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Calendar
Time
is a very important concept in Gadaa and therefore in Oromo life.
Gadaa itself can be narrowly defined as a given set of time
(period) which groups of individuals perform specific duties in a
society. Gadaa could also mean age. The lives of individuals,
rituals, ceremonies, political and economic activities are
scheduled rather precisely. For this purpose, the Oromo have a
calendar. The calendar is also used for weather forecasting and
divination purposes.
The
Oromo calendar is based on astronomical observations of the moon
in conjunction with seven or eight particular stars or star groups
(Legesse, 1973 and Bassi, 1988) called Urji Dhaha (guiding stars).
According to this calendar system, there are approximately 30 days
in a month and 12 months in a year. The first day of a month is
the day the new moon appears. A day (24 hours) starts and ends at
sunrise.
In
the Oromo calendar each day of the month and each month of the
year has a name. Instead of the expected 29 or 30 names for days
of a month, there are only 27 names. These 27 days of the month
are permutated through the twelve months, in such a way that the
beginning of each month moves forward by 2 or 3 days. The loss per
month is then the difference between the 27-day month and the
30-day month, (Legesse, 1973). One interesting observation is
that, as illustrated in the computing of time like in the Oromo
calendar, Oromos visualization of events is cyclical just as many
events in nature are cyclical.
Since
each day (called ayyaana) of a month has a name, the Oromo
traditionally had no use for names of the days of a week. Perhaps
it is because of this that today in different parts of Oromia
different names are in use for the days of a week.
Each
of the 27 days (ayyaana) of the month have special meaning and
connotation to the Oromo time-keeping experts, called ayyaantu.
Ayyaantu can tell the day, the month, the year and the Gadaa
period by keeping track of time astronomically. They are experts,
in astronomy and supplement their memory of things by examining
the relative position of eight stars or star groups, (Bassi, 1988)
and the moon to determine the day (ayyaana) and the month. On the
basis of astronomical observations, they make an adjustment in the
day name every two or three months.
The
pillars found a few years ago in north-western Kenya by Lynch and
Robbins (1978) has been suggested to represent a site used to
develop the Oromo calendar system. According to these researchers,
it is the first archaeo-astronomical evidence in sub-Saharan
Africa. Doyle (1986) has suggested 300 B.C. as the approximate
date of its invention.
According
to Asmarom Legesse (1973), "The Oromo calendar is a great and
unique invention and has been recorded only in a very few cultures
in history of mankind." The only other known cultures with
this type of time-keeping are the Chinese, Mayans and Hindus.
Legesse states that the Oromo are unusual in that they seem to be
the only people with a reasonably accurate calendar which ignore
the sun.
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