people in the conquered region in the process of political, economic and cultural representations. In the process, denigrating the culture or religion of the ‘Others’ as ‘backward’ was used as strong instrument to place one’s own on the privileged position.

The Revitalization of Irreecha in post-1991 Period

In 1991 Ethiopia underwent remarkable political reconfiguration following the overthrow of the military regime. The analysis of the political ideologies of the new regime is not the objective and scope of this piece. Rather, it suffices to mention that the new political arrangement along [linguistic] federalism fundamentally deconstructed the old illusion of nation building along one dominant cultural path. Ethnic groups (nations and nationalities) were for the first time given a constitutional right to exercise, preserve and promote their religion, culture, language and history. Although the translation of these constitutional rights into practice has faced inconsistencies and flaws all through the last twenty years, it was a breakthrough in providing a political space for cultural revitalization.

Under the initiative and organizational leadership of the Macha-Tulama Association, Irreecha celebrations were restarted in Hora Arsadi in mid 1990s. As the period was the heyday of the Oromo nationalism and self-conscious, Irreecha became not only a religious practice as in the past; rather it served as an arena where the Oromo people across religious boundaries could meet and share their common identity. However, it maintained its fundamental element of Oromo’s connection to Waaqa (God). The thanksgiving ceremonies, prayers and blessings by elders have put Waaqa in the center of the ritual while songs and material culture the youth decorated themselves with brought into the scene political and emerging Oromo national identity. In both cases however, two fundamental principles of the ritual were consistent across different time spans. Firstly, Irreecha served and still serves as a medium or symbol of connection between the Oromo and Waaqa through thanksgivings, prayers and blessings. Secondly, Irreecha rituals reflect how emotional, cultural, psychological, spiritual and identity issues are embedded and embodied within the Oromo, and thus one cannot dissociate one of these elements from another.

Another major feature of the post-1991 Irreecha celebration was that it attracted more of the youth and the educated class than before. This should be contextualized within the broader Oromo consciousness and the rise in Oromo nationalism. University students, government civil servants, businessmen/women and people in different professions were highly involved in the celebrations. It became at times an arena where people could meet, discuss and demonstrate their common issues – political and cultural to a larger extent.

However, it soon became a contested space between different actors, mainly between political parties (the ruling party and opposition political parties and movements). The ruling party was confronted by two ambivalent developments on its side with regard to Irreecha and other Oromo cultural revitalization movements. Firstly, the constitutional provisions it enacted grants, in theory, the right of nations and nationalities to exercise their culture, religion, language and history. On the other hand, people’s exercise of such rights – like the case of Irreecha, music, language, etc. – would inevitably raise the level of self-consciousness of the people that would in the long run challenge the status quo. For example, using the constitutional right as a legal protection, many participants on Irreecha used to decorate themselves with material culture and costumes that reflect the flags of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rather than that of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO). Around the year 2003/04, the government of Ethiopia heavily scrutinized Irreecha festival and tried to manipulate it for its own advantage. Since then, Irreecha in Oromia fell under the full control of the government. While such intervention gave Irreecha more publicity on the one hand, as the celebration was at times given huge coverage on state media, it has added a political dimension on the other hand. It should be noted, however, that the contestability of this cultural field still persists despite strong state intervention.

Irreecha in Exile

Irreecha is not only practiced among the Oromo in Oromia. As hundreds of the Oromo are in exile for different reasons, their culture, religion, language and identity had also exiled with them. Because Irreecha has a cultural ambiance in connecting the people to the Oromo land and the creator, Waaqa, it still remained as strong element of connection between the Oromo in diaspora and home – Oromia. In the past ten years or so, the Oromo across different parts of the world (from Toronto to Melbourne, and Bergen to Johannesburg) have come together and celebrated Irreecha as a common icon of their identity. If anything could be mentioned in bridging the differences (political and religious) within the Oromo in the diaspora, Irreecha has become the major binding force not as a mere cultural or religious practice, but for its conjoint constitution of culture and identity. Currently, Irreecha has got publicity among the non-Oromos (Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians alike) to the extent that city administrations in different countries recognized the celebration and granted the Oromo with the spaces for the ritual.

To sum up, Irreecha as one of the Oromo cultural practices has responded to different forms of internal and external influences, but persisted across history in binding the Oromo across religious, political and geographical boundaries together. Today, it is considered as the major unifying emblem of the Oromo identity. Despite relentless attempts by different actors (interest groups) to appropriate Irreecha for their interests or to demote it altogether, it continued to be a marker of Oromo’s embedded cultural identity. Among the diaspora in particular, where political rift is more apparent, Irreecha is believed to converge differences, and in the future, investing on how Oromo common markers of identity would contribute to common visions of the people should be the core agenda of all Oromo.

* The author, Asebe Regassa, is a PhD Candidate, Bayreuth University.

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