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The Oromo people are one of the ancient Kushitic speaking indigenous peoples of Africa. According to linguistic studies, archaeological findings and their Oral history, the original home of the Oromo is believed to be the Nubian Valley of the ancient Kushitic empire. They might have organized themselves as a nation, developed their holistic culture, the gadaa, about 4000 B.C. in their original home, then moved southwards and settled in their current regions as a single independent nation. However, the Abyssinian Emperor Minilik II, who got firearms from some European Christian Kingdoms, colonized the Oromo and built the current Ethiopian empire towards the end of 19th century. Since then the Oromo lost their independence, were economically marginalized and culturally segregated. Using this situation as an opportunity, the missionaries of Christianity and Islam expanded their religions and established their own religious institutions in Oromia. On one hand, these two new religions brought new cultural elements that could enrich the Oromo culture. On other hand, they destroyed some valuable Oromo cultural heritages preserved by the Oromo Indigenous Religion (OIR). Their mission agents did not carefully consider cultural elements that could have continued. Instead, they destroyed them indiscriminately. The OIR galmaas (worship houses) were destroyed together with Oromo cultural and symbolic objects, and were replaced by Church buildings and mosques. The Christian missionaries and their local agents assumed the OIR to be idolatry; its feasts, rites, and ritual practices contradictory to the Bible and the Christian faith. Therefore, at the baptismal rite they changed Oromo names to foreign names and discontinued Moggaasaa (OIR child naming rite). Among the Protestant groups of Oromo Christianity (OC), the Oromo’s cultural songs and dances were regarded to be sinful and were therefore abandoned. Oromo cultural foods and drinks were also forbidden. Against such generalized judgment on the OIR this dissertation raises a question: Are OIR elements contradictory or compatible with the OC? To answer this question, I conducted scientific research, compared OIR and OC elements, and produced this dissertation. This work identifies some identical, similar, partially similar and some differing elements in the two Oromo religions (OIR & OC). It is my hope that these findings might contribute to a religious dialogue that aims to create a peaceful religious coexistence in Oromia and beyond. |
