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Timely Call to the ATO (Amara-Tegaru-Oromo) New Generation!

By Fayyis Oromia*

The old generation of the ATO (Amara-Tegaru-Oromo) power triangle was successful in getting rid of the feudals, but failed miserabily in the struggle against the successive three fascist regimes (Derg, Woyane and Biltsigina) in the last about 50 years. I think, the older generation of the student movement, who struggled in unison against the monarchs, but are devided in their stand against the three dictatorial regimes must retire from politics and the new generation need to take responsibility to shape their own future. The Qérrô movement led by dynamic youth like Jawar Mohammed is on the right track. Fanno movement yet need to be free from obsolete minds like Dawit W/Giorgis and Washington “Amara scholars” who called the Oromo with the derogatory G-word to lose the war before starting a single battle. New Tegaru youth being led by Aite Getachew seem to be on the process to emancipate themselves from the back ward mentality of the old generation. At the time, when the progressiv version of Fanno and Tegaru’s new generation be on the same page with Qérrô to fight for freedom and union of all nations in Ethiopia, the current fascist dictatorial regime has no chance to survive. Until this triangular cooperation of ATO’s new generation come to their sense, Biltsigina shall prevail further simply by using the devide and destroy mechanism between the forces of the triangle. Thus, my call to the new generation of the ATO triangle is the following. Wake up, find common denominator and fight against the fascist regime in unison, just like your elder brothers and sisters did against the feudals. As they could deal with feudals, you also can get rid of the fascists in order to foster liberty, equality and fraternity of all nations , .

One of the main purpose of Irreechaa is the Oromo concept of Aràrà (reconciliation). The century long triangular conflict between the Amara, Tegaru and Oromo elites need come to end. The Oromo now being victorious over the Habesha elites’ system of domination need to excercise magnanimity. We need to check the [ deleted ] Habesha elites, but be inclusive and loving to both peoples of Amara and Tegaru. It is time for the population of the triangle to be free from the elites’ conflict. The three nations accepting, respecting and approaching each other is mandatory for the highly wished peaceful coexistance of the Horn peoples. Irreechaa can contribute for this reapproaching of the people of the triangle and reconciliation of the elites in the triangle. I hope all nations in Ethiopia (Great Oromia) in general and the two Habesha peoples in particular will take part in the coming Irréchà celebration in Finfinne, our common capital city.

It is realy good news that we hear Irréchà will be celebrated in Finfinnsé for the first time. Irréchà/Irréssà, being the day of thanksgiving to Waaqa and being the way of empowering our nation, is celebrated yearly during the transition time from winter (darkness/problem) to spring (the season of light, green fields, flowers, fruits, engaging life partner for the youth, etc.) This is the time during which Oromo people come out in mass to celebrate Waaqa and seek solution for the existing problems. Some Oromo nationals have now started to demand from Ethiopian regime to give this celebration the status of national holiday, just as the Easter of Christianity and the Ramadan of Islam are now enjoying this status in the empire. Even though the Oromo people consider it as our national holiday, the past regimes of the colonizers didn’t want to give it this recognition. Even certain part of the colonizing force wanted to reduce this Oromo national celebration to the celebration of only Wàqeeffatà Oromo, as if it has nothing to do with Christian Oromo and Islam Oromo. Is it really so?

According to the expert opinions written up to now, the concept of monotheism seems to have moved from Cushitic black Africans (including Oromo) first to Egypt, secondly further to Israel of the Bible and lastly to the Arab world of Koran. The experts tell us that Moses was not the first monotheist; Akhenaten was the first revolutionary monotheist; they even claim that Moses might have been black. It is also argued that Moses was an Egyptian Pharaoh known as Akhenaten before the exodus. Akhenaten’s monotheism revolution in Egypt was not inspired from inside, but induced from outside by the Cushites, i.e. Akhenaten might have derived his monotheism concept from Oromo’s concept of Wàqa Tokkicha (one God) in a form of “Wàq humna malee bifa hin qabu (God has no physical form, but power)”. This concept may have been misinterpreted so that the other religions later started to talk about God with a physical form.

Additionally, it was interesting to observe the similarities of the ancient Egyptian words “Anī and Màtī” with the Oromo words of “Ana (Ani) and Maatī“. Anii of Egyptians, which means I (I am who I am), that is equivalent to God is similar to the Oromo word Ani, which also means I and refers to the first person singular (the actor = the main character of GOD). Matii the designation of God’s congregation and the Oromo word Màtī for the family which is the “congregation” of ani (first person = God) are surprisingly the same. This is only one of many similarities between Oromo and Egypt registered by experts till now. It is not my intention to talk about this historical relationship here, but just to show the relation between Oromo’s traditional religion and the three Abraham religions even though Judaism is not part of the current religions practiced by the Oromo.

Let me now try to describe Wàqeffannà as I experienced it and knew it from my childhood on and let’s then see if its values are in contradiction with that of Christianity and Islam. All the descriptions and notions I try to put here on paper are based on my own argà-dhagétti (based on my own perception), which may differ from that of the other Oromo nationals; thus, I would like to recommend others to complement or contradict my view and tell their own version of the story.

I personally could observe that Oromo is a nation filled with celebrations of ébba (blessing), who do have different celebrations for almost everything and everybody related to our life. For instance, tàboré as a blessing ceremony for young boys; ingiccà for blessing young girls; ayyàna abbaa for blessing the ancestors for the good inheritance we got from them; atété for blessing our women; borantichà for blessing adult men; jàrī looni for blessing our useful animals; jàrī qe’e or jàrī kosī for blessing our residence area; jalàrī midhàni to bless our farms; garanfasa mucucô as a celebration of the rainy season and, of course, gubà and irréchà for celebration of the coming birrà (the coming spring season) etc.

Wàqeffannà as a faith and Irreecha as a major national celebration were part and parcel of Oromo public life till the colonization of the nation by Abyssinians at the end of the nineteenth century. Under this colonial rule, both lost their legitimate status, and under the Tigrean colony both were formally tolerated, but not given the real recognition. Wàqeffannà is the only faith group in the empire, which was not allowed to be practiced legally; Afàn Oromô is still denied the status of federal working language even though it is the language used by the majority; and Irreechaa was tolerated only because of the tireless struggle by the Oromo people. The Tegrean colonial regime wanted to use this celebration for its own political expediency in order to win Oromo people’s hearts and minds, but it has failed miserably.

The celebration of Irréchaa, in a present form, is the result of the struggle made by all Oromo from all religious groups. This celebration is no more specific to only Wàqeffataa Oromo. After all, the three main religions followed by Oromo (Christianity, Islam and Wàqeffannà) have got many common denominators. I think most of the values and virtues in all the three religions are not in contradiction with each other. What are these common denominators among the present three religions practiced by Oromo? There are many very important ones, but the most important is the believing in only one Waaqa and the other yet to be comprehended by all Oromo from these different religions is Irreechaa, which is usually celebrated in three senses: thanksgiving to Wàqa, empowering the Oromo nation, and reconciliation among Oromo nationals, which actually does not include the cheap rhetoric of “peace with colonizers”. It has never been the intention of Irréchà to persuade Oromo people to make peace with colonizers as long as the nation was suffering under colony. Celebration in the above three senses is not against any value of both the Christianity and Islam.

To make Wàqeffannà a little bit clear, let me talk from my own experience. I have heard and seen Oromo nationals practicing this faith and talk about “Wàqa tokkicha = one God”, which is one of the evidences for the faith to be monotheism, just as the Christianity and Islam are. The concept of God /Wàqa among these believers is summarized by their usual saying: “Wàq humna malee bifa hin qabu.” These believers do not misinterpret Wàqa tokkicha as an expression of physical form for even the nature as a physical form is also an expression of His power. I personally got a nice relationship with these believers during my childhood. I know one lady as a Qàllitti (local spiritual leader), who was very lovely and, simply, she was love in person. All her followers were selfless people full of good deeds and love; they were talking about Waaqa, calling him as abbaa koo (my father), and they usually used to pray for us the children saying: “akka ijôllé kényà ébbisüf abba kénya gàfanna (let’s ask our father to bless our children),” I never heard them saying “abba kénya kadhanna (let’s beg our father)”.

Whenever they are challenged by life problems, they do assert by saying: “Waaq abbaan keenya eessa dhaqeetu (our God is not far away)”, denoting that Waaqa is always ready to help his children. I have heard them also talk as prophets in a way: “Abbàn kénya akkas jedha, ani sin wajjin jira, ani nan sin gargàra (our father says, I am with you and I will help you)”. According to them, the spiritual father is Waaqa garà gurràchà, i.e. Wàqa with holy heart, symbolized with black color, most of whose holiness is unknown to humans. I have also heard from a knowledgeable person that the concept “Wàq gurràcha garà garba (black God with heart like ocean)” actually refers to the unknown future. What Wàqa may bring in the future is unknown, and that unknown is signified by black color. That means garà garba is also about the unknown. One couldn’t know what is inside the body of water from afar. I think it is from this point of view that the color black in the Oromo tricolor signifies the unknown future.

In the region I came from, there are a lot of congregations visited by Oromo at some big houses called gimbi which have got different names: gimbii dilô, maram, abbà jama, hīke, etc; the practices I have seen there include the following: dalagü (dancing), irrénssa kennu (green leaf as a gift), warégü (offerings), ammachīsaa (blessing babies), gashà (delicious food brought to gimbi), etc. Have these all practices got something to do with Wàqeffannà? Actually, as I was a child, a lot of people go to such gimbi regularly carrying green leaves of Irénsà. Green grass or green leaf is a powerful symbol for life and prosperity, and it is an element present in all public rituals of Wàqeffatà Oromo, including funerals and prayers of remembrance, during which grass is spread on the grave. The above listed different names of gimbi (also called galma) are Oromo spiritual holy places and palaces, which are equivalent to temple, church and mosque. I could observe that in all the places mentioned, everyone prays to Waaqa. The practices mentioned above are just variations of spiritual practice to Waaqa.

I could also observe among the practicing Waaqeffattas how balanced is their way of discussion and relationship. During sorts of discussions, they often discuss very wisely. For example, when they give comments, here is a sample of how they do: “Ilà, kanà fi sana wàn gàrī jette. Haa ta’u malee kunimmô otô akkana ta’e wayya (here and there you said good, but it is better if this one be so and so)”. They do not denigrate the opinion of the other side, but tell the better alternative to the opinion they do disagree with. They do tolerate the mistake of others and just tell the consequence of the mistake. As far as they are concerned, there is always cubbü (sin) in their consciousness, but no concept for hell or condemnation after death. This simply implies that we all do experience the consequence of our trespasses regarding the safü (virtues) and lagü (vices) expected from us during our life time. According to this belief, we all live further after death as ekerà (in a form of soul/spirit) with our father, with Wàqa, without any possibility of punishment in hell.

I heard recently from someone who read Martial De Salviac’s translated book that he wrote “Oromo invariably believe that they will go to heaven.” So, the consequence of our cubbuu is not losing eternal life, but suffering in our earthly life. To Waaqeffataa Oromo, Waaqa is the one who wants us not to do a collective cubbuu, but expects us to protect the balanced nature, in which the power of HIM is manifested. The wisdom that guides Waaqeffata Oromo in fulfilling this mission seems to be our arga-dhagetti (believe and act on a principle of reality, i.e. based on what we see and hear). According to argaa-dhageetti, the concepts like “cubbuun ni qabdi (sin has got consequence), cubbün ni sirriqxi (the consequence of sin can be inherited), cubbu abbaatu éggata or cubbü irra abbàtu uf éga (everyone should keep him-/herself from committing sin and everybody is responsible for the consequences of the sin he/she committed)” are nice and practical. What I liked most from the principles of Wàqeffanna is this concept of cubbü. The consequences of cubbü are only to be seen here on this earth, not in the coming life after death. There is no hell that Wàqayyô has prepared to punish the people with cubbü. This is hilarious and very healing for those who always have to live with the fear of hell or punishment after death.

Another interesting aspect of Wàqeffannà is that I never heard from the practicing believers that they are believing in the presence of an evil spiritual power in the form of Satan, which acts and lives against the almighty power of Waaqa. Accordingly, there is only one sovereign power doing and undoing all things in a universe, that is Waaqa. Unfortunately, the concept Satan is now already spread among the whole Oromo population as a contamination taken from other religions. Wàqeffatà Oromo do believe that the evil things we do experience in life are due to the imbalance of nature as a result of the unwise or wicked deeds of humans as collective, i.e. it is a human cubbü with its consequences on the earth. That is why they usually ask their Wàqa for wisdom to keep the balance of nature and that He lead them to only those with good intention and protect them from those with bad intention, for example, in a prayer like: “yaa Waaqa tolà nutti qabi, hamaa irrà nu égi (God lead who is good to us and keep away who is evil from us). Here it seems that good is someone, who works to keep the balance of nature; and evil is the contrary.

Now, some Oromo nationals actually prefer the name Amantii Oromo to Wàqéffanna. It is important if we all agree to call the Oromo traditional religion as Amantī Oromo, just like we agreed on calling our language Afaan Oromo and our country Biyya Oromo. So in short, we can say: Our land is called Biyya Oromo, our language is Afàn Oromo and our religion is Amanti Oromo. I know that some people may argue by saying “how can we call it Amantī Oromo, when we do see that more than half of the Oromo nowadays have Christianity and Islam as their religion?” Are Oromo with other first language rather than Afàn Oromo not Oromo, despite their lost Afàn Oromo? Should we say just because of these Oromo, who nowadays speak only English, German, Amharic, etc., that Oromo language is not Afaan Oromo? The same way, it is not logical not to call Oromo religion as Amantī Oromo because of the Oromo who overtook other religions. Why not those, who accepted other religions, be called Oromo, who lost Amantī Oromo, parallel to Oromo who don’t speak Afàn Oromo? Where is the contradiction? Actually, the designation Wàqqeffannà (believing in and living with Waaqa) can also be applied to Christian Oromo and Islam Oromo even though most of the Islam Oromo prefer the name Rabbī to the name Wàqa. They all are believers in Wàqa = God = Allah = Rabbī. Amantī Oromo differs only because of its specificity for it is the older Oromo faith embedded in only Oromo culture without any influence from alien culture, which is mixed in the other religions like Christianity and Islam.

The fact to be accepted here is that God is universal even though we call Him Wàqa, Rabbī or Allah. But, Amantī Oromo is the way how our forefathers believed in this universal Wàqa of humankind. I think we don’t have God or Wàqa, who is specific only to Oromo and doesn’t care for other nations. Wàqa is the God of nations. But, we Oromo do have a specific way and culture regarding how we do practice our belief in Wàqa. This way of practicing our faith is what we call Amantī Oromo. Amantī Oromo is simply the Oromo way of practicing the faith in the universal Waaqa. It is part of the Oromo way of dealing with the problems of life (it is part of Àdà Oromo). Accordingly, aada (culture) can be defined as the way, in which a certain collective or group of people deals with its own life problem.

The difference between this Amantī Oromo and the other two big religions practiced by Oromo is that the other two got not only the faith in one God, but also the elements of cultures from the people in which they first emerged. We can see here the Arabs accepted the concept of Wàqa tokkicha while still keeping pre-Mohammad Arab culture in Islam, which is far different from Oromo culture, but Islam practiced by Oromo in Oromia is colored by Arab culture for it is adopted from there. Interestingly, this is the difference between Moslem Arab and Moslem Oromo; Moslem Arabs adopted only the concept of Waaqa tokkichaa from Cush/Egypt/Israel, but never exercised alien culture, whereas Moslem Oromo tend to adopt both the faith and the culture. Egyptians and Israelis, who accepted the concept of the same Waaqa tokichaa, also do practice their faith being colored by their previous culture; they didn’t dare to practice Cush culture; but again Christianity practiced in Ethiopia is mostly colored by the culture of the Israelis, the Habeshas as well as by that of the Western for Christian Oromo tend to adopt not only the faith, but also the alien culture.

That is why it is not actually bad that some Oromo nationals accept and believe in the two monotheist religions (Christianity and Islam) per se, but not good is giving more value to the culture of the nations from which the religions come to us, at the cost of the very valuable Aada Oromo. Of course, good elements of foreign cultures can be accommodated without damaging the good elements of our own. For instance, the similarity between dibbee Qàllu (Qàllu’s drum) and the beat of Tigrinya music shows how Tegarus have inherited some elements of Oromo’s culture. Donald Levine suggests in his book called Greater Ethiopia that Tegarus are part of the Cushites of the Old Testament who denied their identity. After all, why do they call their mother Adde? Where does the name Barentu in Eritrea come from? Are they only inheritance of names or were they part of the lost Oromo/Cush? Anyways, it is good to follow the advice given by Luba Shamsadin in his blessing of tOLF meeting with its supporters in Toronto/Canada years ago. He said (paraphrased here), when we try to accept religions from other nations, we have to identify and separate the “bone of the fish from the meat”; i.e. we need to identify and leave the unnecessary cultural values of other nations mixed with the religions we do accept.

When we do see such relation between Amantī Oromo and the two big religions of the world, can we then say that Wàqeffannà is the older version of monotheism and humanism? The following are very few of the impressive prayers in the day to day life of the Oromo, which I would like to present here as example, are usually heard from the believers of Amantī Oromo, and they are almost similar to what the believers in Christianity and Islam do pray, let alone the similarity of the greatly formulated prayers we do hear during Irrèchaa celebration with what the Luba’s and Sheiks usually do pray:

– Wàq kan dubbatè nu dubbachīsu fi kan hamà nutti yàdu nurrà qabi (God keep us from those who speak evil and make us speak the same).
– Wàq mirga nu ôlch (help us to walk on the right way); hamà nurrà qabi (protect us from evil).
– Yaa Wàq, ilmi ga’e hà füdhu (Oh God, let the young man be married), dubarri gèsse hà hérumtu (let the young woman be married), this prayer shows how important family building for human blessing is.
– Yà Wàq, ani galé, kan galé hin rafne narrà qabi; ani rafé kan rafé hin bulle narrà qabi (I am now at home to sleep, save me from the evil ones who didn’t yet be at their home and didn’t sleep).
– Yà Wàq galgala kô hin balleésiin (let my old age not be cursed), this is related with the consequence of cubbü. The believers are asking Wàqayyô to help them stay away from cubbü so that their “galgala (late age)” will not be bad/painful. Here we see something similar with native American’s culture. They say: “when you came to this world, you cried and everybody else laughed; live your life so that when you leave this world, you laugh and everyone else cries”; i.e. to say live your life free from cubbuu and its consequence, which leads to the blessing in your old age.

Which of these prayers can not be endorsed by Christian Oromo and Moslem Oromo? I just narrate about such good practices of Wàqeffannà not only to show similarities in prayers and rituals with the other religions, but also to stress that Irréchà celebration is the highlight of such small blessings in the daily life of Oromo. I personally believe that the purpose of Wàqa for our people is national freedom and prosperity. But, we are the ones who have to be proactive and reactive to do the business leading us to His blessing for us. When we look at the three main goals of celebrating Irreechaa (thanksgiving to Wàqayyô, empowering Oromo nation and reconciliation between Oromo nationals), then I don’t see any reason why Christian and Islam Oromo can not or should not be part and parcel of the celebration. Looking nowadays at few Oromo from these two religions celebrating Irréchaa is encouraging. I hope our Luba’s and Sheiks will pray and think over this to help their respective congregations celebrate Irreechaa in mass in Finfinné.

Let’s imagine how beautiful it could be if the three congregations come out in unison for the thanksgiving to our Waaqa in their respective form and style. I hope Christian and Moslem Oromo do accept and respect the constructive elements of Oromo culture, their right to practice their faith colored with the productive elements of alien culture being acknowledged. I personally believe that we must get rid of the destructive cultural elements, be it from the alien or from ours. Irreechaa is the very important part of Aadaa Oromo, which can be incorporated into both Christian and Moslem Oromo’s cultural practice. Both religion groups can declare Irreechaa as their day of thanksgiving to their Wàqa. In this way, we could have make Irreechaa our de facto national holiday, despite the rejection by the past colonial regime to recognize it as a national holiday. I personally want that it be accepted now also politically as a national holiday in Oromia in particular, in the whole Oropia at large, and by all Cush nations in general.

Wàqeffannà (believe in one God/Wàqa of the universe) is actually practiced not only among Cush nations, but also among a lot of African nations. This faith of Africans has been devalued by both Arab invaders and European colonizers as something “paganism, barbarism, religionlessness, uncivilization, Godlessness, etc”, just as Abyssinian colonizers did to Oromo Wàqeffannà. The current revival of Wàqeffannà and the celebration of Irréchaa in Oromia can be a good example setting for the other African nations to revive their lost culture and religion. Even though our colonizers tried to suppress this revival, I hope it will flourish more and more in the future. To serve this purpose of revival, the right way of Waaqeffanna (believing in, celebrating of and living with Waaqa) must be cleaned from alien non-constructive elements as well as from non-productive practices and rituals like that of Qàlichà (infiltrating idolatry), which are not serving the purpose of Wàqa in our personal or national life. That means, we have to differentiate Wàqeffachü (realizing God’s purpose in our life) from wàqessü (serving alien gods). Wàqeffachü is applying Wàqa’s goodwill in our practical life, whereas wàqessü is making someone or something be our Wàqa, i.e. practicing idolatry. The Oromo people in general have never had an idol to worship, but always had only one Wàqa to believe in and to celebrate. Of course, there are very few Oromo individuals nowadays tending to practice waaqessuu.

Looking at this magnificent aspect of both Amantī Oromô and Irréchà, I hoped that in the liberated Oromia, this oppressed faith will have a legal status to be practiced freely, being one of the three big Oromo faith/religion institutions (Christianity, Islam and Wàqeffannà), so that Irréchaa can also be celebrated freely in every corner of Oromia and in Diaspora where Oromo do live. That is exactly what is happening now. Furthermore, I eagerly looked forward for the day, when all Oromo from the three religions come out in their respective style and celebrate Wàqa on the yearly Irréchà festivity so that it will be our de facto and de jure national holilday, not only Wàqeffatàs’ celebration. It seems that the time is now and we can enjoy it in Finfinné as already planned. I pray this marveleous day be the time of reconciliation between the elites in ATO triangle!

Galatôma!
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/auto-draft/

[Tog Wajale E.R.]

☆ Bissbiss Galla Bantu Useless Pentte ☆!!
☆ Tell That To Your Wh°ore Prost°itute Mother☆!!