The Borana and the Arsi are the two major Oromo neighbors of the Guji. The three Oromo groups [Guji, Borana and Arsi] are united by common language, customs, way of life, historical experience, a common world view underpinned by the Gadaa system and customary Oromo religion. However, the relationship between these Oromo groups has been long been characterized by hostility. They fought each other for economic, political, cultural and structural reasons (Duba 1996; Taddesse 1988; Tedecha 1988). The bad relations were also exacerbated by prolonged negative attitudes towards each other. (Zerihun 1999) Guji Oromo people oral tradition attributes these hostile relations to an incident that happened among the founders of the three groups. According to the tradition, the founders of the three groups [Gujo, Boro and Arse] were half-brothers. One day, it was said, their mothers quarreled and fought, and their respective sons (with other members of the family) joined the fight in support of their mothers. In the fighting, people were killed on all sides by their half-brothers. The mothers, consequently, left their areas of residence and joined their fathers homes with their remaining sons. Since then enmity has existed between the three groups; the killing of each other has been seen as he legitimate avenging of the spilling of their brothers blood. Whatever the causes of their conflicts, the three Oromo groups considered each other as Siddi Saddin, three enemies against one another, despite their common origin and culture. Within the framework of Siddi Saddin, Guji, Borana and Arsi all consider each other as akaku, human beings equivalent to each other. The killing of akaku awards the killer with the highest honor and prestige, known as Mida or Mirga. Midal Mirga is considered a heroic act of bravery. It relates to the killing of capturing of a man from among the Siddi Saddin or to the killing of four types of dangerous wild animals: elephant, lion, buffalo, or rhinoceros. The killer or captor gains great social recognition. Mirga qualifies a person to smear his hair with butter for two years and entitles him to sing the song of killers [geerarsa and dadu] and to participate in the ceremony of killers [the kuda festival; see Taddessa 1988; Tedecha 1988). To the three Oromo groups, the killing or capturing of a human being from any other group does not qualify as midal mirga. By the same token, the Guji call members of the Siddi Saddin male and all others female. The concept of Siddi Saddin does not deny the fact that these three Oromo groups are the same people. They believe that they originiated from a common ancestor. But their fighting suggests that they have found each other to represent more dangerous and threatening rivals than other groups. They say tirun gnapte: gnapa calitte, blood relatives who become enemies are more dangerous to each other than casual enemies. Thus, the Siddi Saddin represents the defense of oneself from the more dangerous enemy of ones own blood (Tedecha 1988). [Changing Identifications and Alliances in North-East Africa: Volume 1, pages 193-194]
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 01:41:17 +0000
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