Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

Cultural value and history
The use of horas is more than an expression of Oromo culture but a constituent part of the traditional
Oromo identity itself. According to some scholars, the name itself or Oromo (Horomo) shares the
etymological root with hora (Kassam and Megersa 1991).
In discussions with informants during the study, elders tended to complain about the decline
of Oromo traditions, including the reduced importance of livestock and horas in current livelihoods.
They complained of the poor accessibility of some horas because of reduced levels of maintenance
of the access points, and reported that the use of the hora was previously a part of religious rituals.
An increased promotion and acceptance of Islam and better education were reported as the main
causes of the decline of Oromo original culture. On the other side, there is evidence that the Muda
thanksgiving celebration is still practiced in sites of particular natural beauty, like Gamo Sof Omar.
Plastic bags containing incense, which is burned during the celebration, were found in holes in the
cliff and a pot was found in a crevasse in the wall.
The traditional Oromo cultural and political system, comprising a democratic age-set
political institution (Gada) and a hereditary religious institution (Qallu), has been almost entirely
substituted during the last century by the Ethiopian political system from one hand and by Islamism
from the other (Levine, 1974), at least in Bale. The documented celebration of muda in Gamo Sof
Omar indicates that in the people in the Harenna forest still value some aspects of traditional Oromo
world views and practices.
With their stone gimbas of unknown age, most horas (and Tabala Sof Omar) can be classified
as sites of cultural and historical value, if not as monuments. Gimbas are told to be very old, their
construction being attributed to the “grandfathers” or even to “supernatural forces”.
Historically, horas are closely associated with the tale of the Gabarra people, the legendary
“giants” living in the forest prior to the Oromo. The story goes that during the war with the Oromo,
the Gabarra destroyed many important Oromo horas to discourage their occupation of the forest.
The destruction of the hora was done by closing the source with badessa wood or with stones;
numerous big logs are found in the earth of those sites allegedly destroyed (Lensho, Ataui, etc.).
Hora Lensho and hora Haro, near Gebicho, were used the most at the time of the war with the
Gabarra, the Gabarra completely destroyed them. People unsuccessfully attempted to recover the
sites and even asked the research team if modern technology could help in the task. The Gabarra
people also built stone burials in the forest (Chiodi 2008).
There is a striking similarity between the name Gabarra, who destroyed horas and built
burials in the Harenna forest, and Gabra, the camel pastoralists of the Kenyan-Ethiopian border.
Starting from the 16th century, Oromo expanded in the Horn region assimilating the indigenous
populations under their Gada political system (Marcus 2002). The Gabra camel pastoralists are one
of these assimilated groups, currently sharing the territories of the Kenyan-Ethiopian border with
the hegemonic Borana Oromo.
The Gabra speak a language including both Oromo and non-Oromo words. They originate
from the confluence of tribes belonging to different ethnicities (Borana, Orma, Waata, Somali,
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