Gedeo people
Encyclopedia
The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia
. The Gedeo Zone
in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
(SNNPR) is named for this people. They speak the Gedeo language
, which is one of the Afroasiatic languages.
. Almost one in sixteen—6.24% -- live in urban areas.
The culture of the Gedeo is distinguished by two features. The first is the baalle, a tradition of ranks and age classes similar to the Gadaa
system of the Oromo people
. Beckingham and Huntingford describe the system as seven grades that span a 10-year period of birth, creating a 70 year cycle. Asebe Regassa Debelo provides oral traditions showing that the Gedeo acquired the practice from the Guji Oromo
, with whom they have had, historically, a close relationship. On the other hand, their agricultural economy is based on cultivating ensete
, as is their neighbors the Sidama people
, whose language is closely related to theirs.
Besides the baalle system, before their conquest by the Ethiopian Empire in the 1890s, the Gedeo lived in a federation of three territories called Sasserogo, or "three Roga". These Roga, Sobbho, Ributa and Rikuta, shared one Aba Gada, which was similar to the Oromo office, and every eight years was passed to a new office holder in the next age set at a ceremony also known as baalle. According to Gedeo tradition, all leadership positions from Aba Gada at the top down to the office of Hyiticha.
, and Boro ancestor of the Borana Oromo, two pastoral groups who live to the east of the Gedeo; this tradition may have its origins in an Oromo
practice of mass adoption of indigenous ethnic groups, known as guddifacha. Daraso is said to have had seven sons from two wives, from whom were descended the seven Gedeo clans: Doobba’a, Darashsha, Gorggorshsha, Hanuma, Bakarro, Henbba’a and Logoda. These are organized into two classes or "houses": shoole baxxe (the senior) to which the first four belong and sase baxee (the junior) to which the last three belong. The shoole baxxee comprises more than twenty-five sub-tribes while the sase baxxe consists of ten sub-tribes, all of which are exogamous. To these seven clans specific roles were attributed, which meant only a given clan or sub-clan contributed members from its ranks for the role of leadership while other clans or sub-clans performed duties associated with ritual, traditional medicine, etc. Accordingly, the Aba Gada used to be chosen from the Logoda and Henbba'a clans.
Annexation by the Ethiopians in 1895 led to numerous social upheavals. In areas where the Gedeo "submitted peacefully" local chiefs were installed, but in those that required military action, Amhara
settlers became feudal lords. The conquest seriously affected their socio-economic, political and cultural autonomy. For instance, the Gedeo were barred from using their baallee tradition in their day-to-day lives, except in religious rituals, leading to social disintegration, and loosened the social ties amongst the different tribes. Their land was also confiscated and the Gedeo reduced to gebbars, the Ethiopian equivalent of serfs. The local landlords, known as naftagna and balabat, were entitled to take one-third (siso) to one-half (gama) of whatever the gebbars produced. The landlords emphasized production of coffee
due to its importance as a cash crop—to the benefit of the landlords, not the Gedeo peasantry. On top of this, the gebbars and their families were required to perform unpaid work for the landlords. The gebbars also had to contribute asrat (one-tenth of the total produce) to the Ethiopian Church, though they were not allowed to become full members. The landlord also controlled the social life of a gabbar, requiring them to seek his permission before proposing a marriage for his children or to send his children to school.
However, one authority holds that the greatest administrative action that changed the lives of the Gedeo was during the 1920s when measurement of land through qallad (a rope or leather thong about 66–67 meters long) was introduced. The process of measuring land brought many hitherto unoccupied lands, and formerly forested areas that had been under the control of the traditional authorities, into the hands of the Amhara landlords. This forced the ordinary Gedeo to abandon their traditional lands where they grew ensete (as the landlords claimed rist and maderia rights over measured lands), and towards peripheral areas in search of unoccupied and forested lands. This migration led to assimilation of different clans, eliminated traditional no-man's zones and encouraged clearing of forested areas for the purposes of growing mixed coffee and ensete.
Protestant
missionaries arrived in the early 1950s. They established two churches, the Ethiopian Kalehiywot Church and Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekaneyesus. Of these, the Ethiopian Kalehiywot Church attracted the bulk of the Gedeo population and exerted a far-reaching influence. The missionaries found their evangelical work quite easy, for they had only to substitute the Christian God for the Mageno, the Supreme Being of the Gedeo. Moreover, although they were familiar with Christianity from Ethiopian Orthodox Christian newcomers, these missionaries presented the new idea of equality before God of all races of man, of all nations, of all men and women, which was all the more appealing to the Gedeo. Lastly, before the Christian missionaries arrived there was virtually no formal education among the Gedeo. The handful of government schools were in the towns from which most of the Gedeo were barred. The missionaries quickly identified this gap and used it to their advantage, establishing Bible and elementary schools. Gedeo were so eager to learn how to read and write, that elementary schools had to offer evening classes for the adults, lit by kerosene lamps. As Tadesse Kippie Kanshie writes, "These schools not only taught religious cadres but also cadres of change."
The landlords, well aware of the consequences, were vehemently opposed to any education of the Gedeo, and worked against the efforts of the missionaries, by limiting their movement in the countryside in various ways. While the missionaries relied on the help of their converts to circumvent the effect of these limitations, the local elites also struck against them. Some, such as Murtti Obese, one of the first converts to evangelize to the Gedeo south of Dila
, lost his life in 1970 while in the remote areas of Hagere Mariam
woreda, and Tesfaye Argaw was murdered while on a similar mission in the lowlands.
Related to this was the effort of the Gedeo to regain their lost rights. In the 1950s, Gedeo elders were selected and presented a petition to Emperor Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa, but to no avail. The Gedeo clashed with the Ethiopian army in 1960 at Michille hill near Dilla. With traditional weapons like spears against modern firearms, the Gedeo killed 68 government army and officials, while the latter killed 86 Gedeo peasants, "a small number considering the state’s level of military power," Asebe Regassa Debelo notes with some satisfaction. Nevertheless this defeat led to government persecution of local Protestants. Church leaders were accused of inciting the people against the feudal government and church gatherings were banned. Further, government authorities forcibly resettled Gedeo in Adola
, Hagere Mariam (Bule Hora) and other Guji Oromo territories located far from the homelands of the Gedeo. While the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie at first led to improved conditions, such as land reform
, but these improvements did not last. Cheating and deceiving had become "normal" ways used by most town merchants in dealing with Gedeo peasants. They were told by Political Commissars when to harvest, when to sell and whom to sell to, and these officials eventually tried to enforce collectivization on the Gedeo. In response, farmers clashed with government soldiers in 1981 near Rago-Qishsha.
When boundary lines were drawn between the new SNNPR and Oromia administrative units during the Transitional Government of Ethiopia
, much territory originally belonging to the Guji Oromo, including the Qallu compound (galma) in Wenago
, was given to the SNNPR. The local Guji Oromo were dissatisfied with this arrangement, and unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the office of then Prime Minister. This led to violent clashes in Hagere Mariam woreda between the Guji and Gedeo in April–May 1995. The federal army attempted to intervene between the two to stop the fighting, but only succeeded in becoming the target of Guji militants.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. The Gedeo Zone
Gedeo Zone
Gedeo is a Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. This Zone is named for the Gedeo people, whose homelands lie in this zone...
in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of the former Regions 7-11 following the 1994 elections...
(SNNPR) is named for this people. They speak the Gedeo language
Gedeo language
Gedeo is the name of a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken in south central Ethiopia. Alternate names for the language include Derasa, Deresa, Darassa, Geddeo, Derasanya, Darasa. It is spoken by the Gedeo people, who live in the highland area, southwest of Dila and...
, which is one of the Afroasiatic languages.
Overview
According to the 2007 Ethiopian national census, this ethnic group has 986,977 members, of whom 75.05% live in the SNNPR and 24.84% in adjacent parts of the Oromia RegionOromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
. Almost one in sixteen—6.24% -- live in urban areas.
The culture of the Gedeo is distinguished by two features. The first is the baalle, a tradition of ranks and age classes similar to the Gadaa
Gadaa
Gadaa is the traditional social stratification system of Oromo males in Ethiopia and northern Kenya; it is also practiced by the Gedeo people of southern Ethiopia. Each class, or luba, consists of all of the sons of the men in another particular class...
system of the Oromo people
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
. Beckingham and Huntingford describe the system as seven grades that span a 10-year period of birth, creating a 70 year cycle. Asebe Regassa Debelo provides oral traditions showing that the Gedeo acquired the practice from the Guji Oromo
Guji Oromo
The Guji Oromo are an ethnic Oromo group living in southern Ethiopia. They are part nomadic and part agrarian. According to a population projection from 2007, the total population of the Guji Oromo is above 5 million....
, with whom they have had, historically, a close relationship. On the other hand, their agricultural economy is based on cultivating ensete
Ensete
Ensete, or Enset, is a genus of plants, native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae.- Domesticated enset in Ethiopia :...
, as is their neighbors the Sidama people
Sidama people
The Sidama people of southern Ethiopia are an ethnic group whose homeland is in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. They number 2,966,474 of whom 149,480 are urban inhabitants, the fifth most populous nation in Ethiopia...
, whose language is closely related to theirs.
Besides the baalle system, before their conquest by the Ethiopian Empire in the 1890s, the Gedeo lived in a federation of three territories called Sasserogo, or "three Roga". These Roga, Sobbho, Ributa and Rikuta, shared one Aba Gada, which was similar to the Oromo office, and every eight years was passed to a new office holder in the next age set at a ceremony also known as baalle. According to Gedeo tradition, all leadership positions from Aba Gada at the top down to the office of Hyiticha.
History
The origin of the Gedeo is not well known. Tadesse Kippie Kanshie mentions one story in which the Gedeo trace their origin to the aboriginal tribe called Murgga-Gosallo, perhaps the earliest people to have lived in the area. Another Gedeo tradition traces their origins to one Daraso, who was the older brother of Gujo the ancestor of the Guji OromoGuji Oromo
The Guji Oromo are an ethnic Oromo group living in southern Ethiopia. They are part nomadic and part agrarian. According to a population projection from 2007, the total population of the Guji Oromo is above 5 million....
, and Boro ancestor of the Borana Oromo, two pastoral groups who live to the east of the Gedeo; this tradition may have its origins in an Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
practice of mass adoption of indigenous ethnic groups, known as guddifacha. Daraso is said to have had seven sons from two wives, from whom were descended the seven Gedeo clans: Doobba’a, Darashsha, Gorggorshsha, Hanuma, Bakarro, Henbba’a and Logoda. These are organized into two classes or "houses": shoole baxxe (the senior) to which the first four belong and sase baxee (the junior) to which the last three belong. The shoole baxxee comprises more than twenty-five sub-tribes while the sase baxxe consists of ten sub-tribes, all of which are exogamous. To these seven clans specific roles were attributed, which meant only a given clan or sub-clan contributed members from its ranks for the role of leadership while other clans or sub-clans performed duties associated with ritual, traditional medicine, etc. Accordingly, the Aba Gada used to be chosen from the Logoda and Henbba'a clans.
Annexation by the Ethiopians in 1895 led to numerous social upheavals. In areas where the Gedeo "submitted peacefully" local chiefs were installed, but in those that required military action, Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
settlers became feudal lords. The conquest seriously affected their socio-economic, political and cultural autonomy. For instance, the Gedeo were barred from using their baallee tradition in their day-to-day lives, except in religious rituals, leading to social disintegration, and loosened the social ties amongst the different tribes. Their land was also confiscated and the Gedeo reduced to gebbars, the Ethiopian equivalent of serfs. The local landlords, known as naftagna and balabat, were entitled to take one-third (siso) to one-half (gama) of whatever the gebbars produced. The landlords emphasized production of coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
due to its importance as a cash crop—to the benefit of the landlords, not the Gedeo peasantry. On top of this, the gebbars and their families were required to perform unpaid work for the landlords. The gebbars also had to contribute asrat (one-tenth of the total produce) to the Ethiopian Church, though they were not allowed to become full members. The landlord also controlled the social life of a gabbar, requiring them to seek his permission before proposing a marriage for his children or to send his children to school.
However, one authority holds that the greatest administrative action that changed the lives of the Gedeo was during the 1920s when measurement of land through qallad (a rope or leather thong about 66–67 meters long) was introduced. The process of measuring land brought many hitherto unoccupied lands, and formerly forested areas that had been under the control of the traditional authorities, into the hands of the Amhara landlords. This forced the ordinary Gedeo to abandon their traditional lands where they grew ensete (as the landlords claimed rist and maderia rights over measured lands), and towards peripheral areas in search of unoccupied and forested lands. This migration led to assimilation of different clans, eliminated traditional no-man's zones and encouraged clearing of forested areas for the purposes of growing mixed coffee and ensete.
Protestant
P'ent'ay
P'ent'ay or Pentay is a slang term widely used in modern Ethiopia, and among Ethiopians living abroad, to describe Ethiopian Christians who are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso, Roman Catholic or Ethiopian Catholic churches...
missionaries arrived in the early 1950s. They established two churches, the Ethiopian Kalehiywot Church and Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekaneyesus. Of these, the Ethiopian Kalehiywot Church attracted the bulk of the Gedeo population and exerted a far-reaching influence. The missionaries found their evangelical work quite easy, for they had only to substitute the Christian God for the Mageno, the Supreme Being of the Gedeo. Moreover, although they were familiar with Christianity from Ethiopian Orthodox Christian newcomers, these missionaries presented the new idea of equality before God of all races of man, of all nations, of all men and women, which was all the more appealing to the Gedeo. Lastly, before the Christian missionaries arrived there was virtually no formal education among the Gedeo. The handful of government schools were in the towns from which most of the Gedeo were barred. The missionaries quickly identified this gap and used it to their advantage, establishing Bible and elementary schools. Gedeo were so eager to learn how to read and write, that elementary schools had to offer evening classes for the adults, lit by kerosene lamps. As Tadesse Kippie Kanshie writes, "These schools not only taught religious cadres but also cadres of change."
The landlords, well aware of the consequences, were vehemently opposed to any education of the Gedeo, and worked against the efforts of the missionaries, by limiting their movement in the countryside in various ways. While the missionaries relied on the help of their converts to circumvent the effect of these limitations, the local elites also struck against them. Some, such as Murtti Obese, one of the first converts to evangelize to the Gedeo south of Dila
Dila, Ethiopia
Dilla is a market town in southern Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located on the main road from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, this town has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 1570 meters above sea...
, lost his life in 1970 while in the remote areas of Hagere Mariam
Hagere Mariam (woreda)
Hagere Mariam is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after its largest town, Hagere Mariam. Part of the Borena Zone, Hagere Mariam is bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from Arero, on the southwest by Yabelo, on the west by the Southern Nations,...
woreda, and Tesfaye Argaw was murdered while on a similar mission in the lowlands.
Related to this was the effort of the Gedeo to regain their lost rights. In the 1950s, Gedeo elders were selected and presented a petition to Emperor Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa, but to no avail. The Gedeo clashed with the Ethiopian army in 1960 at Michille hill near Dilla. With traditional weapons like spears against modern firearms, the Gedeo killed 68 government army and officials, while the latter killed 86 Gedeo peasants, "a small number considering the state’s level of military power," Asebe Regassa Debelo notes with some satisfaction. Nevertheless this defeat led to government persecution of local Protestants. Church leaders were accused of inciting the people against the feudal government and church gatherings were banned. Further, government authorities forcibly resettled Gedeo in Adola
Adolana Wadera
Adolana Wadera is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Borena Zone, Adolana Wadera is bordered on the south by Liben, on the southwest by Odo Shakiso, on the west by Bore, on the north by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, and on the east by...
, Hagere Mariam (Bule Hora) and other Guji Oromo territories located far from the homelands of the Gedeo. While the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie at first led to improved conditions, such as land reform
Land reform in Ethiopia
The problem of Land reform in Ethiopia has hampered that country's economic development throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. Attempts to modernize land ownership by giving title either to the peasants who till the soil, or to large-scale farming programs, have been tried under imperial...
, but these improvements did not last. Cheating and deceiving had become "normal" ways used by most town merchants in dealing with Gedeo peasants. They were told by Political Commissars when to harvest, when to sell and whom to sell to, and these officials eventually tried to enforce collectivization on the Gedeo. In response, farmers clashed with government soldiers in 1981 near Rago-Qishsha.
When boundary lines were drawn between the new SNNPR and Oromia administrative units during the Transitional Government of Ethiopia
Transitional Government of Ethiopia
The Transitional government of Ethiopia was established immediately after the fall of the Dergue regime. It was led by Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. Zenawi remains the prime minister of Ethiopia to this day....
, much territory originally belonging to the Guji Oromo, including the Qallu compound (galma) in Wenago
Wenago (woreda)
Wenago is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Wenago is bordered on the south by Yirgachefe, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by the Sidama Zone, and on the east by Bule...
, was given to the SNNPR. The local Guji Oromo were dissatisfied with this arrangement, and unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the office of then Prime Minister. This led to violent clashes in Hagere Mariam woreda between the Guji and Gedeo in April–May 1995. The federal army attempted to intervene between the two to stop the fighting, but only succeeded in becoming the target of Guji militants.