Introduction

The Oromo are one of the ancient people and the largest single ethno-nation in Ethiopia and Horn of Africa, comprising around 40% of the Ethiopian people (Legesse, 1973; Hassen, 1990; Tareke, 1991; Baxter, 1994; Woliye, 2004). They speak Afaan Oromo which belongs to the Eastern lower Cushitic. Cushitic family is one of the six sub- division of Afro-Asiatic super-family. Moreover, Afaan Oromo is third widely spoken languages in Africa (Muudee, 1995; Hordofa, 2001; Woliye, 2004). With the exception of northern part of Ethiopia the Oromo people occupied the most fertile regions in the south, southeast, east, west and central parts of Ethiopia including the capital Addis Ababa; what the country exports mainly also come from Oromo land.

The Oromo were initially agricultural pastoralists and governed by Gadaa system. Gadaa is an institution around which the Oromo organized their political, social and cultural lives (Legesse, 1973; Melba, 1988). It is also a ritual and a judicial system with legal provisions for the prevention of crimes. It prevents adultery, theft, insult, murder, slander, corruption, etc. It compensates victims for damages inflicted upon them. It has a body of rules governing conduct in society, of men towards women, juniors towards seniors and children toward adults (Haji Adem, 2017). Many scholars have defined Gadaa system. However, the best often quoted definition was that of Asmarom Legesse‘s. He has said that Gadaa has three interrelated meanings: it is the grade during which a class of people assumes politico-ritual leadership, a period of eight years during which elected officials take power from the previous ones, and the institution of Oromo society (Legesse, 1973). It was probably due to this complex nature of the Gadaa that Asmarom Legesse called it “one of the most astonishing and instructive turns the evolution of human society has taken” (Legesse, 1973). It is also for this reason that the eleventh UNSCO conference on intangible world cultural heritage held on 30 November 2016 in Addis Ababa inscribed Gadaa system as one of world’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The two institutions by which the Oromo women play significant roles in conflict resolution and protection of their rights are Atete and Siinqee (sometimes also written as siiqee). Unlike men, the Oromo women lack comparable age-based social organization like the Gadaa system (Kelly, 1992; Legesse, 1973). However, there are socially recognized ways of categorizing the role and status of women in Oromo society. The Gadaa system provides the women with another institution in which the Oromo women participate in the socio-cultural activities that protect their rights. The institutions as mentioned above are named as Atete and Siinqee. These institutions helped the women to mobilize themselves for various causes among which that harm their group identity. They also showed clearly the place women had in the religious, social and cultural philosophy of the Oromo people (Woliye, 2004).

Prior 1991 Ethiopia Historiography and research did not give significant attention to Oromo people, one of the single largest nations, let alone to the history of Oromo women. Their history had distorted and largely ignored by Ethiopianists. Few studies that were carried out were mainly characterized by demeaning, misrepresentations, distortions and even portraying the people as having no culture and past history (Giorgis, n.d.; Tamrat, 1972; Ullendorff, 1965; Gellner, 1983). Desta (2008) who wrote on Ethiopian women history in 2008 had concluded that the Ethiopian women role in socio-cultural milieu was almost non-existence. Furthermore, she concluded that Ethiopian women had no rights even at family and clan levels before. This is not true for Oromo women.

The central objective of this article is to discuss the Atete deity function in Oromo in general and the defense of Human rights and Conflict resolution methods in particular. For the Oromo women, from ancient times to the present, Atete has played major roles in defending women rights, contributing to conflict management mechanisms and growth of democratic principles. I will, moreover, discuss the material objects the women employed in the rituals; the types and processes of Atete rituals performed to defend women rights. The discussion will similarly focus on siinqee and qanafaa concepts which are related to Atete in managing conflicts. It is also intended that this work will contribute to the debate on human rights and conflicts resolution methods. However, my intention is not to forward Oromia as a source of the birth of human rights but rather to move beyond one-sided approaches to the study of human rights principles, conflict management mechanisms and social justice.

The Methodology

When I was teaching history in high schools ( Western Wallagga, Arsi and Shewa) and higher institutions (Adama and Haramaya) my students from various areas of Oromia brought a fascinating thing about Oromo women rights which broadened my previous knowledge about Atete ritual and its implication for development of human rights, conflict resolution and social justice. These ideas attracted me to explore further and do more research on Atete and the role of women in Oromo society. Nevertheless, there is the dearth of written material on Atete institution and cultural history. Those few scholars who had discussed about it focused on either one or two aspects of Atete institution. They lacked holistic approaches. Hence, this shortcoming necessitated me to go further and investigate the problem using various methods and procedures of data gathering techniques. The research is mainly qualitative in design and ethnographic in approach. The data had come from oral informants, observation of Atete ceremonies, field notes, Atete hymns collected from field in some parts of Arsiland as well as reading secondary sources.

Instruments of data gathering technique employed here began with identifying oral informants through purposeful sampling. Both male and females were included in the study. I also told them about the aims of the interview in order to get their informed consent to which they agreed. After this procedure was completed, the researcher interviewed them using audio recording machine for more than two hours and later these data was transcribed onto the paper. The other technique used to collect data was observation method so as to document and analyze Atete ritual performance for rain seeking ceremonies at Sirka in Arsi in 2013 as well as when Atete attendants sat for negotiation with elders under qiltu tree at Arsi Nagelle in 2014. This procedure was accompanied by taking field notes. Moreover, I also collected different Atete hymns composed by Oromo women that came down from their mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers through oral transmission. All these data, later, have been organized under different themes and categories which also cross-checked systematically with written fragmentary secondary sources found in various libraries in order to obtain a reliable and objective research findings. The researcher has finally employed critical analysis technique based on ethnographic approach in order to construct and write the final work.

In sum, this ethnographic study focused on socio-cultural history and anthropological inquiry of Atete Oromo women. It concerned with Oromo women ontology of how they organized reality in their minds and expressed it in their Atete ritual ceremony. As Darnton (1984) correctly argued socio-cultural history should focus on such type of ritual practices. Hence, ethnographic accounts of Atete Oromo women socio-cultural and ritual practices constitute the central part of the paper. The article also intends to demonstrate the importance of integrating Oromo women concepts of human rights, conflict management system and social justice to the instruments of human rights and conflict management.

Results and Discussion

Atete and the Reasons for it performances

Under this section I will discuss the definition of Atete and ayyaana. I will also explain the motives Atete ceremonies held in Oromo society with major emphasis on the issues related to women rights and managing conflict. Lastly, siinqee institution will be discussed briefly in relation to Oromo women’s wayyooma, high honor and sacredness and their importance in resolving socio-cultural evils.

The term Atete is difficult to define. According to Kumsa (1997) Atete is a female deity and is also a spirit (ayyaana). Based on these concepts and information gathered from informants, I define Atete as a special spiritual power given to Oromo married women by Waaqa (God). Atete helps mother to deliver a new baby safely and easily. Due to this reason, Atete is also known by its honored title ateetiyyoo or aayyoolee (my Atete or my mother). As mentioned above, Atete is a married woman ayyaana. It is also not easy to translate the word ayyaana into English since it has different meaning in different contexts. One of the nearest definition of ayyaana is a spirit through which the women and religious leaders, Qallu communicate with Waaqa, God (Knutsson, 1967; Bartels, 1983). The second meaning of ayyaana could be the name of seven day of a week or 27 days in a month of Oromo lunar calendar called Dhahaa Oromo (Legessa, 2000; HajiAadaam, 2011, Daaniyaa, 2006). The other meaning of ayyaana is the commemoration of a special holiday whether it is a public or religious holiday. The last nomenclature is a new phenomenon in Oromo history. So the nearest meaning of ayyaana in English is the first and the second according to its context. There are many ayyaana in Oromo cosmogony, some of which are ayyaana of man, animal, soil, tree and so on.¹

Atete ceremonies are performed by Oromo women for various motives. Some of these motives why the rituals could be held include praying for rain during drought, overcoming crop failure, alleviating epidemic diseases or pacifying the potentials of attacking enemy off Oromo land. It could also be invoked for animal fertility or to express happiness when good events occurred for the Oromo.² However, the main motives most of the times Atete ayyaana ritual organized by women is to safeguard and protect their rights from infringement by husband or any male offenders and to solve arising conflicts peacefully (Megerssa, 1993; Kumsa, 1997; Woliye, 2004). This partly indicates that Oromo nation had developed an egalitarian system of democracy and the principles of human rights before the western democracy. Even though, Eurocentric view believes that democracy started in Greece at Athens around 508 BC(Peradotto J. and Sullivan (eds), 1984), the Oromo institution of Atete and Gadaa system show that there is also another source that contributed to the growth of democracy, the principles of human rights and conflict resolving mechanisms as the following discussion will demonstrate.

In Greece democracy there is no major roles for women in contrast to Oromo women who played a major role in their society. The Oromo women participated in Gadaa power transfer ceremony. The newly elected Abba Gadaa could not be blessed without the presence of Qallu and women (Legesse, 1973, Megerssa, 1993; Wako, 1998). It is the task of women during blessing ceremony that the elected officials should pass under siinqee (I will discuss about it later) that they held in inverted V. This is due to a belief that the women had a religious authority. In all major daily socio-cultural activities women had a significant role and were even given a special highly respected status called Wayyuu. Whenever they speak the communities listen to and appreciated them. It was also believed that women were weak (liminal) parts of humanity and this makes them to wield a special religious power where they draw an enormous moral and ritual authority (Kumsa, 1997; Kelly, 1992). This belief helped the Oromo women to play a major role in solving community problems. One of the roles they played in Oromo society is settling disputes among clans and sub-clans. If by chance conflict emerged among members of Oromo clans, the Oromo women could stop it through a process called hanfalaa hikkachuu (from Oromo, hanfalaa is a belt made of leather by which women tie their waist while hikkachu is taking off it).

Hanfalaa hikkachuu is a process of performing a symbolic gesture where clothes are taken off to show a complete surrender to God. Once this action was symbolically performed by Oromo women everybody that involved in the conflict will stop it automatically (Woliye, 2004; Østebø, 2009). We did not see this type of respect and influence in ancient Athenian democracy as well as even in the modern western democracy until the end of WWII (Peradotto and Sullivan (eds), 1984). Peradotto and Sullivan discuss that both Women and Slaves were seen as the natural and biological inferiors of the patriarchal male citizen within Greek culture. Furthermore, Mclintock (1995) discusses that women and slaves were similarly distinguished from free men by their social subordination and their imagined otherness. They also shared exclusion from participation in political life and were viewed as morally deficient and potentially dangerous. Until the modern period, Europeans were even burning millions of women at the stake as witches (Kumsa, 1997).

Contrary to this, the Oromo say “kabajni ilma namaa dubartii dha”- (the honor of human beings is due to womenfolk). Women use this power bestowed on them by Oromo society in conflict resolution and whenever their rights and children’s rights are violated and the natural environment is affected.³ As mentioned at the beginning of this work, the Oromo Gadaa system is one of the most democratic institutions dominated predominantly by male on one hand, and Atete institution and Siinqee are dominated by women on the other hand. Even though, we do not know when Atete and Siinqee institution started, the Oromo believe that they are as old as Gadaa system. Thus, the history of Atete institution is as old as both Gadaa system and Qallu institution. It is linked highly to the Qallu institution whose history traced back to the fall of the first Qallu from sky in immemorial period (Bartles, 1983; Daaniya, 2006). Likewise, some Oromo clans also believed that the Atete ayyaana also fall down from the sky in that immemorial period (Daaniya, 2006; HajiAadaam, 2011). So we can infer from these hypotheses that Atete ayyaana is highly related to Oromo general cosmology, mythology and with the advent of the first Qallu in Oromo history.

Siinqee is too very important tool in conflict resolution and defending women’s rights. Siinqee is thin long beautiful stick up to one’s length or more which is given on marriage day by a mother to her marrying daughter. So it should be kept as very precious object with respect. The Oromo believed that the first Qallu was given a siinqee (ritual stick) to take home for his wife. It comes from harooressaa tree and has huge meaning in Oromo nation (Megerssa, 1993; Kumsa, 1997). Once the woman carry this object in her hand and travel through Oromo lands the people ought to give her a special reverence. Likewise, if she offended by her husband and grabbed it by her right hand and goes to Oromo elders, she would be given due regard and listened to attentively. When people see a woman carrying it and travel through their village, they would murmur to each other by saying that balaa maltu bu’e, what calamities happened to us? This shows that siinqee represent a big weapon for women for fighting injustice and oppression. Moreover, siinqee stick symbolizes special cultural object that have endowed with feature of respectfulness, peacefulness and protection of women rights which enabled women to solve conflicts emerged in their locality easily (which will be discussed later in detail).

The Place and Time of Atete ayyaana celebrations

In this section I will enumerate some of the ritual objects employed in various Atete rituals in different parts of Oromo lands. Moreover, the Oromo calendar known as dhahaa Oromoo is important in socio-cultural life of Oromo because the Oromo daily activities are highly related to prayers and ritual performances. Hence, it is incumbent on every Oromo to know on which day a particular ayyaana fall that has auspicious omen for their daily activities. This is also the concern of the section. Briefly the places at and occasion on which Atete ritual ceremonies will be held by women will be discussed.

The places where the Atete ceremonies could be held vary according to the motives of the celebrations. In the same manner, Atete ritual objects used in the celebration of the ayyaana could also slightly differ. Some of these cultural objects employed in the Atete ritual celebrations slightly differ in some places but its overall function is the same. Few of the cultural objects commonly used in most Atete ayyaana rituals in Oromo land are callee (small beads mainly produced in Middle east), siinqee, okolee and kiila (butter container), guchuuma and ciiccoo (milk container), gaadi (leather to tie two legs of a cow during milking), coqorsaa (special grass which spreads broadly over the wide area), caccuu (beads), ulmaayi leaves (it has good aromatic), various ritual clothes (wandaboo, qoloo, xibbiqqo, qomee, bonkoo, gufta, sabbata, naxalaa) and others. Food items like marqaa, qincee, hangoo (porridge made from black barley), urgooftu (made from roasted barley) and qixxaa, bread of barley also important for the ritual ceremonies. Other cultural objects like ciiccoo or qorii (porridge vessel), gilgil or gimmiccaa (callee container), various drinks (dadhii, booka, mijuu or buqurii), gingilchaa, buqqee, coffee beans, barley, butter, various perfumes (aarrittii, hixaana, qumbii), at some places cereals like nug seed were also needed for the ceremonies. At some places particularly in Arsi land heexoo, kasaa erbee, mukaa qayyaa and other objects used.⁴ Depending on the resources of the celebrating person of Atete ayyaana as well as its motives black sheep having white color on its head or bull could be sacrificed. These all cultural materials and ritual objects which are highly related to fertility and reconciliation mechanisms are considered as tools of feminine in Oromo culture.

Moreover, due to the above factors the place where Atete ayyaana and the days on which it could be celebrated varies. The day on which the Atete ritual celebrated could be calculated by ayyaantu or elders. Not all elders know how this is calculated, because the calculation involves knowing precisely the position of the stars and their movement: - hence part of Oromo calendar. The Oromo lunar calendar has 27 days; all have their own ayyaana and the remaining three days calculated by looking at the position and movement of stars in the sky (Legesse, 1973; HajiAadaam, 2011). In Oromo calendar each day has its own ayyaana and some ayyaana are believed not to have good omen. For example, the ayyaana name of one day is related to a donkey; hence the Oromo considered this day has not having good omen. Knowing and calculating on which day a good ayyaana fall is important because each day has its own special ayyaana with different connotation. Some are very good ayyaana, others are good while some have bad omen;- hence, this categorization is necessary to the people to know on which day these various types of ayyaana will fall.

In order to identify the day on which important ceremonies including Atete, could be held, the Oromo people use to calculate by looking at the appearance of the new moon in relation to the seven stars for a thousand of years. This led us to dhahaa Oromoo or faana buutuu Oromoo (Oromo calendar).⁵ By doing this they correctly calculated the day on which a good ayyaana would fall. The first day start from the night of the appearance of a new moon. Its ayyaana is named Hinikkaa. Hinikkaa is the first name of ayyaana for the new day of a month. Oromo month has about 29 or 30 days. However, apart from the first 27 days the last three days or two days have no ayyaana. As we discussed at the beginning of this work, ayyaana has many meanings. According to this context ayyaana means the name given to each day of a month. The 28^th, 29^th or/and 30^th day take its name/ayyaana from the 1^st, 2^nd or/and 3^rd days of the outgoing month. But this needs special calculation which is only done by a few knowledgeable or gifted persons. So every new month’s last two or three days will take the name/ayyaana of 1^st, 2^nd or/and 3^rd of the outgoing month which will change from month to month. The next month the 28^th, 29^th or/and 30^th days could take probably the 4^th, 5^th or 6^th day’s ayyaana of previous month. This difficulty necessitated calculation by gifted individual, ayyaantu or elders. Sometimes people they could forget the name of ayyaana of the day and when this happens the ayyaantu go out of his home in the night and look upwards to the sky to see the setting of these stars known in Oromo as lamii, buusaa, sorsa, alqaajima, arba guddaa, hulqaa(wallaa) and basaa, position of the moon or at the daybreak to see bakkalcha (Venus) and other stars which could help to calculate the ayyaana.⁶ Accordingly, the day or ayyaana for Atete ceremony that has good omen will be established. Probably it was for this fact that Asmarom Legesse (1973) had written that the Oromo calendar with the Chinese, Indian and Maya is the best permutation calendar ever recorded in human history.

From the above name or ayyaana of days of the month, I can postulate that the Oromo originally divided one month into twenty-seven ayyaana not into four weeks. To support this idea let us see names of the day in different parts of Oromo lands. To begin, the two Oromo moieties Borana and Barentu have different names for the days of the week. Nowadays the names of the week we use in Oromia are the following: Wixata, Kibxata, Roobi, Kamisa, Jimaata, Sanbataa and Dilbataa. The name Roobii, Kamisa, Jimaata and Sanbata have similarities with Arab names of the days whose meaning connote four, five for the first two names while the last name connotes seven respectively. Arabs started the first day of the week with Sunday that is Alahad, its meaning is one. The only dissimilar name of the week with the Arabs is Wixata, Kibxata and Dilbataa. For Itu and Humbana Oromo all name of the week is similar with Arabs. Wixata and Kibxata were common name in Arsi and Borana areas, while in west Oromia for Wixata and Kibxata they used the name of Dafno and Facaasa while in central Oromia they used Hojja duree and Lammaffoo. From this discussion, I like to say that this difference in naming the days of the week probably stemmed from originally all Oromo clans used twenty-seven ayyaana names for a month not naming days of the week. It seems to me that the nomenclature of the week was a later development. Moreover, it seems to me that initially Ayyaana naming was more preferred nomenclature for days of a month in Oromo religious, social and cultural performances and festivities to the names of the weeks mentioned above.

The most preferred days on which Atete ayyaana ceremonies could be held throughout Oromo lands are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If these days are found to have bad ayyaana names, the day could shift to those that have good omens. The length of the days for which Atete ceremony is held could vary depending on the reason why the ceremony is celebrated. The average days of celebration could be from 1-3 day/s. The other seasons in which Atete celebrated are after Malkaa Irrecha festivity in the autumn (end of rainy season) and also after Tullu irrecha festivity in spring (the beginning of afrasa/badhessa rainy season).⁷ Mothers could also celebrate when their children accomplish acts of bravery. Or any mother who faced with a major problem could celebrate Atete ayyaana provided that the day has a good ayyaana. It was also celebrated in the month of November and January in some places. Again when Oromo nation faced with great calamities, the womenfolk could organize the Atete ritual ceremony when they deemed it is necessary to do so.

Types and Processes of Atete Ayyaana Celebration (Kabaja/Facaafata)

A passing remark on Oromo religion is very necessary before discussing the above theme. The first and original religion of Oromo was Waaqeffannaa, the belief in Waaqa (the Supreme Being, God). The name Waaqeffannaa comes from Waaqa, the black God, the creator of all things. Black colour, to the Oromo, represents fertility, prosperity, hopes and is considered to be a symbol of holiness and divinity. The definition of Waaqa itself is difficult. For instance, Knutson who studied Oromo religion defined Waaqa as the vault of the sky or the sky itself or linked with the sky (Knutson, 1967). While Mohammed Hassen defined Waaqa as both the sky god and the sky itself, manifesting the dual nature of the two moieties within the nation who controlled the fertility, peace and life-giving rains (Hassen, 1990). Huntingford also defined Waaqa as the creator and lord of the earth who had the power doing good and evil (Huntingford, 1975). The Oromo Waaqa has no representation with an image. According to the Oromo belief, Waaqa talks to his people through the Qallu. The QalIu are the ritual leaders of the Oromo. The Qallu are people who are anointed by God to manifest his power and work (Trimingham, 1965). Nowadays the majority of the Oromo are the followers of Christianity and Islam. As in the rest of Africa, religious and cultural syncretism of blending both Islamic and Christian elements with those from traditional religion (Woliye, 2004; Lewis, 1980) is also evident among the Oromo. The best example of cultural syncretism is the celebration of Atete rituals by both Islam and Christianity followers which is the main point of discussion of this article.

I have discussed in the previous section that Atete ritual is performed in slightly different forms due to the varying motives. Here, I will discuss how Atete ayyaana is accomplished with particular emphasis on women role in conflict resolution. Moreover, other positive deeds of Oromo women in relation to harmonizing relationships between Uumee (God) and uumaa (creatures) so as to keep the cosmos in balance will be discussed. For the sake of our discussion, I divided Atete ritual celebration into two major groupings. These are: Atete celebration held to defend women rights and Atete celebration held to alleviate drought and seek more rain. Therefore in this section, I will demonstrate how Atete ritual is more than a fertility rite and has to do a lot with many issues all Oromo groups including male. Furthermore, I will also argue that some of the previous works had focused on single aspects of Atete function, the case in point was P. Baxter (1979) who focused only on fertility issue from Arsi Oromo perspective. But here, I will argue in this section based on my field observation, intensive interviews and my personal experience that Atete function is broader and focused on many aspects of not only women matter but also all Oromo groups including male issue.

Atete Ritual to Defend Women Rights

Before discussing the main function of Atete rituals, it is very important first to define what Ritual is. Like Atete and ayyaana, ritual is also another difficult word to define; however, for the sake of simplicity, I adopted this definition of rituals. According to Eriksen (2010, 223) ritual is the social aspect of religion. It is also the social process which gives a concrete expression to the system of religious notions. On the other hand, T. Turner (1977: 54) emphasizes that there exists an 'iconic relationship' between the structure of rituals and that of the social relations which they mediate. 'Ritual', he explains, 'as a symbolic model of social order that also attempts to be an effective means of regulating that order, is grounded upon the same fundamental structural and dynamic principles as society itself'. From this point of view, ritual serves as a symbolic instrument which not only represents but also constructs social reality. These theoretical insights hold true for the Oromo case (Kassam, 1999; Smith, 1989).

From the time of a delivery of a new baby to at least up to two months or at most up to six months, Oromo woman put a special object called qanafaa on her forehead. Qanafaa is highly valued object in Oromo society. It is made from the harder bark of a tree. When any Oromo woman who ties it along her forehead passed through the neighborhood, the local people take for granted that the woman in question has given birth recently and hence everybody in the village should give her a special protection and fulfills her needs. The Oromo women are given special cares more during pregnancy and ulmaa (after birth postpartum rest period). This could be mount, special sitting or material objects (Tuso, 1998).⁸

Nevertheless, a few ill-tempered individuals might not give a special care for pregnant woman or to a woman who wears qanafaa. They might insult or demean or batter her when she is in such a status. Moreover, some wicked husbands also might do the same to his pregnant or newly delivered wife. Even in some cases some bad boy might insult or look in contempt up on his mother. Any person who hurt the wayyuu woman that wears qanafaa physically and psychologically is considered as immoral person. He undermines the overall Oromo ethical values and religious principle (Safuu cabsuu). The Oromo community reacted harshly to such persons. A special corrective program will be initiated. Failure to observe the ritual prohibition provokes the village women into agitation and protest.

The process of bringing the offender to Oromo special corrective tribune could be commenced by woman in question or by any woman who saw or heard this act. Either of them could initiate invoking Atete ayyaana to intervene and help them quickly. During this moment, the women folk hurriedly grab their siinqee in their right hand raising and directing upwards to Waaqa burst out of homes in raised voices uproar like a lion in invoking their mother ateetiyyoo. And in the left hand they could carry lush fresh grasses (Megerssa, 1993; Woliye, 2004). Simultaneously, they begin the weeddisu/singing of Atete ayyaana accompanying by declaration of ilillllliiiiiiiii (ululation). These actions signaled the beginning of Atete ritual process in the earnest. The process of organizing and holding any Atete ayyaana ritual by the women is called Atete kabajatuu or bulfachuu or facaafatuu.

They might pronounce the following weeddu / Atete hymn at this moment⁹ which symbolized a kind of ultimatum declared by Atete attendants to the offender to pay compensation (falu, maru) on time.

Once they heard this hymn/song, the neighbouring women in the village one by one join the offended woman and march together towards the nearby caffee, grassy area or qilxu, considered as a female tree or sycamore tree for the excommunication of the offender. The Oromo elders who are monitoring the march of the womenfolk towards ceremonial place would inquire politely the Atete participants why they came out en masse. At this moment, the elders seize fresh lush grass in their right hands as sign of seeking peace and alangee (whip made from hippopotamus skin) in their left hand as sign of peaceful arbitration, approach the Atete participants by saying “dhiltee dhinaa” (special spiritual opening talk during ritual ceremony, seeking apology for direful eye contact). The women would respond unanimously by saying “hobbayaa” (no matter and we accepted your saying) or hoofkolaa (be relieved). After the positive signal from the women, the elders enter into a negotiation with the saddeetan group or the saddeettan hanfalaa (council of senior mothers) who led the complaints of Atete attendants.¹⁰

After a lengthy discussion on the issue by two groups, lastly, they come out with a resolution that declares the offender to compensate the offended woman. The guilty person might pay fine in property and also slaughter a sacrificial animal as a good gesture. He also made to cook and feed the party at the feast as a gesture of reconciliation (Megerssa, 1993). If he brought big animal like a bull to be slaughtered as a sacrificial animal, the womenfolk would not take it quickly. They would say “marga afaan keene” (literally, let it graze pasture more). But if he insisted, they might take it or changed to sheep. This proves that the whole reconciliation and conflict resolution methods intention is not to harm the offender but rather it is to bring about a permanent reconciliation through fair compensation whereby nobody harmed beyond his/her capacity. There is also a similar method practised by Guji Oromo women if not as elaborative as Arsi Oromo conflict resolutions methodology (Debsu, 2009).

In case if the accuser refused to compensate the offended, the Atete participants curse him and tore down his home. The male elders also declared him of guilty of violating the Oromo moral principles (safuu & wayyomaa) and ostracized him pending he pay full compensation. Until he does that, he will not participate in marital and burial ceremonies with the people and etc. He will also not be elected in any Gadaa office. If his offensive was severe, he could be banished (Megerssa, 1993; Tuso and Flaherty, 2016).

In short, the Oromo society has developed very encouraging and corrective social sanction by which all members abides. These laws and social sanctions make the Oromo society to live a happy and peaceful life where nobody harmed beyond his/her capacity. It is a society build up on adab (mutual interdependence; recognizing the rights of each other; giving precedence to elders, mothers, and pregnant women, having mercy to children, domestic animals and even to natural environment) and safuu (unbroken ethical and moral rule). There are similar indigenous conflict resolution methods in Africa like Jir mediation of Tiv people in Nigeria, Guurti assembly in Somaliland, Mato Oput of Acholi and Ubuntu in South Africa (Francis, 2008) but what makes Atete unique from these systems is that it is dominated by female while the above mentioned Africans methods of conflict resolution are dominated by male.

Atete Ritual to Alleviate Drought and Seek More Rain

The Oromo women like the larger parts of Oromo society if problems affect the Oromo nation, they would not keep silent. The Oromo Waaqa who is believed to be very merciful with big belly (gurraacha garaa garbaa) will offer from his limitless bounty if He asked honestly by surrendering oneself to Him. The Oromo believe that the womenfolk and children are weak in the sight of Waaqa and when they kneel down to him, the merciful Waaqa will respond to their prayers more hurriedly than to those of the males. This belief would encourage the Oromo women when calamities struck their community to organize the Atete ayyaana ritual rite to pray to Waaqa to give them more rains. On the ceremonial day they performed many cultural and ritual rain seeking ceremonies until either rainfall or nightfall disperse them.

It is important to underscore that the above mentioned Atete ritual processes and practices had continued in spite of Menelik’s conquest of Oromo land in the nineteenth-century and also opposition from both Muslim and Christian leaders. However, the Atete ceremony during the Shewan Amhara occupation and their rule organized haphazardly and lost some of its vigor. There were also cases when the Oromo women defy the subjugation and oppression of the Shewan rule by organizing Atete ritual ceremony as attested by Birruu and Fato (cited in Kumsa, 1997). E. Cerulli who was in Oromo land in 1920s was extremely surprised that both the Islamized and Christianized Oromo were practicing the traditional religious practices including Atete rituals (Cerulli, 1922). Moreover, P. W. Baxter who was in Arsi in 1960s also observed how the Arsi Oromo women organized Atete ritual ceremony in their neighborhood and prayed for well-being to Waaqa (Baxter, 1979). In the same manner, Holcomb who did a research among the Oromo in 1970s reaffirmed that the Oromo women resisted the missionaries’ intrusion into Oromo cultural activities by organizing sisterhood gatherings which made the missionaries to leave that area (Holcomb and Sisai, 1990). Some of my informants from both Shewa and Arsi regions also confirm that during Haile Selassie and Derg periods when major crises struck their society, the Oromo women reacted by organizing Atete ritual ceremonies to overcome it.¹⁰ These all historical accounts discussed here affirm that in spite of its decline in its influences, the Oromo women had organized Atete ceremonies for various functions until recently.

Conclusion

This work discusses and elaborates numerous Atete rituals, various socio-cultural ceremonies and social acts which are organized and managed by Oromo women. It also shows that the Oromo women have organized through Atete into a collective solidarity movement and struggled against rights violation and oppression by wicked male individuals to defend their rights since the advent of Gadaa system. In this article, the complex Atete rituals which are demonstrated have played major roles in Oromo society by solving conflicts through peaceful methodology. Hence, it contributed positively for the existence of a just and orderly society. I have also argued that the notion of human rights principles and democracy were not only originated in Europe but also in Oromo land (Oromia) since the advent of Gadaa system. As our discussion indicates Oromo nation had developed and employed these concepts for many years. Hence, efforts to strengthen human rights and conflict resolution mechanisms should therefore be done with great geographical and cultural sensitivity.

Furthermore, the Atete ceremonies focused not only on fertility issue as some writers tried to show us, but rather it also focused on male issues, mitigation of natural calamities and protection of environment. Unlike Feminist quests for gender equality in terms of jobs and political positions which sometimes be viewed as being too individualistic and self-centered and as a luxury (Steady, 2006), the Atete ayyaana institution and its functions on the other hand are not limited to gender issue but it is rather socio-centric and holistic. Oromo Atete rituals transcend individualism and tend to involve women as a group in struggles against oppression of all kinds based on political, social and cultural domination. It is more holistic and humanistic and has a greater potential for social transformation.

Acknowledgments

The author grateful to Oromo informants in Arsi and Shewa regions for their great contribution in providing invaluable oral information as well as my mother, Adde Makko Haji Qasim who taught me the Oromo culture and History since my childhood.

Conflict of Interest

The study was carried out by the author himself with out any help from any organization.

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