Oromo Parliamentarians Council (OPC)
What is Waaqeffanna?
by
Rundaasaa Asheeetee Hundee
Out of more than 6 billion people in the
world today, one in nine is a Waaqefata.
To understand why Waaqefata, with its
intricate framework of mysticism, is
espoused by such a large number of
people, it might be helpful to examine
the Waaqefachu's contemplative approach
to life through the eyes of a student of
Booranticha.
According to "Waaqeffanna doctrine,
“the Christians and the Muslims live
in time; but the Oromians and other
indigenous societies live in space.
They are always on the move; the
Oromians are always at rest.
“They are aggressive; we the Oromians are passive. They like to act; the Oromians like to contemplate.
“We the Oromians always hark back to the past; the two religions are always look forward to the future. We pine for the lost paradise; they wait for the millennium.
“We the Oromians accept the world as it is; they try to change it according to their blueprint. We the Oromains live in peace with Nature; they try to impose their will on her. That's why our color, our names, our way of life is forced to change to Husien, Asfaw and Efrem.
“For the Oromians, spirituality is our first love; we revel in metaphysics. But for the two religious groups, physics is a delight.
“The Christians and Muslims believe in preaching their views but we the Oromians strive for articulation. We believe in freedom of silence and thus we lapse into meditation near every nature such as rivers, mountains, valleys, jungles or great Odaa trees.
“The two religious groups first love, then marry. We first marry, then we love. Their marriage is the happy end of a romance but our marriage is the beginning of a love affair. Their marriage is a contract but our marriage is an indissoluble bond. It is in such a way that our parents eventually become brother and sister.
“Their love is vocal but our love is mute. Their are delighted in showing it to others; we try hard to conceal it from the world.
“Self-assertiveness is the key to their success; self-abnegation is the secret of our survival.
“Islam and Christians are urged every day to come to church or Mosque; we’re taught from the cradle to say less and less. Joy is their ideal; conquest of desires is our goal.
“We glorify austerity and renunciation; they emphasize gracious living and enjoyment. Poverty to them is a sign of degradation; it is to us a badge of spiritual elevation. That is what we call humility.
“In the sunset years of life, they retire to enjoy the fruits of their labor; we renounce the world and prepare ourselves for the hereafter.”
When did Waaqeffannaa began?
=========================
The story of Christianity and Islam began few years before Jesus was born, or few years after Moses was leading the Jews out of Egypt where they were slaves to black faros. But Waaqeffannaa began right after life started without a known founder and has continued to be one of the most enduring and compelling forces for spiritual development in the world until it's influence is limited by the expansion of Islam and Christianity.
Among the many factors that have contributed to the decline of Waaqatti buluu, the most significant one is the continual subjugation of the black people by Whites, the Arabs and their half posterity, the Habash. These three forces have operated together to prevent the Oromians from successfully throwing off the yoke of oppression.
Subject to foreign rule and control
until very recently, the term
"Oromo" has been at the mercy of
marauding and conquering races for
literally thousands of years. This
confusion of races, castes, and
religions ranging from the highest
type to the most primitive have
suppressed the Oromo religion and
culture.
Although the Habasha, the Arabs and the White people looked at Waaqatti Buluu as backward practice, Waaqefachuu grew out of the merging together of two relatively developed civilizations, spirituality and progressive governmental philosophy, the Gadaa system.
After the Habasha and some fair-skinned Oromos who are created among the Oromo nation by the invaders, who wandered out of the northern highlands and settled on the Oromains plains or Cilaloo, Gara Mul'ata, Xiichoo, Tulluu Walala and the like, we the Oromians imbibed many civilizations of our own and worshiped God the creator with devotion.
Although the Habasha, the Arabs and the White people looked at Waaqatti Buluu as backward practice, Waaqefachuu grew out of the merging together of two relatively developed civilizations, spirituality and progressive governmental philosophy, the Gadaa system.
After the Habasha and some fair-skinned Oromos who are created among the Oromo nation by the invaders, who wandered out of the northern highlands and settled on the Oromains plains or Cilaloo, Gara Mul'ata, Xiichoo, Tulluu Walala and the like, we the Oromians imbibed many civilizations of our own and worshiped God the creator with devotion.
Because of the birth of the fair
skinned Habash/ Oromo, the emphasis
of Oromummaa shifted to different
belief and the worshiping of
unspecific gods that we were forced
to worship. The religion that
started by Abraham's sons is
basically responsible for the
writing of scriptures that came to
Africa with their own disciplines
and rules.
The Arabs and the Europeans eventually divided the Oromo nation into social classes and imposed a strict color lines segregation in their relationship with the native black and the fair skinned half Arab. This means, through a practice of marriage control, they laid the foundation of the traditional caste system that has persisted into our own time. The darker skinned were looked down and named Garbicha or Garbitti and were sold by the fair skinned once.
Only the fair skinned were permitted to hold upper class in the society or priest-hood or served as armed soldier-rulers. The dark skinned were names Qottuu (the farmer), Fugaa (craftsman), Faaqii, Tumtuu and etc. It was the responsibility of these low class Oromians to work and feed the fair skinned half. This way, the Cush nation got divided into classes of servants such as the Kambaataa, Hadiyaa, Gudellaa, Shanqillaa, Kafichoo, Afar, Isaa, Sidamaa, Walyitaa, Oromo and the like who were forced to be the laborers or slaves. Under the caste name of Baariyaa or Garbichaa, they were denied the privileges of the higher castes. These rigid class distinctions became an important part of the developing religious system.
The Arabs and the Europeans eventually divided the Oromo nation into social classes and imposed a strict color lines segregation in their relationship with the native black and the fair skinned half Arab. This means, through a practice of marriage control, they laid the foundation of the traditional caste system that has persisted into our own time. The darker skinned were looked down and named Garbicha or Garbitti and were sold by the fair skinned once.
Only the fair skinned were permitted to hold upper class in the society or priest-hood or served as armed soldier-rulers. The dark skinned were names Qottuu (the farmer), Fugaa (craftsman), Faaqii, Tumtuu and etc. It was the responsibility of these low class Oromians to work and feed the fair skinned half. This way, the Cush nation got divided into classes of servants such as the Kambaataa, Hadiyaa, Gudellaa, Shanqillaa, Kafichoo, Afar, Isaa, Sidamaa, Walyitaa, Oromo and the like who were forced to be the laborers or slaves. Under the caste name of Baariyaa or Garbichaa, they were denied the privileges of the higher castes. These rigid class distinctions became an important part of the developing religious system.
The social picture became even more
complicated with the inclusion of a
class below at the very bottom of
the social order, known as the
outcasts or untouchables i.e the
Fugaa and the Faaqii who are not
permitted to eat on plates or drink
with regular glasses. They were
rather given food on use and throw
leafs . Because of the degrading
work and pitiable occupations to
which they were assigned, such as
cleaning waste, disposing of
contaminated dead animals, hunting,
and scavenging, they were considered
unclean and not fit to touch or come
in contact with anyone of a higher
caste, the warra Mootii. In fact,
these untouchables were also called
Budas and required to not to look at
children or at the Motis while they
are eating or drinking sometimes
when the occasion demanded so that
their evil eye would not fall affect
the higher caste and thus kill the
innocent.
Forbidden to draw from the village
wells (Burqaa) or Malkaa or enter
into sacred places, they withdrew
from the village before nightfall
and lived with fellow outcasts in
abject poverty and unspeakable
misery.
Believing that they were living in this particular circumstance as reward or punishment for a previous life, they neither sought to break rank nor envied those of higher caste. They were taught by the spiritual leaders known as Ye Berehaa Zandoo and Sheekana Huseen, that over saw the rules and restrictions of the high caste who constituted the highest fulfillment for themselves.
Believing that they were living in this particular circumstance as reward or punishment for a previous life, they neither sought to break rank nor envied those of higher caste. They were taught by the spiritual leaders known as Ye Berehaa Zandoo and Sheekana Huseen, that over saw the rules and restrictions of the high caste who constituted the highest fulfillment for themselves.
By cheating the indigenous people
using spirituality and God, this
system was kept stable for as long
as the time the Arabs and the
Europeans came to Africa.
Even though the half cast fair
skinned men drew up the strict rules
for the darker skinned men against
mixing with their race, they
themselves never stopped raping dark
skinned women even-though they never
married to them officially. The fair
skinned half Arabs sons inherited
the occupations of their fathers,
and their daughters married men of
similar occupation, while the
untouchables were doomed to
perpetuate for themselves and their
posterity wretched lives of squalor
and ignorance.
This attitude of submission to fair skinned men by the dark skinned people eventually set in and willingness to identify oneself as lower human being took it's tall so slowly to the degree of worshiping White Angles and White Gods. These seemingly true doctrine of white God prevailed in almost every corner of the Abyssinian churches where the pictures of Angles George, Marry, Gabriel etc.. were drawn on the walls of the churches by fair skinned grand children.
This attitude of submission to fair skinned men by the dark skinned people eventually set in and willingness to identify oneself as lower human being took it's tall so slowly to the degree of worshiping White Angles and White Gods. These seemingly true doctrine of white God prevailed in almost every corner of the Abyssinian churches where the pictures of Angles George, Marry, Gabriel etc.. were drawn on the walls of the churches by fair skinned grand children.
By doing so, the imported religions
influenced our social environment,
degraded our belief value,
introduced inequality and practices
that are inhuman. Even today, new
Gods are made in Arabia and America
and introduced by the priests,
pastors, Imams, Hajis and the forces
that are determined to advance their
own views by any means necessary.
All these affecting the Oromo true identity however, Oromains greatest goal remain to returning to Waaqaa when their souls and body merges with nature earth and the entire universe that we are a part of. This process of being released from the pain of life and find complete happiness and ultimate peace is what we the Oromians call "Darbuu or Du'a".
Rundaasaa Asheeetee Hundee