Gelemso - Customs

Customs

Here are some important notes on social and commercial customary features of the town.

• Tuesday is the principal market day in Gelemso. There are two open market places in the town. One of them is called by the natives Magaalaa Salaasaa, meaning Tuesday's Market, it is where most of the trading activities of the principal market day takes place. The other one is called Magaalaa Qobbo and it is functional throughout the week. The cattle market, which is found near Qabri Lukku, is open only on the principal market day (Tuesday). Females dominate the business in the two open markets. The cattle market, however, is totally run by males. The town is one of the primary suppliers of the humped bull, popularly known as Harar Sangaa (Harar Bull).
• The Afan Oromo spoken in the town is the Eastern Oromo dialect. But the natives of the town and the surrounding areas of Chercher highlands retain some peculiar usages. For example, coins are usually called niiraa, (from Italian lira), and its counting vary by successive units of two. For example, at Gelemso, the Ethiopian five cents coin is called niira lama (two lira), the ten cents called niiraa afur (four lira), and 20 cents called nira saddeet(eight lira). On the other hand, the Ethiopian birr is called qarshii and the ten birr note is known as bawandii (from English pound).
• The residents dine three times a day. The breakfast is called fatara (from Arabic futuur), the lunch is known as either subaata or qadaa (from Arabic ghada) and the dinner is called dhiheena, hirbaata, or hiraata (from Harari hiraat). The meals include items of traditional Oromo styles like marqaa (porridge), shumoo, affeellama, qiitaa, etc... dishes of the Arabian origin like mulawwah, fatiiraa, haniid, and the traditional Harari dish called hulbat marakh.

The residents who belong to the Amhara nation have the same food preparation style as that of the Amhara people who reside elsewhere in Ethiopia. However, they also share the customs of the Oromos in many cases. For example, the Arabian spread bread called mulawwah and the Harari's hulbat marakh is experienced by most of the Amharas too.

• Houses of the town are usually built with at least two rooms. One of these, known as deera, is a room that serves as a bed room and it is where the family keeps its most valuable materials. The other room is of big size where guests are welcomed, and important ceremonies are undertaken. Inside this room, a big sized mud-built raised platform, which serves as seat and called dinqa or madaba, is found with Persian and Arabian rugs spread on it .

Kitchens are usually located outside the main house and called alawaadaa (from Oromo phrase alatti waaddaa- roast a meet outside a house ).

• Another most common custom in the town, which remained a noted figure to this day, is that all male residents are nicknamed. A boy is given a nickname by his friends when he is in early 10s. He remains with it whether he likes it or not. But when becomes closer to the 40s, his formal name started to outshine again.
• Eid al Fitr and Eid Al Adha are the two Islamic festivals celebrated with high honors in Gelemso. The remarkable event associated with them is the children's songs at the epoch nights of these festivals. The children also require their parents to buy eid cloths. The festivals are usually accompanied by private ceremonies.

Another important festival of Islamic origin is Ashura, which is held in the 10th day of the Muharram month of the Hijra calendar. The children's song that is sung on the night before Ashura day known as Ishaatoo, together with their gourd smashing march, remains one of the classic customs of early Islam of Eastern Ethiopia (It is not known elsewhere apart from East Ethiopia).

The Christian population usually celebrates Epiphany (called Timket in Amharic) with great honor than other Christian festivals. Its annual fist takes place on the bank of Aw Seid River 1 km away from the town (in the southern direction).

• Milad Al Nabi or Mawlid is the most notable festival celebrated in mass. The main festival lasts for 3 consecutive days, and it is held chiefly at the Hadra of Sheikh Omar (See below). Professor Braukamper witnessed that when he visited the Hadra in 1973, the attendants of the feast number in 10,000s.
• Khat is chewed in the town by many people of different age groups. A variety of superior quality of khat is called qarti and it originates mostly around a rural zone called Chaffe Afanani. Other varieties are known by such names as urata, 'qudaa, chabbbala, tachero, walaha etc...