“Irreecha” Ceremony among Shoa Oromo

Abstract

Irreecha has widely been celebrated by Oromo people for a long period of time. It plays a major role in the social life of the Oromo people. It is a ritual ceremony in which Oromos worship and praise “Waaqa”(which means God). Moreover, it enables Oromos to be united (strengthen unity), make conciliation among conflicting groups and promote their culture. The Irreecha ceremony selected for this particular study are Irreecha Horaa Arsadee (eastern Shoa) and Horaa Bisiil (western Shoa). Many scholarly works have so far been dedicated to the study of the various aspects of Oromo history, culture, belief and folklore. However, these scholars have touched upon the Irrecha ritual only as a passing remark. In other word, no detailed study exclusively or broadly dedicated to Irreecha ceremony (ritual) has been carried out with a view to properly documenting it. . Therefore the main objective of this research work was to understand, describe and document the component Irreecha ceremony; to analyze the process of Irreecha celebration at Horaa Arasadee and Horaa Bisill; and to know the social values attached to Irrechaa ceremony. In order to meet the stated objectives, the qualitative research approach was adopted for information gathering. This includes the use of, interview, participant observation and focus-group discussion. The result of the investigation reveals that there are two major types of Irreecha ceremonies: Irreecha Tullu (Irreecha celebrated on moutain) and Irreecha Malka (Irreecha celebrated on the bank of river), there are also variations across Oromo lands regarding the celebration (not uniform) and the ceremony is celebrated by all age group and gender regardless of status.