Excerpts from Alula Pankhurst: Speaking Peace at
Arbore, Southern Ethiopia

 

In March 1993 a peace ceremony was held at Arbore, Southern Ethiopia. How this event can be understood in terms of cultural contact and how it expressed aspects of respect and self-esteem can best be explored by presenting the context of the ceremony and the sequence of events that took place.

 

Background to the ceremony

 

The peace ceremony also emerged in the context of discussion between local leaders and anthropologists, who were asked to act as mediators.

The elders suggested that the anthropologists could be involved in mediation and the idea emerged of initiating a peace ceremony between the various groups in the area.

 

March 8: the main event at Gandarab

 

The site at Gandarab was deliberately selected by the Hor elders since it had been a village which had been destroyed by the occupying forces of the Menelik’s army at the turn of the century and where fighting had also occurred during the Italian occupation. The site was therefore seen as symbolic of the destruction and futility of war.

The Hor spiritual leaders and elders began the session with blessings facing the rising sun to symbolise attracting peace and well-being, raising and lowering their ritual nao sticks, and joined in a chorus by the participants intoning the word of assent “ha”.

 

The customary ceremony

 

The participants then returned to the shelter, walking through the gateways symbolising abandoning war and acceptance of peace, and entered the shelter.

Spears were brought by leaders from several groups, from Arbore, Boran, Hamar, Tsamai and Konso from where they had been left beyond the gateways of peace. The spear heads and sides were then blunted by the leaders from different groups. The tips were placed facing west towards the setting sun to symbolise evil being sent away. As they were blunting the spears the leaders addressed the spears portrayed as not the instruments of fighting but as the perpetrators, uttering statements including: “From now on you will not wound people; go away from us, we do not want you; we have banished you; may Waq close your mouth”.

 

The spittle of the Garrangudo is believed to remove the danger of infection from wounds resulting from cuts made by iron weapons or implements. The two Garrangudo men together with an assistant walked through the gateways to an anthill some five hundred metres away. One of them then broke the three spears in two and they were placed on the anthill to symbolise them being eaten by the termites. The three men then returned to the assembly and before entering the gateway washed their hands to symbolise removing evil.

 

The ceremony was concluded with blessings led by the Hor ritual leaders as well as leaders from other groups, and endorsed by the audience intoning the words “ha” after each blessing. Finally the participants left walking through the gateways with smiles on their faces and a visible sense of rejoicing.

 

March 9: suggestions for a lasting peace

 

On the final day participants met under a tree at near the tabia in Arbore. The meeting began with blessings performed by the Hor elders. Blessings were then performed by a series of representatives from Borana, Dasanech, Bashada, Nyangatom, Konso, Tsamai, Wata, Karo and Hamar. These represent variations of a theme in which the last word is repeated for emphasis by the audience.

 

The peace ceremony as an expression of convergence

 

The peace ceremony was an attempt to bring members from different groups together and forge a sense of joint commitment to peace. The main features of the ceremony underscored this attempt at creating resonance in a number of ways.

 

First, the very process of blessing peace and cursing war, which may be viewed as two sides of one coin, and was repeated at the beginning and end of each stage of the procedures, represents a clear attempt at creating a harmonious spirit and repelling conflict. This procedure is anchored in an idiom with which all the participants were conversant. The repetition of the last word of the blesser acts as a kind of amplification and endorsement of the expressed wish. In some cases, such as the Nyangatom blessing, despite the audience not knowing the language, they were familiar with the idiom of repeating the last word and participated enthusiastically.

 

Second, the blunting and burying of the spears, and the cursing of whoever would unearth the spears was a powerful expression of commitment for peace. Already by leaving spears behind in going through the gateways, participants were expressing a submission to the purpose of peace. The personification and feminisation of the spears, which were addressed not a merely instruments as war, but as agents can be seen as a way of enabling the participants to transfer the blame from the actors to the instruments.

 

Third, the gift-giving symbolised the positive side after the destruction of the spears.

It is significant that the fourth item given the hoko is used by all the groups in the area and immediately resonates with the common pastoral values of the herder. In the bush the hoko is a vital implement; it is also essential to build kraals for defence of livestock. Most significantly it is used in blessing and cursing.

 

 

Mutual metaphors 

 

Speakers often referred to shared metaphors relating to the natural and social worlds symbolising a move towards peace. These included reference to the shade of trees symbolising coolness, resting, and most importantly a meeting place for making peace, and the sunrise as bringing peace with blessings performed facing the rising sun (in contrast with the setting sun taking away evil). The metaphor of the path was used to refer to the sense of convergence in the plains of Arbore.

 

The gateway karr which is seen as related to the power of the spiritual leaders was referred to as a symbol of submission to peace leaving spears behind.

The allusion to a common pastoral way of life was very common throughout the ceremony.

 

Shared conceptions of spiritual agency

 

The groups participating in the ceremony shared similar conceptions of spiritual agency. However, whereas the concept of barjo, common to the Hamar cluster is a rather loose concept which may be translated as “a good event, good luck, well being” (Lydall and Strecker 1979:255) the Borana and Hor concept of waq  may be seen as more connected with the idea of a sky-god (Bartels 1983:89). Nonetheless, in the ceremony the two concepts seemed to have been used interchangeably. There was also a sense that barjo was shared and comes from various directions. 

 

Barjo may be portrayed as listening, and echoing, reverberating, amplifying or endorsing the statements and wishes of the blessers, as is evident in the following blessing by Nakwa Dald’o

 

Nakwa                                                                    Chorus

Bairo shall listen to our mouth                                   Shall listen.

Shall listen to our words                                           Shall listen.

Bairo shall listen to our words                                  Shall listen.

Shall take our word                                                  Shall take.

Shall talk what we have talked                                  Talk.

Talk                                                                         Talk.

Our words shall be one                                            Shall be.

Shall be                                                                    Shall be.

Bairo shall talk what we have talked             Shall talk.

shall talk                                                                   Shall talk.

 

Blessing and cursing as archetypal cultural forms

 

The peace ceremony as a whole was referred to by terms connoting the calling of barjo (barjo ela) or of waq (waq wayo), which shows how central the notion of bringing good fortune was to the whole enterprise. It may be argued that this invocation, and search for spiritual echoing was the main means of creating convergence through a shared performance, and collective endorsement.

 

Often blessing and cursing follow one another, are interwoven, one thought leading almost instinctively to the other. Cursing is used with parsimony, often left unsaid and is considered dangerous, not to be abused since its power lies in its deterrence effect. The fear of the curse was mentioned by a Borana as a reason for not speaking too openly.

 

The blessings may be seen as creating a sense of unison. They are performed by leaders and known orators, in similar ways in different languages, and represent variations on a theme.  There are similarities in terms of hand gestures, tone and pitch as well as cultural and personal variations. For instance, the Wata unlike all the others performed their blessings seated.

 

Blessings as a form of convergence

 

Most of the blessings during the ceremony were not directly about the war and peace. Rather the speakers tended to use of familiar vocabulary of blessings part of the way of doing things for other occasions. However, some of the blessings referred to creating a sense of unison by referring to making the participants have one tongue, one stomach, one mind. For instance Baldambe stated:  “May barjo make us of one tongue and one mind”, and Buno said “May their stomachs be one”. The idea of all the participants become of one clan was also expressed by Baldambe as follows: “All these people shall become one muld’a  When they have become one muld’a, barjo shall listen to them”.

 

The cursing of evil was associated with the sunset, as is clear from the following curse expressed by one of the Karo representatives: “May evil be buried like the sunset; Let the sun take it down”.  Much of the reference to cursing is more a matter of protection against evil.

 

 

 

 

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