Day Two of STEKOM University Cultural Exchange Part 7 (Ethiopian Popular Traditions)

The international webinar "culture exchange" held by STEKOM University on the second day continues. Speakers from various universities around the world take turns giving interesting explanations about the pop traditions of their respective countries. Various interesting things continue to be presented from various speakers who get the opportunity. The next interesting speakers were participants from Oromia State University, Ethiopia.


Rromia State University was founded in 2009. Oromia State University is a public higher education university located in Ziway, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. The University awards degrees in business & social sciences, languages ​​& culture, Science & Technology. Internationally Oromia State University is ranked 13101 in the world. It is ranked 8th in the Oromia Region. The higher education university admission process is based on the entrance examination and the student's past and academic records. The university also provides admission tickets for Male and Female (students) and international applicants.


Before discussing the presentations from participants who came from Oromo, it helps us also understand about Oromo. The Oromo are a Cushitic ethnic group predominantly from the Oromia region of Ethiopia who speak the Oromo language (also called Afaan Oromoo or Oromiffa), which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and represent a large part of the Ethiopian population.

The Oromo have traditionally used the system as the main form of government. A leader is elected by the mace system and their term lasts eight years, with elections at the end of those eight years. Although most modern Oromos are Muslim and some are Christian, about 3% practice Waaqeffanna, an ancient monotheistic religion that originated in Oromos and Somalia.


Oromo is written with the Latin character known as Qubee. The Sapalo script was invented by the Oromo scholar Sheikh Bakri Sapalo (also known by his birth name, Abubaker Usman Odaa) during the 1950s. Oromo works as one of the official languages ​​of Ethiopia as well as the working language of several states in the Ethiopian federal system including the states of Oromia, Harari and Dire Dawa and the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. It is the language of primary education in Oromia, Harari, Dire Dawa, Benishangul-Gumuz and Addis Ababa and the Oromia Zone of the Amhara Region. It is used as the internet language for federal websites along with Tigrinya.


More than 33.8% of the Ethiopian population are native speakers of Oromo, which is the most widely spoken in Ethiopia. It is also the most widely spoken Cushitic language and the fourth most spoken language in Africa, after Arabic, Hausa and Swahili. Oromo is spoken as a first language by more than 37 million Oromo people in Ethiopia and an additional half a million in northern and eastern Kenya. It is also spoken by a small number of emigrants in other African countries, such as South Africa, Libya, Egypt, and Sudan. In addition to the first language, many other ethnic members related to the Oromo use it as a second language, such as the Omotic-speaking Bambassi and the Nilo-Saharan-speaking Kwama in western Ethiopia.


The first presentation in this session explained about Guddifachaa. Guddifachaa is one of the cultural institutions that Oromo uses as a child-bearing technique for infertility families. In the Oromo people, the practice of guddifachaa has a long history and dates back to the beginning of the Gadaa system. In Oromo customary law, guddifachaa is a system of transferring a child from his biological parents to other members of the social family of the community through the ritual ceremony of the guddifachaa institution.


Next the presenter explained about the reasons for Guddifachaa (Adoption). Guddifachaa is practiced in society for three reasons in the past and today. First, it is desired by parents who accept children from multiple families to ensure the continuity of their successors, secure inheritance of property or leave the paternal name of their lineage by childless spouses. Second, some families adopt children because their resources and affection for children demands a larger family size to demonstrate social and economic status. Third, in the past, some families adopted children to help them get help being orphaned and today guddifachaa is practiced to help orphans and neglected children.