Masqalla yooooo yohoooo,( happy Dorze meskel Festive)

Masqalla  yooo, yoooooo

Danguza Dorze's traditional colors

Dorze womens drinking with one cup demonstrating love

Masqalla ( meskele)   is one of the most colorfully celebrated socio-religio-ritualistic festival  Dorze southern ethiopia ,. For the Orthodox Christians it also symbolizes the finding of the "True Cross". Beside the levels of meaning attached to it,  Meskel means a lot for the most of southern nations  particularly when it tocomes  Dorze community who lives on mountain 3000 meter who is widely known beehive  hut, weaving and beautiful music.

Unlike anywhere else in Ethiopia here  It marks the beginning of a new year, a time of feasting and a time when the rainy season ends so that visiting of friends and relatives becomes possible.,

 every community member who are living in major towns of the country regularly fulfill an obligation to returned back to their birth place.

 In Doze and in other neighboring area there is a rituals of blessing and purification to make new year prosperous and healthy,  which takes place in on open field accompanied by sacrifice of hundreds of cows  annually on 26^th of September .

paused with smartly dressed dorze man at sacrifice filed 

Here  then the Greeting changes “Mesqall yooooo, yoooooo”( happy meskel festive)

Bunno(husk of coffee) is more valued than BEAN, the omo valley tribes

 

hammer women brewing Bunno(husk of coffee)

Bunno (coffee) refers to the husk of coffee Not the BEAN among most of tribes living along the omo river , A ripe coffee cherries goes through various processes to separate the skin and parchment from the bean,. Then the skin ( BUNNO)is dried and will be ready to use.

Bunno(the husk of coffee)

Bunno (coffee) plays very important role in the life of these tribes . this is probably the most valuable present anyone can bring to these tribes.

The hammer and the banna say ” Bunno is the greatest gift of god”. Apart from quenching thirst and caffeinating, there are no rituals ,ceremonies and blessing which takes place with out bunno( husk of coffee). For instance if a person has a headache, others will spray coffee onto his/her head, and if a person has a chill, warm coffee is poured over him/herself to feel better, elders spray mouth full of coffee during rituals and blessing.

I am addicted to Bunno

Generally there are two verity of coffee husks ,the brown and the white,. The brown is said to be more aromatic and testy and the white is less aroma and test. It is one of the wife’s responsibility to brew the coffee every morning , the basic way of brewing coffee is to put the fine husks in a cooking pan with water, boil it, and then it is ready to be served in a half calabash according to the hierarchy first, the man of the house; second, the guests; and last the hostess.

i highly  recommend the hammer Bunno rituals for travelers going down to omo valley Ethiopia.

the omo river valley, the cross road of human migration

As i have named my small tribal exploring tours "omo valley tours"  most of my blog will be introducing about culture and nature of these beautiful people of the omo valley.

The Omo Valley is one of the most culturally rich tribal regions on the African continent. It is known as the ‘cradle of mankind’, existing as a pre-historic centre for the early hominid era….. .Hominid remains from the Omo Valley probably date back more than four million years.

The Omo River rises in the Showan highlandshaving its source at Mt. Amara,it is a perennial river with many tributaries feeding into it. It undulates through 470 kilometres on its way through a steep inaccessible valley before slowing its pace as it nears the lowlands and then meanders through flat, semi-desert bush, eventually running into Lake Turkana( the worlds largest desert lake)

 According to  paleontologists the omo valley has been a crossroads for humans migrating in many directions over many millennia., Omo pastoralists, cultivators, and hunters still pursue ancient lifestyles Tribes like Bodi (Me’en), Daasanach, Kara (or Karo), Kwegu (or Muguji), Mursi  and Nyangatom live along the Omo. Other tribes such as the Hamar, Chai, Suri, Turkana, Ari and Bannalive further from the river but have a network of inter-ethnic alliances.

the omo river