Gurage
Gurage is an
ethnic group in
Ethiopia. The Gurage people inhabit a sparsely fertile, semi-mountains region in southwest
Ethiopia, about 150 miles southwest of
Addis Ababa. Their homeland extends to the
Awash River in the north, the
Gibe River (a tributary of the
Omo) to the southwest, and to
Lake Zway in the east. The Gurage ethnic group has usually been said to consist of three distinct subgroups, Northern, Eastern and Western, but the largest grouping within the Eastern subgroup, known as the
Silt'e, have not necessarily considered themselves to be Gurage, and in a referendum in 2000 they voted unanimously to break away from the
Gurage Zone within the
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, forming their own
autonomous region.
[Vaughan, Sarah. Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia (Chapter 7). PhD Dissertation. Edinburgh, Scotland: University of Edinburgh, 2003.]According to the historian Paul B. Henze, their origins are explained by traditions of a military expedition to the south during the last years of the
Axumite Kingdom which left military colonies that eventually became isolated from both northern Ethiopia and each other.
[Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 112.]The Gurage languages do not constitute a coherent linguistic grouping, rather, the term is both linguistic and cultural. The Gurage people speak a number of separate languages, all belonging to the Southern branch of the
Ethiopian Semitic language family (which also includes
Amharic). The languages are often referred to collectively as "Guraginya" (sometimes written with its Italian spelling "Guragigna") by other Ethiopians (
-inya is the suffix for language names in most Ethiopian
Semitic languages).
There is no general agreement on how many languages or dialects there are, in particular within the West Gurage grouping.
The following are listed as separate languages by
Ethnologue:
Soddo (Kistane),
Inor,
Mesqan,
Mesmes,
Silt'e (not strictly speaking a Gurage language since the people do not consider themselves Gurage),
Zay, and
Sebat Bet Gurage. Sebat Bet (or Sebat Beit), in particular, is best understood as a grouping in itself; the term means literally "Seven Houses," and refers to seven specific Western Gurage tribes. Silt'e is more closely related to
Amharic than it is to Soddo.
As the Gurage people are surrounded by speakers of
Cushitic languages, these languages have influenced the Gurage languages perhaps even more than they have other Ethiopian Semitic languages. For example, the
East Gurage languages have a ten-vowel system characteristic of the neighboring Cushitic languages rather than the seven-vowel system common to most other
Ethiopian Semitic languages, including the West Gurage languages.
Over 50 % of the Gurage claim allegiance to
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, an
Oriental Orthodox church related to
Coptic Christianity, and another 40 % (mainly the
Silt'e) are adherents of
Islam.
According to the 1994 Ethiopian census, self-identifying Gurage comprise about 4.3 % of Ethiopia's population, or about 3 million people.
[Ethiopia: A Model Nation of Minorities (accessed 6 April 2006)]The Gurage live a sedentary life based on agriculture, involving a complex system of
crop rotation and transplanting.
Ensete is their main
staple crop, but other
cash crops are grown, which include
coffee and
chat.
Animal husbandry is practiced, but mainly for milk supply and dung. Other foods consumed include green cabbage, cheese, butter, and roasted grains, with meat consumption being very limited (also used in rituals or ceremonies).
The Gurage, the writer
Nega Mezlekia notes, "have earned a reuptation as skilled traders".
[Nega Mezlekia, Notes from the Hyena's Belly (New York: Picador, 2000), p. 227.] One example of an enterprising Gurage is one Tekke, whom Nathaniel T. Kenney described as "an Ethiopian
Horatio Alger":: he began his career selling old bottles and tin cans; the Emperor [Haile Selassie] recently rewarded hs achievement in creating his plantation by calling him to Addis Ababa and decorating him.
[Kenney, "Ethiopian Adventure", National Geographic, 127 (1965), p. 582.]The
ensete or "false banana plant" has a massive stem that grows underground and is completely involved in every aspect of Gurage life. It has a place in everyday interactions among community members as well as specific roles in rituals. (For example: uses of Ensete would be wrapping a corpse after death with it, or after birth, the imbilical cord being tied off with an ensete fiber.)
Strangely enough, the nutritional value this plant contains as their primary food source is not considered to be of much importance. The plant can be prepared a number of different ways, and the practical uses of ensete in Gurage culture are varied. In addition to this plant, a few cash crops are maintained and livestock is raised (though mainly for milk and fertilizer). A normal Gurage diet consists primarily of kocho, a thick bread made from ensete, and is supplemented by cabbage, cheese, butter, and grains. Meat is not consumed on a regular basis, but usually eaten sparingly during a ritual or ceremonial event.
Gurage follow strict norms when it comes to feeding practices after a child is born. A "coming out" feast takes place for the mother and child, a name is given to the newborn at this time.
Bra-Brata certain kind of food made from ensete is prepared, and delivered to the woman of the tribe. This feast represents the principles of reciprocity from the distribution of food. Since it is the woman of the village that take the domestic responsibilities while she nurses her newborn. An infant is ceremoniously given its first meal one hour after birth. From this point on, the feeding schedule is allowed to be determined by the child's crying. For the first five days mother and child remain shielded from visitors, lying on ensete fronds next to the open fire. After this period, they are removed from the warmth of the fire and secluded behind a screen for two months. When this isolation has ended, a village feast is held where the child will be named. Until weaning is complete (two to four years), self-demand feeding is customary; milk is frequently offered to quiet a distressed child.
No adult in Gurage society stands to be inconvenienced by a child, even their own. Because a return to normal daily activities is important for the mother, there is only intense maternal care for the first two months. It is not uncommon for a child to remain unfed or looked after for several hours. Care of the child may even be turned over to a seldom attentive surrogate. If the mother does carry her child with her while doing chores feeding is often interrupted resulting in neither physical or emotional satisfaction. Due to this inconsistent feeding pattern, a pattern of "want and glut" is established which contributes to certain characteristics noticed even in adult personalities.
During mealtimes children are always fed last, and even then only what has been left by adults. Female children are served in lesser quantity after boys, and are usually made to serve them. This lends to the establishment of male superiority at an early age. Gurage males tend to develop a greater degree of anxiety over food which may be related to the fact that men depend on women for its preparation. Ensete is used as a curative agent for relieving Gurage of adverse symptoms. Ironically, the animal sacrificed is often only eaten by parents, relatives, or others present at the healing ritual. None of the meat is consumed by the individual whose illness is likely due to an inadequate diet.
:Ensete is totally involved in every aspect of the daily social and ritual life of the Gurage, who, with several others tribes in Southwest Ethiopia, form what has been termed the
Ensete Culture Complex area... the life of the Gurage is enmeshed with various uses of ensete, not the least of which is nutritional.
[Shack, Dorothy. "Nutritional Processes and Personality Development among the Gurage of Ethiopia" in Food and Culture: A Reader. Ed. Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik. (New York: Routledge, 1997). p 117.]*
Soddo language*
Sebat Bet Gurage language*Shack, William. "Hunger, Anxiety, and Ritual: Deprivation and Spirit Possession among the Gurage of Ethiopia" in
Food and Culture: A Reader (pp. 125â€"137). Ed. Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik. New York: Routledge, 1997.
*
Gurage and Silte Research Group *
The Gurage People â€" Carolyn Ford with SIM in Ethiopia*
Facts about Gurage*
GeoHive
