Traditional Gurage Religion

In the Sodo Gurage District located about 100 km to the South of Addis Ababa, big trees and patches of forest have long been set aside, usually close to settlements, as sacred lands that could not be touched by anyone, and have been strictly protected by customary law. Such sacred trees and forests are found in various areas of the district and can never be abused and as a result biodiversity of the area has been protected. Even if the area is small, many such trees and groves may be representative of ancient woodlands and they are traditions of conservation which are backed by religious sanctions.

Isolated sacred Podocarpus falcatus.

The Gurage traditional belief, which is called Adbar, provides many protections for local biodiversity. Many group of people in each village of Sodo Gurage have their own sacred trees. Every Gurage community has his own adbar tree that is believed to be the abode of spirits. Adbar tree or group of trees are a symbol of peace and stability and are believed to be a link between people and spirit. Big and strong trees are considered as adbar and tree species such as Albizia schimperiana and Podocarpus falcatus are often selected as adbar and Acacia gerrardii is chosen for its strength. The Sodo Gurage use zigibe as a pillar and put butter on stem so as to propitiate the sprit. It needs to be covered by drinks like tella (local beer) and arake (locally fermented alchohol), and animals are sacrificed under it. The type of animal slaughter is depend on the group of people who participate in the adbar ceremony. If the people think the adbar is female they called eme-be-tachin and they slaughter a cow and if they think the adbar is male they slaughter an ox. How they know whether it is female or male? The ceremony take place on the 1st of May and 12th of November (according to Ethiopian calendar) each year. At this time the Gurage people sacrifice animals under adbar trees to maintain good farming and cropping season as well as avoid any evil spirit that brings epidemic diseases. The adbar trees are very respected and nobody could utilize them. The Sodo Gurage construct fences around adbar to protect it from intruders.

The adbar consisted of a variety of tree species. During a field visit in and around Kondaltity Balewold Church located in Sodo Gurage, I had the opportunity to interview young and aged people. The young generation now overlooks the significance of traditional believes of the Gurage. They have favoured modern religion. Even though the young overlooked and only the elders carry on practicing the traditional adbar in the presence day, they participate for drink and eating.

Desalegn Desissa (2002)

Sacred Gurage grove.

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