Agaw's Higelibona and Oromo's Wàqefannà as African Traditional Faith System are Native Religions of the Wonderful Cushitic Ethiopia
By Fayyis Oromia*
Some of us mistakenly believe that Orthodox christianity is native to Ethiopia, whereas Protestant christianity is the late comer (mexe hayimanot). Actually both christianity and islam are alien religions for the wonderful Cushitic Ethiopia. The original native religions for this ancient country are Agaw's Higelibona and Oromo's Wàqefannà. True Ethiopians need to cultivate, promote and revive these two native religions as the base for our Cushitic Ethiopian identity. Just as Judaism is identity for the Israelites and Islam for the Arabs, Higelibona/Wàqefannà is the true identity of Ethiopians. Of course as there are Christian Arabs and Israelites, there is no problem in having Christian and Moslem Ethiopians. But, we should be consious that Higelibona/Wàqefannà is our original and native religion. That is the basic and main component of the wonderful Cushitic Ethiopia.
Religion is the belief in and worship of God or gods, or it is a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe. It is commonly regarded as consisting of a person’s relation to God or to gods or spirits. The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith system, but it is more than a private belief and has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviors, congregations for prayers, priestly hierarchies, holy places and scriptures. Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word faith can refer to a religion itself. As with trust, faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief “not resting on logical proof or material evidence.” Faith is often used in a religious context, as in theology, where it almost universally refers to a trusting belief in transcendent reality, or else in a Supreme Being and/or this being’s role in the order of transcendent spiritual things. So faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. It is the belief and the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared, based on the declarer’s authority and truthfulness.
Wàqeffannà (Amantī Oromô), the traditional faith system of the Oromo people, is one version of the monotheistic African Traditional Religion (ATR), where the followers of this faith system do believe in only one Supreme Being. African traditional religion is a term referring to a variety of religious practices of the only ONE African religion, which Oromo believers call Wàqeffannà (believe in Wàqa, the supreme Being), an indigenous faith system to the continent of Africa. Even though there are different ways of practicing this religion with varieties of rituals, in truth, the different versions of the African religion have got the following commonalities:
- Believe in and celebrate a Supreme Being, or a Creator, which is referred to by a myriad of names in various languages as Wàqeffatà Oromo do often say: Wàqa maqà dhibbà = God with hundreds of names and Wàqa Afàn dhibbà = God with hundreds of languages; thus in Afàn Oromô (in Oromo language) the name of God is Wàq or Wàqa tokkicha (one god) or Wàqa guràchaa (black God, where black is the symbol for holiness and for the unknown) = the holy God = the black universe (the unknown), whom we should celebrate and love with all our concentration and energy
- No written scripture (ATR’s holy texts are mostly oral), but now some people are trying to compose the written scripture based on the Africans’ oral literature.
- Living according to the will of the Supreme Being and love also those who do have their own way of surviving by following other belief systems, which are different from that of the Waaqeffannaa. It includes keeping both safuu (virtues) and laguu (vices); i.e. to love safuu as well as to hate and abhor cubbuu (sin).
- Correspondence with the Supreme Being in times of a great need (i.e. in times of natural calamities, unexplained deaths) and try to walk always on the karaa nagaa (on the avenu of peace = on the way of righteousness, on the road of truth).
- Having a devout connection with ancestors; in case of Oromo, the ancestors are always blessed and celebrated for the good inheritance we got from them, but not worshiped as some people want to misunderstand.
The word “culture” is most commonly defined as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group; different cultures are the distinct ways that classified people living in different parts of the world, that represented their experiences and acted creatively. African peoples have got our own culture, which distinguish us from other parts of the world, of course also having our own sub-cultures among ourselves. Àdà Oromô (Oromo culture) being one part of the Cush culture is one of the sub-cultures within the common African culture, which consists also the faith system of Wàqeffannà as part and parcel of the Oromo/African culture.
Wàqeffannà’s interaction with other religions
According to the expert opinions written up to now, the concept of monotheism is the whole mark of African Traditional Religion including the faith system of Cush nations. It seems that this concept of monotheism have moved from Cushitic black Africans (including the Oromo) first to ancient 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, but 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. Additionally, they do argue that 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 Africa’s/Oromo’s concept of Wàqa tokkicha in a form of “Wàq humna malé 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.
It is also interesting to observe many similarities between some old Egyptian words and Afaan Oromo words; for instance, the similarities of the ancient Egyptian words “Anii and Matii” with the Oromo words of “Ana (Ani) and Màtī.” Anī 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 being the designation of God’s congregation and the Oromo word Maatii 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. It means the new acceptance of both Christianity and Islam by Africans is the coming back of the same belief in Wàqa tokkicha to Africa in different forms.
This historical relation between Amantī Oromoo and the two big religions of the world suggests that Wàqeffannà is the older version of monotheism and humanism. Wàqeffannà as a faith system and Irréchà as a major national celebration were part and parcel of Oromo public life. Now, some Oromo nationals prefer the name Amantī Oromo/Amantī Africa to Wàqeffannà. It is important if we all can agree to call the Oromo traditional religion as Amantī Oromo/Amantī Africa, just like we agreed on calling our language Afàn Oromo and our country Biyya Oromô. So in short, we can say: Our land is Biyya Oromô, our language is Afàn Oromo and our religion is Amantī Oromo. It is known 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 Oromô? Should we say just because of these Oromo, who nowadays speak only English, German, Amharic, etc., that Oromo language is not Afàn Oromô? The same way, it is not logical not to call Oromo religion as Amantī Oromo because of the Oromo who overtook other religions. Actually, the designation Wàqqeffannà (believing in and living with Wàqa) 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/African culture without any influence from alien culture.
The fact to be accepted here is that God is universal even though we call HIM Waaqa, Rabbī or Allah. But, Amantī Oromo is the way how our forefathers believed in this universal Wàqa of humankind. We don’t have God or Wàqa, who is specific only to Oromo/Africa 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 Waaqa. 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 Wàqa. It is part of the Oromo way of dealing with the problems of life (it is part of Àdà Oromo). Accordingly, àdà (culture) can also 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/African 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 Islam Arab and Islam Oromo; Islam Arabs adopted only the concept of Wàqa tokkicha from Cush of Africa/Egypt/Israel, but don’t seem to exercise alien culture from these areas, whereas Islam Oromo tend to adopt both the faith and the culture from Arabs. Egyptians and Israelis, who accepted the concept of the same Wàqa tokkicha, also do practice their faith being colored by their own previous culture; they don’t seem to practice Cush culture; but again Christianity practiced in Oromia is mostly colored by the culture of the Israelis, the Habeshas as well as by that of the Western world 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 Àdà 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 and kept some elements of Oromo’s culture. This can verify that the suggestion of Donald Levine, who in his book called Greater Ethiopia wrote that “Tegarus are part of the Cushites of the Old Testament who denied their identity”, may be true. After all, why do they call their mother Àdde? 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 once by Luba Shamsadin. 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 elements of other nations, which are usually mixed with their religions we Oromo do tend to accept and adopt.
So as it is put here in short, Wàqeffannà (believe in one Wàqa of the universe) is practiced not only among the Cush nations, but also among almost all African nations. This faith system of Africans including Waaqeffannaa has been devalued as something “paganism, barbarism, religionlessness, uncivilization, Godlessness, animism, primitivism, etc”. The black color, which is the symbol of holiness in Wàqeffannà was/is demonized as a symbol for Satan. All the blessing ceremonies of Wàqeffannà and the utensil used for the blessings are condemned as a service, an instrument and worshiping of demons/Satan. Despite this denigration, the current revival of Wàqeffannà and the celebration of Irréchà in Oromia can be a good example-setting for the other African nations to revive their hitherto devalued and almost lost culture and religion.
To serve this purpose of revival, the right way of Wàqeffannà (believing in, celebrating of and living with Wàqa) must be cleaned from alien non-constructive elements as well as from non-productive practices and rituals like that of “qàlichà” (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. Such purification of the African faith system from unimportant and useless elements must be done in all versions of the practices and rituals among all African nations.
Concept of God in Wàqeffannà
To make Wàqeffannà a little bit clear, here is a short narration about this faith system in practice. Oromo nationals practicing this faith do talk about Wàqa tokkicha, which is one of the evidences for the faith to be monotheism, just as the Christianity and Islam are. The concept of God among these believers is summarized by their usual saying: “Wàq humna malé bifa hin qabu.” These believers do not misinterpret Wàqa tokkicha as an expression of physical form for even the whole nature as a physical form is also an expression of his power. The believers and the Qàllü or Qàllitti (local spiritual leader) are usually very lovely; specially the leaders are simply like a love in person. All their followers are self loving people full of good deeds and love; they do talk about Wàqa, calling him as abbà kô (my father), and they usually do pray for children saying: “akka ijôllé kénya ébbisüf abba kénya gàfanna (let’s ask our father to bless our children),” they usually don’t say “abba kénya kadhanna (let’s beg our father).”
Whenever they are challenged by life problems, they do assert by saying: “Wàq abbàn kénya eessa dhaqétu (our God is not far away)”, denoting that Wàqa is always ready to help his children. They some times 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 Wàqa garà gurràchaa, i.e. Wàqa with holy heart, symbolized with black color, most of whose holiness is unknown to humans. Knowledgeable believers do tell that the concept “Wàqa 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 is signified by black color. Here, garà garba is also about the unknown. One couldn’t know what is inside the body of water from afar. This point of view seems to be the reason for the color black in the Oromo tricolor to signify the unknown future.
In some regions of Oromia, there are a lot of congregations visited by Oromo at some big houses called gimbi (galma) which have got different names: gimbī dilô, maram, abbà jama, hīke, etc; the spiritual practices done there include the following: dalagü (dancing), irrénssa kennu (green leaf as a gift), warégü (offerings), hammachīsà (blessing babies), gashà (delicious food brought to gimbi), etc. Actually, people go to such gimbi regularly carrying green leaves of Irrénsà. In this culture, 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 ground or grave. The above listed different names of gimbi are Oromo spiritual holy places and palaces, which are equivalent to temple, church and mosque. In all the places mentioned, everyone prays to Wàqa. The practices mentioned above are just variations of spiritual practice to Wàqa.
It is also to be observed among the practicing Wàqeffattà 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 gaarī jette. Hà ta’u malé, kun ammô 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 cubbuu (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 safe (virtues) and lag (vices) expected from us during our life time.
Not to suffer such consequences of cubbuu, Wàqeffattà Oromo have got a lot of very well said prayers in their practical life activities. The following are very few of the impressive prayers in the day to day life of the Oromo, which need to be presented here as examples. They are usually heard from the believers of Amantī Oromô, 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 Irreechaa celebration with what the Christian Qesis and the Islam Sheiks usually do pray:
- Yà Wàq kan dubbaté nu dubbachīsu fi kan hamà nutti yàdu nurrà qabi (God keep us from those who speak evil and make us speak the same).
- Yà Wàq mirga nu ôlch (help us to walk on the right way); hamà nurrà qabi (protect us from evil).
- Yà Rabbī, ilmi ga’e hà füdhu (Oh God, let the young man be married), dubarri gésse 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 narra 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 balléssīn (let my old age not be cursed), this is related with the consequence of cubbü. The believers are asking Waaqa to help them stay away from cubbü so that their “galgala (late age)” will not be bad/painful. Here we see something similar with the 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 cubbü and its consequence (suffering), the life style which leads you to the blessing in your old age.
This prayers indicate the fact on the ground how Oromo look at Wàqa and at the human-being. Wàqa is conceived as a holy father with whom we can correspond during our day to day life problems or when ever we face calamities or difficulties for his will is always good, whereas human-beings can be with either bad or good intention in relation to each other. Both Gadà and Qàllü institutions look at all individuals as human with equal rights in front of Wàqa; that is why there is no a “respect form” of addressing human-being or God in Afàn Oromo, just as there is non in English language. After losing our sovereignty, the Oromo people had to learn how to “respect” authority figures. For there is no such option in Afàn Oromo, we had to use plural verbs to address the authority figures. Even Abbà Gadà (chief of the government) and Abbà Mudà (the spiritual leader) were addressed as “ati = you in a singular form,” not as “isin = you in a plural form.” Today, we have to address our fellow human being with certain authority as “isin” to show “respect.” It is not bad if such addressing would have been mutual/symmetrical as for instance it is in German language. But such “respect,” which we are now applying is asymmetrical (only the authority figure is addressed with the “respect” form, whereas the authority figure can address the other person without using the “respect” form. Where it is the reality that we don’t use the “respect” form during addressing our Waaqa, as seen in the above prayers, why should we bother to use it in addressing our fellow human being? It would be better if we leave this culture, which we adopted from others with authoritarian culture in contrast to our own egalitarian one. Our concept of Waaqa doesn’t allow us to behave so submissively to any human being, who is equal to us.
Virtues and Vices of Wàqeffannà
Here in short, safe (virtue) can be defined as the “to do list” in order to serve Wàqa and to achieve his kàyyô/goal in our personal and national earthly life; whereas lags (vice) is the “not to do list” or the taboo, so that we can refrain from doing such activities diverting us from the kàyyô Wàqa for our life. Cubbü (sin) then in short includes both not doing the safe and doing the lag. Just as an example, if we take bilisummà (national freedom) as Wàqa’s kàyyô for the Oromo nation, what are the safe and the lag to be respected? If the kàyyô of Wàqeffannà is individual healing from any sort of illness, what are the safe and the lag, which both the healer and the sick person should respect?
In order to look at the virtues and vices of the traditional Oromo/African belief system for our earthly life, let us now try to describe Wàqeffannà as we experienced it and knew it. Note that all the descriptions and notions we try to put here on paper are based on our own argaa-dhagétti (based on our own perception), which may differ from that of the other Oromo nationals. For instance, we could observe that Oromo is a nation filled with celebrations of eebba (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 abbà for blessing the ancestors for the good inheritance we got from them; atété for blessing our women; borantichà for blessing adult men; jàrī lônī for blessing our useful animals; jàrī qe’e or jàrī kosī for blessing our residence area; jàrī 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. We hope that Oromo students of anthropology, sociology and theology will make a scientific research on these blessing ceremonies and tell us the constructive and non-constructive elements of the activities in them.
But, let us mention few of the virtues (positive aspects) of Wàqeffannà in our earthly life time. Here the reference point to judge certain elements as negative or positive is the position of the purpose, which Wàqa do have for our personal and national life, i.e. based on the kàyyô (goal) our Wàqa do have for us. To elaborate this relationship between kàyyô and Wàqayyô, we can ask: is Wàq-àyyô our ka-ayyô / is our ka-ayyô the Wàq-ayyô? It is about knowing what purpose we do serve in our daily life both cognitively and behaviorally, as individuals or as a nation. Be it that we do think and walk at political, religious or private level, we do try to serve certain purpose in life. In order to identify that purpose, we only need to be conscious about it, reflect on it and ask our selves: whom do we privately or collectively serve in our endeavors? Do we serve Wàqa’s purpose for us or that of the others’? Simply put, which purpose should we serve? Fortunately the hitherto cumulative knowledge and wisdom of different societies in general and that of the Oromo society in particular tell us what we ought to serve: i.e. to serve Waaqa’s purpose which is good for us as an individual and as a collective. This good purpose is given a sacred name and it seems to be what people call the will of Waaqa.
As a support for this assertion, we can look at an example written in the Bible of Christians, that states : “God is my objective”. Is this to be understood also as: “my objective is God”? Can we say that our good personal or political purpose is the will of Wàqa, whom we ought to serve? To comprehend this, it is no where clearly written other than in Afàn Oromo. Surprisingly the words kàyyô and Wàqayyô in our language do indicate to have the same source. As we know, the short word KA is the name given by our Cushitic ancestors to God and the word aayyoo is, of course, the name given to a mother, who does wish all good things for her children and does plan and try to fulfill it. So KA can be defined as the Supreme Being, which has good purpose for ayyoo’s children. This purpose is the “Goodness” for her children. So KA-ayyô is God’s will (his good objective to her beloved children). The term Wàqayyô is the short form of wàn-KA-ayyà (what is planned from KA for àyyô and for her children). So we can see that the good end, we have to serve, can be called kàyyô from Wàqa. So the will of Wàqa is simply to be defined as the good end we should choose to serve as part of the balanced universe created by HIM.
To fulfill this service to the good end, fortunately the best thing we do observe among Wàqeffatà Oromo is the work-ethics they do have to achieve the purpose of Waaqa in their earthly life, specially in the life areas of career and family. They do love to be the best in both life areas; they love their family and most of them are very enthusiastic to be successful in their profession. They usually say “Wàq tà’i tà’i namàn hin jedhin (let HE not make us idle);” simply put, diligence is part of safe and to be idle and lazy is part of lag. We know that there are certain contamination from other cultures to be practiced as rituals contradicting this virtue and which are not serving the purpose of Wàqa for us. That is why we do recommend not only the revival of this marvelous belief system, which was the creation of our forefathers, but also we do suggest a necessary reformation to make the faith system to be fit, so that it can help us to cope with the 21st century challenge and situation. Wàqa’s creation and his keeping the balance of the universe is still going on, so that HE demands also a dynamic creative work from his creature, from the human being. Another impressive virtue of Wàqeffannà necessary to be mentioned is its relation with nature and its persuasion to help us keep the environment healthy; it is the faith system which is simply through and through green.
Wàqeffannà’s position on the life after death
According to this belief system, we all will live further after death as ekeraa (in a form of soul/spirit) with our father - Waaqa, without any possibility of punishment in hell. We recently read Martial De Salviac’s translated book, in which 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 Wàqeffatà Oromo, Wàqa is the one who wants us not to do a collective cubbü, but expects us to protect the balanced nature, in which HIS power is manifested. The wisdom that guides Wàqeffatà Oromo in fulfilling this mission seems to be our argà-dhagétti (believe and act on a principle of reality, i.e. based on what we see and hear).
According to argà-dhagétti, the concepts like “cubbuun ni qabdi (sin has got consequence), cubbuun ni sirriqxi (the consequence of sin can be inherited), cubbu abbaatu eeggata or cubbuu irra abbaatu uf eega (everyone should keep him-/herself from committing sin and everybody is responsible for the consequences of the sin he/she commit)” are nice and practical. What we liked most from the principles of Wàqeffannà 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. We can choose commitments, but can not choose their consequences. 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 we 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 Wàqa. Accordingly, there is only one sovereign power doing and undoing all things in a universe, that is Wàqa. 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: “yà Wàq tolà nutti qabi, hamà 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.
According to the faith system of Wàqeffannà, there is nothing we have to do now to earn eternal life after death; life after death is simply a free gift we got from our father, Wàqayyô, whom we just need to celebrate and cherish as we do daily and during the yearly celebrations like Irréchà. We also don’t need a savior, who has to suffer and die for us, so that we can get life after death. The only area where we have to work on is trying to live the quality life (the character of the eternal life) according to the will of Wàqa here on earth. To live this quality life, we need to activate our potentials given to us from Wàqa and then walk on the karà nagà towards the kaayyô Wàqa for our life, being free from cubbü by keeping both safe and lag.
Further recommendation
The very important aspect of Wàqeffannà as part of Oromo/African culture is its principle of argà-dhaggétti (it is relatively an evidence based faith system, possibly trying to be free from superstition). This principle is about reading the real situations at hand and finding the appropriate solutions for the situations. Wàqeffannà teaches that only Wàqa is not prone to change for HE is perfect, but all his creature and all the situations are changing with time; that is why his creative action is still going on and that we also need to be in a position to find new solutions for the changed situations. In short, we need to be situation oriented, time oriented and live accordingly. That means, it is good to know the past version of aadaa and Amantī Oromo/Africa; but better is to live and practice the present version of aadaa and Amantī Oromo; of course the best is to create the most beneficial version of aadaa and Amantii Oromo as well as to inherit it to our coming generation. So, let’s learn from the past version, live the present version and love to create the future verion of aadaa Oromo in general, and Amantī Oromo in particular.
This article is of course coloured by subjective perceptions, so that Oromo nationals are welcome to complement or contradict it. All the sub-titles given in this article need a further meticulous research and study. Through scientific studies, it can be possible to cleanse Wàqeffannà from certain meaningless rituals adopted from the other sub-cultures, e.g rituals like that of “qàlichaa” (idolatry), xinqolà (sorcery), etc, where the practitioners are actually making business in the name of the religion. Wàqeffannà needs not only revival, but also reformation as part and parcel of the ongoing liberation from such sensless practices. Elements, which are against the will of Waaqa for all human-being in general and for African nations in particular must be removed, so that we can say Wàqa bless Oromia/Africa and then live accordingly. Adopting good elements, which serve the will of Wàqa for us, from other cultures and faiths is not bad as it is usually said: “wàn gàrīn bade hundi kan Oromo ti” (every good thing lost belongs to Oromo). Again, good and bad is defined from the position of the will of Wàqa for our life, i.e. from the position of his kàyyô in our life, which is always a good purpose.
So, only celebrating the holidays and reviving the religion are not enough, if we want to be fit for the present 21st century situation and for the situation in which our future generation will live. Our forefathers created a faith system as part of the solution to their situation; we also need to do the same. So let’s not try to use the same key used by our forefathers in the past to open doors with totally different keyholes at the present and the future or we don’t need to ride a donkey at this age of driving a limousine; in short we need a right solution for the present and the future situations. Our next generation need to inherit from us the latest and modern model/edition/version of our faith system, Wàqeffannà, which they also can reform, edit and secure for their children and grand children, so that we human-being continue to be as creative as our father, Wàqa.
Let’s give a simple suggestion as an example in the required reforming: why can’t we use bundle of flowers for Irreechaa, instead of only grass used by our forefathers? Why don’t we use water or oil, instead of [deleted] to anoint others during the blessing ceremonies just for the sake of hygiene? Why don’t we use candle light or the modern beautifully colored electric light decorations instead of bonfire during wa-maraa (demera)? etc. Now it is a time to have Wàqeffannà free from non-productive and untimely elements, so that it will be a faith system, which will be accepted and believed by the enlightened and informed Oromo in particular as well as by Africans in general (so that it will be a faith system serving the will of Wàqa for Oromia in particular, and for Africa in general).
Last but not least, Wàqeffatà Oromo need to be creative in realizing the will of Wàqa in our life, which is the only way to “evangelize” and convert others to the “karà nagà (to the right way) HE wants us to walk. We need to learn from the past (the known part of life, which is symbolized by white color), live the present (the challenging part of life symblized by red color) and love to know the future (the unknown part of life symbolized by black color). The karà nagaa at this particular era/time includes the virtue of a passinate struggle in life both individually and collectively, not an attitude of the pacifistic stoicism. Wàqeffannà doesn’t persuade us to do things to secure life after death, but it tells us that our effort and enthusiasm are part of the safe we have to keep and implement in order to make our life here on earth the excellent success story.
Galatôma!
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