Latest Posts Page

Eritrea. The sacrifice of the red goat.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

The Kunama, an Eritrean ethnic group living in the remote and isolated area between the Gash and Setit rivers near the border with Ethiopia. Kunama life is marked by traditional rites and ceremonies handed down by the ancient fathers and scrupulously observed. A glance at the rites of tillage.

The fields have been cleared and prepared and there is nothing else to do now but to wait for the rains that soften the soil and allow ploughing to begin. However, nobody would dare plough his field, under pain of punishment, without first performing the propitiatory rite of laga lasa, the sacrifice of the red goat, as an invocation and blessing for a successful season of sowing and harvesting.

Late one evening, when the pastors and the inhabitants have all returned to the village, one of the elders climbs a small mound and announces that on the following day, the sacrifice of the goat will take place; for this reason, nobody is allowed to absent themselves or leave the village. Each family prepares food to be eaten during the sacrificial ceremony.

The Sacrifice
The following morning, the married men go outside the village to a special place to carry out the sacrificial rite. The red goat, an unblemished animal, is slaughtered with its head facing the rising sun, butchered and cut in pieces to be roasted over a heap of stones. While the animal is being killed, the celebrating elder recites the invocation: “O God, and all you who sleep in the depths of the earth, kindly turn your face to us. May the seed we scatter flourish and produce abundant fruit for all the Kunama, for the Baria-na-ra and for the Beniamer”.
He then takes pieces of the liver, heart and kidneys of the victim and, calling on Annà (God) casts them towards the cardinal points of the compass, starting from the east.

Those present then eat what is left of the meat of the goat. Meanwhile, the women, children and other people of the village together eat the food prepared the previous evening.
After the ritual celebration, the kubula (drums and dancing) and marriage celebrations are forbidden until the celebration of Maskala or Toma Fada in the month of October-November. The prohibition during this period of the use of drums or noisy marriage celebrations is due to the Kunama belief that the tom tom of the drums would deafen the crops, preventing them from growing and the cereals from ripening.

Ploughing
The Kunama do not plough before but after sowing the seed so as to move the surface of the soil and cover the seed.
The agricultural season is a sacred one during which there must be no personal, family or tribal disputes, divorces, robberies, cattle stealing or vendettas under pain of the land becoming infertile. The sacred period must not be profaned by any evil acts.
Four days after the celebration of the laga lasa sacrifice, the ploughing of the fields may begin. The day is then fixed on which all the villagers must first come to the ploughing of the field belonging to the lagá mannà (owner or patron of the land).

On that day, all the families bring some food and aifa which is consumed in the field; the men bring the oxen and implements for ploughing; all the villagers come to the field and share in the work. When the ploughing is done, the oxen are not unyoked from the plough but everyone, both people and beasts, turn towards the rising sun; this is the moment in which the lagá mannà recites the prayer to God and to the souls of the ancestors that the land may yield abundantly for all and he thanks the villagers for ploughing his field.
As a reward for the family which donated the red goat for the sacrifice, the whole village ploughs their field. If the rains are not sufficient, or too late, endangering the crop, the elders inform the village of the day of a meeting for community prayer to invoke Annà and the ancestors, begging for abundant rains.
On the appointed day, a portion of polenta and fresh milk is first distributed to the assembled children; when they have finished eating, everyone, young and old, bow together repeatedly, reciting the various invocations to Annà.

When the seed has grown a little and the weeding has to be done, there is first a sacrifice of the laga garma, the red sheep, in a special place and after the village has been informed. The blood of the victim is collected in small containers to be given later to some of the young men of the village who, sent in all directions, go through the fields sprinkling the blood, a gesture of good fortune. During the sprinkling, the young men neither respond to greetings nor greet anyone else until the end of the ceremonies. When the sacred season of ploughing has begun, it is forbidden to build new houses, to gather honey, to do any weaving (baskets or mats) or make pottery, or do any other work not connected with cultivation. During that period, it is also forbidden to light the fire in the open courtyard for the various purposes of the family as people usually do, and even within the house.
The fire would have a bad influence on the crops.
The ploughing of the fields is not simply a basic necessity for the Kunama people but also a way to keep alive their ties with the whole Kunama family. (K.M.)

Africa. The boom of e-commerce.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

As use of the Internet grows, so does the number of consumers who shop online. A surprising fact: the sector could benefit from around $15 billion between 2025 and 2030 if there were more women-owned businesses on the platforms.

The number of online shoppers in Africa has surged annually by18% since 2014 (the global average is 12%) and similar growth is expected over the next decade. The e-commerce market in Africa is expected to reach 84 billion dollars by 2030. A growth driven above all by the young, urban, and digitized population of the continent. And with 76 million online shoppers, Nigeria is Africa’s largest e-commerce market.
Online sales platforms have grown substantially in recent years in order to meet the demand of a market which, according to estimates, can continue to guarantee excellent performance, provided that more space is given to female entrepreneurs.

The new report from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the European Union says clearly: we must bet on and invest in women to drive and to strengthen a sector that has excellent potential among that African population who is looking for services and new lifestyles. Jumia itself, one of the largest e-commerce platforms on the continent, was involved in the drawing up of the report, according to which the sector could benefit from around 15 billion dollars between 2025 and 2030 if there were more women-owned businesses present in those platforms. In other words, companies lose about $3 billion a year because they fail to implement actions to reduce the gender gap in the sector.

After all, the pandemic has also played its part: if on the one hand e-commerce initiatives have increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, on the other, in the first year of the pandemic, male sellers faced a 28% decline in sales, while women sellers suffered a 39% decrease. Changing the trend means investing in training, financing opportunities, working on the positioning of female businesses on platforms, and encouraging those women with entrepreneurial qualities.
The interest and skills of women in the sector is demonstrated by some data: fifty-one percent of Jumia’s online space is occupied by women-owned businesses in Nigeria and Kenya, and 31% in Ivory Coast.
But as the IFC report points out, these are mostly micro-enterprises with few staff and few sales.

The gender gap in the e-commerce sector is also a mirror of that existing at the level of financial services and technology. Let’s continue to consider the three countries analyzed by the report (2019 data): in Ivory Coast only 36% of women have a bank account compared with 47% of men, 33% percent of women use the internet compared with 40% of men, there is disparity of ten points also in the use of digital finance (mobile money). In Kenya 78% percent of women have bank access and 20% use the internet; while 86% of men have a bank account, 33% use the internet, and 80% use digital finance platforms compared with 73% of women. The gap in Nigeria is even wider, where only 27% of women have their own bank account compared with 51% of men and 25% uses the internet compared with 42% of men. There is the same disproportion as far as digital finance is concerned, in fact, only 17% of women use digital financial services compared with 31% of men. The access to e-commerce by women is more difficult since they often have less capital to invest, and therefore those who decide to face the challenge of starting a business online have little means and this makes them feel vulnerable and insecure.

Top e-commerce platforms in Africa
But let’s see which are the main online shopping platforms in Africa. Established in 1999, South Africa’s online store Bidorbuy is one of the oldest online marketplaces in Africa. What makes the site unique is that buyers not only get to purchase what they want, but they can also make a bid for products, functioning as an online auction. Previously owned items such as antiques and collectables are some of the most popular on Bidorbuy, making up 40% of all items sold.
Another top e-commerce platform is South Africa’s Takealot, which was established in 2002. Customers can shop anything from books to games, computers, and TVs.

Part of what makes Takealot an e-commerce success story is that the online retailer strives to provide its customers with the very latest products in the market, coupled with up-to-date product specification. In April 2017, Takealot scored a significant investment of over US $69 million from Naspers, one of Africa’s biggest digital companies. This came after the online retailer received US $100 million investment from investment firm Tiger Global Management in 2014. Naspers boasts a 53,5% stake in Takealot, while Tiger Global owns about 34%. But probably the best-known e-commerce platform is Jumia, launched in Lagos in 2012. The site has solidified a footprint in over 23 African countries, with a network of over half a million sellers since its inception. Jumia has become a hub for products and services spanning across the retail, food and hospitality, talent recruitment, concierge, hotel, and catering industries. Apart from servicing the needs of consumers and businesses, Jumia has also been upskilling and aiding employment for many Africans who are qualified in areas such as Engineering, IT, and online marketing and web development.

A Kilimall Kenya staff in the company’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo sourced from Kilimall)

Kenya also boasts a large online shopping mall. The Kilimall platform is relatively new in the e-commerce space but has remarkably managed to create an inter-continental mark since its launch in 2014. The site, now established in other countries such as Nigeria and Uganda, has a retail customer base that continues to boom. Kilimall is known for providing electronics such as phones, computers, and gadgets. Finally, and again in Lagos, there is Konga, which was established in 2012 as a Lagos-only e-commerce site that specialised in baby and beauty care. Over time the online platform has morphed into a major online retailer. In 2015, Konga joined forces with leading Nigerian banks to launch KongaPay, a safe and convenient online payment method to tackle the issue of trust in Africa, when it came to online payments. (A.S.)

Bolivia. Under the spell of the rich mountain.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

They toil in dark and poorly secured tunnels – always looking for the one good mine that will make everyone rich. But what the miners find in the silver mountain of Potosí in Bolivia is hardly enough to live on. A community of Catholic Sisters is helping the miners’ families in this particular moment of the pandemic.

When the first rays of the morning sun bathe Cerro Rico, the rich mountain of Potosí, in a pale light and the city is still damp and quiet, frozen in the icy morning stiffness, then Percy Fuertes stands up and calls on God. He does so every morning before he goes into the mine.
In Potosí everything has revolved around mining for 500 years. The shops sell dynamite sticks, hoses and compressors, and the most imposing building in town is the old mint from colonial times. Trucks and dirty country vehicles rattle through the narrow streets. There is permanent fine dust over the mining town.
It penetrates every crack, settles on every piece of furniture, dusts the streets and finds its way into every lung, already struggling for oxygen at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

Miners at Cerro Rico silver mine in Potosi. Photo: saiko3p/123rf.com

The mountain has spat out an endless stream of miners terminally ill with lung disease. Many, too, have swallowed its poison working in its deceptive, slippery tunnels or have been poisoned by ammonia or other gases. A supply of cheap ethyl alcohol, sold for the equivalent of one Euro for a quarter of a litre, has tempted thousands to fritter away their money and lives to the detriment of their families. The average life expectancy of a miner is 40 years.
Fuertes has already lived longer. He is 43 and still sinewy and strong enough for the backbreaking work in the mountains. “Every morning there is oatmeal with milk, it makes you strong and protects the lungs”, he says, a gold tooth flashing in his mouth as he smiles. But his humour is false. He hugs his wife Virginia Condori in silence. The relentless mountain sun, the icy wind and the many worries have tanned the 47 year-old’s face dark and covered it with a small network of wrinkles. In a husky voice, she wishes her husband “Good luck!” – and does not know whether and in what condition he will return in the evening. Scratches and bruises are the order of the day.

Miners. Photo: saiko3p/123rf.com

Fuertes works in a team of four on behalf of the broker of a subcontractor disguised as a cooperative that has a concession for a tunnel at 4,300 meters above sea level on the flank of Cerro Rico. The extracted rock is then resold to one of the many smelting plants that are in turn owned by other companies. The ownership and employment relations in Bolivian mining are opaque. Luz Rivera from the social pastoral work of the Catholic Church in Potosí speaks of “slave-like exploitation”. “There are no employment contracts, no social security, the men have to buy the equipment themselves, even organize the journey to and from the mine themselves. Wages are paid weekly, and if the foreman wants, he will arbitrarily deduct something or fire someone without notice”, she says.

One-ton Trucks
Fuertes is a demolition expert. Deep in the tunnel, he uses a pneumatic hammer to drill the holes in which the dynamite sticks are inserted. The fuse, about one and a half meters long, gives him three to four minutes to move away from the blasting site. But running is impossible in the narrow tunnel, which is no more than 1.60 meters high. The ground between the tracks is muddy; the light from headlamps is reflected by thousands of dust particles. The pressure waves from the dull explosions almost burst the eardrums and make breathing even more difficult.

Miners change into high boots and wear helmets before descending into Cerro Rico mine. Photo: flocu/123rf.com

As soon as the dust settles, the men go back into the mine and load the wrought-iron tip-wagon with rock. A loaded truck weighs up to a ton, and can hardly be moved even by two men. Thick beads of sweat form on the foreheads of Fuertes’ two young partners as they push the truck into the daylight. The group of four produces from eight to ten truckloads on a working day that ends between four and five in the afternoon. There is no break for a meal, just some chewed coca leaves in your cheek pouch to fight off hunger and fatigue. Each one of them takes home barely 250 Euro at the end of the month.
“I’ve told him many times to look for another job”, Virginia sighs as she hangs out her washing in her bleak courtyard. Two puppies scramble on the bare concrete floor and the blue paint is peeling off the walls. Fuertes has sometimes worked as a day labourer on the construction site. But he is a man of the dark. He has been working in the mine since he was 16, and toiling in the hot sunlight is not good for him. In the mine he earns twice as much as in the construction industry, but even that is not enough to support the family properly. “I used to work for a mining company and even had social security”, he says proudly. But then came the economic crisis and now the Coronavirus.

Sister Damiana Rodriguez. Photo: Florian Kopp

Because of the pandemic, there was a strict quarantine in Bolivia for four months. Everything stopped moving in Cerro Rico. Fuertes was fired. His wife lost her job as a cleaner in a hostel due to a lack of guests. The family survived thanks only to emergency aid from the State and food donations from the church.
Sister Damiana Rodriguez knows the family well. The three daughters Almendra, 15, and the twins Catherine and Rocío, 8, go to the school of the Order of San Jose de Treveris, which is located in the middle of the mining district of San Pedro. It was founded 28 years ago to enable the miners’ daughters to graduate from high school and open up other life prospects. “Girls suffer particularly in the macho world of miners”, says Sr. Damiana. Women have only a subordinate place. They marry young, get pregnant quickly and suffer at the hands of drinking husbands who beat them. They become widows at an early age.

Food for the poorest
When many families at the Copacabana School became unemployed during the Coronavirus pandemic, the Sisters helped those in particular need with food parcels. A few brightly coloured bags full of rice, pasta, beans, cooking oil and soap are still piled up in a classroom. Virginia and Fuertes grow their own beans and potatoes on a small piece of land outside the city that his parents have given him. “At least we didn’t starve to death – says Virginia -, but sometimes there was only one meal a day”. From what she had saved from her work at the hostel, she bought a cell phone so that her three daughters and 12-year-old Fabricio could at least take part in distance learning. “Sometimes the courses overlap, sometimes I don’t have the money to top up the data quota on my cell phone”, she says.

Percy Fuertes with his daughters and sr. Damiana. Photo: Florian Kopp

Fortunately, the little house in which they live with their in-laws is not far from the school where parents can pick up worksheets or books in person. “In March, the State shut down the school overnight and left us alone. We had to improvise distance learning”, says Sister Damiana, who teaches ethics and religion.
Sometimes she comes to school for meetings with the teaching staff or to hand out material to parents. The empty classrooms make her sad every time. “I miss the life, the laughter and the noise of the girls”, she sighs. The pandemic is a serious set-back for the education system in Bolivia. In primary school, only half of the children can take part in video classes, in the upper school it is just 30 per cent. According to the social worker Rivera’s estimates, child labour in Potosí has risen from 10,000 to 15,000 as a result of the pandemic. There are no official figures.

No glasses, no shoes
At home, the Fuertes family navigates the crisis. The children watch TV or play with the two puppies Poli and Canela. They used to hang out with friends a lot. Fabricio used to go to a football club and Almendra was active in the church youth group. The pandemic has kept all of that to a minimum.
The school books picked up by Fuentes at school are a welcome change. The fact that Sister Damiana came with them also encourages the twins to demonstrate the reading skills they acquired the previous year and painstakingly preserved during the pandemic. Catherine reads quite fluently but Rocío stops and starts. She doesn’t see well and actually needs glasses. But there is no money for that. Not even for real shoes. The twins grew out of the old ones during the pandemic, and slippers have to do for the time being, despite the cold.
Fuertes casts a glance out of the corner of his eye at his two girls. “Maybe we can still find the veta“, he mumbles, the rich vein that all miners dream of. “Then I would definitely quit and offer my family a better life”.

Sandra Weiss/Kontinente

In search of ethical coherence in investments.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

To Missionaries, living the Gospel in a radical fashion is a way of advocating for the poor and the earth. The devise, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation is a distant horizon that, however, continually attracts and directs their fragile and sometimes contradictory steps. One of these steps is to invest in the agroecology promoted by the Landless Movement of Brazil. Pointing out in writing their commitments and challenges helps and encourages them to be faithful to this mission.

Evangelizing is the commitment of every missionary. “To evangelize is to make the Kingdom of God present in the world” (EG n. 176). One of the settings where this mission becomes more arduous and urgent is the economy. In today’s world, income and capital concentration has reached obscene levels; it is a scandalous expression of a growing and structural injustice, a deadly social sin.

A deep and urgent conversion
Eight individuals have the same wealth as half of the world’s population! The problem is not, therefore, the lack of financial resources, but their appropriation by individuals and corporations that use them to speculate instead of investing: today, more than ever, financial investments yield more profits than productive investments.

The Second Vatican Council (GS 63) called on Christian communities to act in economic and social life, having as priority the dignity and the integral vocation of every person and to the good of all society.

Pope Francis, in his most recent message to social movements, explicitly said, “It is time to stop the locomotive that is taking us to the abyss ” The initiative “The Economy of Francis and Clara”, particularly aimed at young people, with a focus on new models of life and society, is in the Pope’s desires an enormous challenge: “to give the economy a new soul.”This challenge comprises at least two main lines of action: first, directing the economy at the service of life and not of profit and, secondly, distancing it from all the processes of death that are destroying Creation.

Pope Francis asked this with humility and firmness in the same speech to social movements: “I want to ask in the name of God the large extractive companies – mining, oil, forestry, real estate, and agribusiness – to stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, stop contaminating rivers and seas, and stop poisoning people and food.”

Touching the wounds of the poor and of the Earth
These new commitments, however, in Brazil are not born out of nowhere, but from the experiences of sharing and from hopes that open gaps for light, such as the solidarity of communities in the urban peripheries, or the resistance of indigenous peoples.

The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the largest social movement in the world, is an example. For more than thirty years, the Movement has worked with rural production cooperatives and marketing of rural products. Today, there are 160 cooperatives and more than 1,000 associations, comprising 450,000 families in 24 Brazilian states. In just the first 6 months of the COVID pandemic it carried out solidarity actions in several states of the country providing 3,400 tons of food.
It started fifteen new community vegetable gardens to strengthen and insuring this help.

For their part, the Comboni missionaries, through their even sometimes small and frail experience in Brazil, learned to listen more and more to the cry of the poor and of the Earth Through their socio-environmental pastoral commitments, together with the local Church, they had been addressing the “ecological sin”.

The best formulation of this “sin” was given during the Amazon Synod where REPAM (Red Iglesias y Minería – Churches and Mining network) was a protagonist. “Ecological sin”, is a “sin against future generations”, a “transgression against the principles of interdependence” and a “breakdown of the solidarity networks among creatures”.

Some missionaries, therefore, (see Network Justice on the Rails) act against violations caused by the predatory extraction of large mining corporations or share with their communities the suffering caused by the impacts of illegal gold mining. Some others are committed to the defense of peoples and their territories, together with the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) or the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).

A new proposal and our support
The missionaries believe, in profound communion with Pope Francis, that the abundant life evoked by the Gospels begins with the right to Land, Housing and Work for all people.

In the deep sanitary and economic crisis that many countries go through, food insecurity has once again come to haunt Brazil. About 20 million people live in poverty and at risk of malnutrition: it is the anti-Kingdom, a blasphemy hurting the heart of God! It is the clearest proof of what the Pope has said over and over again: “This economy kills!”

Recently, the MST planned to raise R$ 17.5 million (about US$ 3,2 millions) by issuing an Agribusiness Receivables Certificate (CRA), a type of fixed-income bond used to finance the producer or an agricultural cooperative, backed up by the real economy, that is, production itself. The purpose of this financing is to fund the production, mostly pesticide-free, of rice, corn, milk, soy, grape juice and brown sugar by seven cooperatives.

This Movement’s agro-ecological projects and its support to family farming are prospects for circular, collaborative and sustainable economic processes in which it makes sense to believe. Because of all these reasons, based on their pastoral practice, on the Gospel in which they believe and on the cry that they continually hear, the Comboni Missionaries in Brazil have decided to enter into this financing initiative by investing part of their funds.

Meaning and perspectives
“This support is only a first step to help us recognize how far we still need to go, to ‘give economy a new soul’, in a very practical way,” say the Comboni Missionaries. “We are part of a continental ecumenical movement, the Churches and Mining network (REPAM), which is promoting research, discernment and commitments to free the economy from predatory and devastating extractivism.”

Church investments, too, can contribute to fueling or to the weakening of deadly economies. The Mining Divestment Campaign is a tool to raise awareness in religious life and people in general about violations of mining business and the symbolic and prophetic potential of an ethical distancing from these corporations.

“The next step of our commitment will be to deepen the control of our investments and, possibly, direct them even more towards productive activities that are coherent with our values. We are thus joining the recent initiatives taken in this same sense by the Claretian and the SVD Missionaries, as well as the proposal of the ‘Laudato Si Revolution’ launched by the Franciscans and Jesuits, and also the ‘Laudato Si Action Plan’ coordinated by the Vatican Secretariat for Integral Human Development,” is the Comboni missionaries statement.

The path is still long, but it reveals a progressive awakening of Religious Life towards the paradigm of Integral Ecology and the Economy of Francis and Clara! (Landless Movement – MST©opaidetheo/123RF.COM)

Jean Paul Pezzi

Kenya/Ethiopia. A journey into Borana’s cultural heritage.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

In the vast semi-desert uplands of southern Ethiopia, and in the northern desert region of Kenya, the Borana have their home.

They believe themselves to be the first of the groups that form the great Oromo family. “We were the first to arrive, at dawn”. The experts agree that the Borana — around half a million people, of whom –100,000 live in the south of Kenya — have preserved the most integral and original linguistic, cultural, social and religious characteristics of the entire ethnic group. Among the Oromo of western Ethiopia, the term ‘borana‘ is still understood as meaning one who definitely belongs to the race of the Oromo. Among the elements that confirm that the Borana constitute the original primordial strain of the Oromo we find: the conservation of a social system and a semi-nomadic and pastoral lifestyle; fidelity to the practice of their own traditional religion; the continuation of an essentially egalitarian social structure based upon the system of the gadaa and the role played by two relevant institutional figures: the abba gadaa (‘father of the gadaa‘, the highest political authority) and the qallu (traditional priest).

From a religious point of view, they feel they are especially close to Waaqa, the creator god seen as the source of all that exists: “He gives life and continuity of life to all things”. They speak of him as “the beginning and the end”: “Waaqa is one and is many”, infinite and infinitesimal at the same time. In “Waaqa everything is present and everything exists in him”. He is the “weaver who unites past, present and future in a single cloth”; in an even more meaningful way: “He is the one who keeps together bone, flesh and spirit”. All the Borana frequently turn to Waaqa, praying to him and recognising his omnipotence and goodness. There are endless invocations for peace, rain, health, the growth of the children and the stock.

The Gadaa System
This is the sacred framework into which every new-born Borana child is inserted. His journey of insertion into society begins only after the name-giving rite with which his right to guard the herds, to express his opinion in the assemblies and to take part in war is recognised. By means of a series of periodical rites proposed by the gadaa, he gradually forms a close network of relationships that mark his life, helping him to cultivate his own identity and to assume his role in society.

The structure of the gadaa is first of all a system of traditional power, exercised democratically and based upon a stratified hierarchy, founded upon the seven “age classes” (or lubba) into which the population is divided. The men follow the phases of the long passage from infancy to old age together.
Each age passage (once every eight years) brings about a rise in the social hierarchy, as they enter the higher lubba. The phases are: that of the daballee (1-8 years), gammee (8-24 years; this is a “repeated lubba” of 16 years), kussa (24-30 years), raaba didiqqaa (or minor raaba, 30-38 years), raaba gugurdaa (major raaba, 38-46 years); gadaa (46-54 years) which is the most important lubba; its members are also called qommicha, (meaning ‘strong ones’) and yuuba (55-78 years; three periods of eight years during which the men are free of all directive responsibilities). When they have completed the three periods as yuuba, the men become gadaamoji, members of the class of the elders: they are free from all political and economic activity and may assume only a ritual role.
The women are excluded from the age classes and from the exercise of power. It is their duty to look after the children and the home. Nevertheless, among the Borana, the women enjoy not only a high level of autonomy and esteem but also have their own times and spaces to organise themselves on a social level and to assume specifically ritual roles within the female ceremonial environment.

All religious, ritual and political responsibility is vested in the members of the gadaa, the lubba of the “strong ones”, which gives its name to the entire system. It is said that the gommi-cha “nama sederà Boraanaa cufa harba qabu” (hold in their hands all the Borana laws and customs).
They rule under the authority of the abba gadaa (the father of the gadaa), who is elected democratically and holds office for eight years, assisted by special counsellors called waayuu (a word which means “holiness”, “respect”, “blessing”, “goodness”, “peace”), chosen from among people of good standing.
In times of emergencies or critical situations in the life of the whole group, the abba gadaa may call the gumii gaayoo (“assembly of many”, open to all the Borana) to render the decision-making more democratic. As a rule, however, the gumii gaayoo is called every eight years. This is a gathering attended by tens of thousands of Borana from Ethiopia and Kenya. The last general assemblies were especially important since they established: exact rules to be followed in the matter of guarding and using water sources; which land was to be used for cultivation and which for pasture; the creation of reserves of fodder for the calves; the protection of indigenous plants; the prohibition of the illegal sale of water; punishments for drunkenness. (P.C.)

Getting married.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

Among the Borana people marriage is preceded by several stages and long negotiations, which can go on even for two years.

The boy’s father takes the first step by visiting the girl’s parents, on this occasion he brings them some tobacco and coffee as gifts. The girl’s parents accept the gifts the first time but on the second visit if they don’t want to marry their daughter to that young man, they will refuse any other gift and will inform the boy’s father about their decision.
If they accept the gifts it means that they are favourable to this marriage, as long as their daughter agrees; if she does not, negotiations
and visits are suspended.

The girl’s parents also organise a Kadda, which is a family meeting to examine if there are all the necessary conditions for the marriage between the two young people to take place. For instance, a person of Sabbo ethnicity can only marry another one of Gona ethnicity.
If there are all conditions and all family members approve, negotiations between the two families will continue, and they will be facilitated by the gifts offered by the groom-to-be.
One of the most important phases in a marriage preparation among the Borana people, is the Buni Ayana or Buni Dageti, which is the occasion when the boyfriend, who is accompanied by a friend (jalla) goes to the girl’s home. The boy, before entering the house, sits in front of the cattle fence and waits for the return of the cows from pasture. He brings two bundles; one contains coffee berries and the other one some tobacco. When the cows come back from pasture, the boy enters the house of his girlfriend’s family and sits in a place prepared just for him, the Golo BuIa, he addresses himself to the girl’s father and the most important members of her family and says, “Abo intalla na ken”, (Father, give me the girl). He repeats the request to all family members three times and each of them answers: “Dageti”, (I have heard you). After this formal request, the wedding date is set.

On the wedding day some women build the hut for the spouses. They start at dawn. The hut, which is called min includes a bedroom (Dibu Fuda) and the place where fire is lit, and where the couple will eat and receive guests (Bada). While working, the women sing, and remember their own wedding, and the feeling of nostalgia for their mothers’ love. At about four o’clock in the afternoon the hut is ready. In the evening the groom arrives on a donkey loaded with household furnishings. A respectable groom must bring at least 15 indispensable items, such as the Elebuna, the pot used to roast coffee beans, the buni bowl (Qori), and the wooden goblet used to drink buni (Budunu buna). As soon as he arrives, the groom enters the house and prepares some buni which will be drunk during the prayer.

Gola. The screen
At nightfall, the groom leaves his new home, accompanied by his inseparable friend. They bring several pounds of coffee berries and tobacco. They wait for the return of the cows and then they go to see the bride’s parents. They will spend the night in their hut behind the gola,
a sort of screen.
At about nine in the evening a series of rituals are performed, only family members attend. The groom offers his father-in-law the tobacco and the coffee berries he has brought. Eight of the coffee berries are roasted over fire, the bride’s father eats two of those and drinks the milk which has just been milked three times. Then he passes the cup to his wife. This ritual sets the seal on the new ties between the groom and the girl’s family, and from that moment on, the mother-in-law is not supposed to look into the groom’s eyes anymore.

On this occasion the girl’s family members give some advice to the groom about his future married life. The suggestions to the bride
are given privately.
The father tells the girl: “Daughter, we gave you to this man, because God created man for woman, and woman for man. Now your husband has all the rights over you. When he comes back home, get him something to drink, if he is hungry, make sure the food is ready. Do not betray him and respect him as you respect your father”. The same suggestions are given by her mother.

Fuda. The wedding rite
Early in the morning, the bride, who is helped by her mother and a girlfriend, wears her wedding gown, the gorfu, which is made of cow skin. Her hair is greased with butter. A jar filled with milk is tied onto her hips, the bride then is also given a stick (sike), a small perfume bottle (kif) and a comb (fila). When everything is ready, the girl’s parents give their daughter to her husband, they bless the couple and then addressing the groom they say, “Take care of her, do not let her starve and make sure you can always provide her with clothes. Go in peace”.
The couple drinks some milk from the chichio and then they head to the cattle fence of the groom’s family. Upon arrival, the bride sits on a cow skin while the groom assisted by his father, kills a young bull according to the rakho ritual. Meanwhile, the groom’s mother combs the bride: she does three small braids on her head; then everybody enters the new hut, while the bride’s parents kill a calf and put a strip of its skin (medicha) on their daughter’s wrist. This ritual marks the end of the wedding ceremony. (P.C.)

Glasgow COP26. Young people at the forefront of Climate Change.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

Not only protest marches. They have contributed with debates and proposals at the COP 26 Climate Change in Glasgow. They have been the real protagonists of the Conference.

At COP26 in Glasgow, Oumarou Ibrahim from Chad, founder of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad, addressing world leaders on the importance of environmental preservation and listening to Indigenous voices, said: “In the Sahel, my people are the best architects of the Great Green Wall that avoids desertification and restores land degradation. We do this as a duty, not as a job…We use our Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge as a tool to protect nature. We don’t stand in front of you as a victim. No. Today, we stand as climate champions.”

While the African continent is responsible for just 3% of global emissions, it remains the most vulnerable region to global warming. The African Union Commission warned that up to 118 million extremely poor people will be exposed to drought, floods, and extreme heat in Africa by 2030. Climate change could further lower GDP in sub-Saharan Africa by up to 3% by 2050.

Elizabeth Wathuti, a 26-year-old from Kenya who founded the Green Generation Initiative, a group that helps young people become environmentally conscious through growing trees, pointed out: “ I have seen with my own eyes three young children crying at the side of a dried-up river after walking 12 miles with their mother to find water.” Wathuti said it’s “painful and heartbreaking” to see people who contributed least to the climate crisis suffer most of the impact. Young people are carrying the burden of fixing the climate crisis, she says. Africa’s youth population is growing rapidly and is expected to reach over 830 million by 2050.

Mary Mathema from Zimbabwe believed that : “African youth should be part of the climate solutions. Instead, we are underrepresented in climate change policy-making and implementation processes at the national, regional and international levels. Integrating African youth in the creation of climate policies, plans, projects and programs
at all levels is imperative.”

Evelyn Acham, a Ugandan activist with the Rise Up movement in Africa, explained why some young people had become “full-time activists” against climate change, giving up education and work due to the urgency of the crisis. She pointed out that the situation was so urgent that they had abandoned other parts of their lives to push for action. She said: “The young people going out there to march give us hope.
“The future belongs to those young people, because they still have a lot of time, they haven’t achieved a lot, but the older generation have already achieved so much and (climate change) probably won’t be so much their problem. “But young people still have work to do, they still have school to do, they have a future to build, so this is our concern.”

Keeping girls in school and taking young climate leaders seriously are keys to tackling climate change said Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Speaking to a virtual panel, Malala, 23, said educating girls and young women, particularly in developing countries, would give them a chance to pursue green jobs and be part of solving the climate crisis in their communities.“Girls’ education, gender equality, and climate change are not separate issues. Girls’ education and gender equality can be used as solutions against climate change,” Malala said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, some 130 million girls worldwide were already out of school, according to the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO, which said more than 11 million may not return to classes after the pandemic.Climate disasters have also been linked with early marriage, school drop-outs, and teen pregnancies, says UN children’s agency UNICEF.

Malala pointed out that it is important to pay attention to youth climate activists: “Listen to young people who are leading the climate movement. Young people are reminding our leaders that climate education and climate justice should be their priority.”

Txai Surui, a 24-year-old indigenous climate activist from the Brazilian Amazon, said “Today the climate is warming, the animals are disappearing, the rivers are dying, and our plants don’t flower like they did before. The Earth is speaking. She tells us that we have no more time. We need a different path, with bold and global changes. It is not 2030 or 2050, it is now.”
She continues: “We have ideas to postpone the end of the world. It is always necessary to believe that doing so is possible. May our utopia be a future on Earth.”The Pacific Islands are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Salome Alinili Maitangi came looking for promises and funding for her community. A young woman from Samoa and Tuvalu, she has travelled the world to make her voice heard and convey a clear
message to leaders.

“Protect the Pacific… we are the smallest contributor to climate change, but we are at the forefront of climate change,” she said.
Moemoana Schwenke from Samoa believes it is important that young women from different communities have a voice at the table. “If our youth work together, we can become better leaders and if we want to work to ensure that our planet does not suffer losses and losses.”
The final agreement of the Glasgow Climate Pact was received with a mix of disappointment with activists, vulnerable smaller states and non-governmental organisations, in particular, describing it as “weak” and lacking “the urgency and scale required” in the face of the climate crisis.

Many youth activists have taken a bleaker view. Vanessa Nakate, a climate activist from Uganda, said: “Even if leaders stuck to the promises they have made here in Glasgow, it would not prevent the destruction of communities like mine. Right now, at 1.2C of global warming, drought and flooding are killing people in Uganda. Only immediate, drastic emission cuts will give us hope of safety, and world leaders have failed to rise to the moment.”

She said the scale of the climate movement was increasing: “People are joining our movement. 100,000 people from all different backgrounds came to the streets in Glasgow during the COP and the pressure for change is building.”
Climate activist Greta Thunberg comments: “The COP26 is over. Here’s a brief summary: Blah, blah, blah. But the real work continues outside these halls. And we will never give up, never. ( Open photo: Hinduo Oumarou Ibrahim delegate from Chad) (swm)

The Gubissa Ceremony.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

The birth of a child is always an important event that brings joy to the Borana. The joy is all the more important when the child is
a first-born or a male.

The announcement of the birth is made by the father who shouts to all “Olla, ilmi dallae buna tambo nyada” (People of the village, a son is born to me; drink buri – fresh milk with coffee beans – and chew tobacco”. The people gather while the women sing “You have given me a descendant. Alio is your name, give me a son. As the flowers of the grass grow, so let God make grow the flower of the life of this son”.

The celebration is held between six months and two years after the baby’s birth. Eight days before the ceremony, a large hut, the galma, is built and the child’s father invites the family’s numerous relatives to the naming ceremony. Each guest to the event brings an oodha full of curdled milk as a gift and that is why the ceremony takes place after the heavy spring rains have greened up pastures that provide abundant forage for cows. The arrival of the guests from the nearby villages indicates that the party is about to start. Seven people, the torban, help the baby’s father throughout the event. Two sticks, five twigs (one of which is bigger than the others), and a big branch are placed in a row before the entrance of the cow fence. One of the sticks, the wades, is for the baby’s father; the other, the danis, is for the baby. Two of the twigs, the ootti, are placed above the door of the galma; the others, including the largest one, are put on the wall at the bottom of the hut. The branch, called gulanta, is located in the centre of the place.

The baby’s father puts a lock of the baby’s hair and his umbilical cord, which has been cut into small pieces and which has been kept by the baby’s mother in a flap of her dress until the day of the ceremony, into a wooden bowl (qorri). Then the father puts the mchira, a copper bracelet, which is a symbol of belonging to the tribe, on the baby’s wrist.
The two parents enter the galma to prepare the buni, a ceremonial drink made with toasted coffee beans and fresh milk. A few drops of oil are poured on the palm of the hands of the guests, and they spread it on their wrist and face. Everybody drinks the buni while an elder prays.
Women start milking cows at about nine o’clock in the evening, then everybody gets back to the galma. The baby’s parents eat eight roasted berries: this gesture symbolizes that their son is now officially entering the family. Some women bring some milk. One of the elders intones a sort of litany, to which everyone responds. Then the father lifts the baby up in his arms and says, wario gollicha makes jeda jeda, (the baby’s name), the others reply, Gudaa fate hate bulfad, (“May the baby grow well, long life to his father and mother”.)
The invocation is repeated 16 times in turn by the father, mother, grandfather and grandmother (for a total of 64 times). Then a silence filled with mystery falls. After a while the baby’s father starts to sing a song that invites guests to celebrate: Ho, hoyoyo jilla, hahahe! Another three songs are sung to wish the baby a happy life, many cows, green pastures, and abundant water.

Borana Girls. CC BY-SA 2.0/Rod Waddington

Outside the hut, people dance, women clap their hands, while young people do high jumps as the dance requires. Curdled milk is served to guests uninterruptedly.
At about three o’clock in the morning the dances end. Everyone goes to sleep while the baby’s father and the seven torban, remain in the galma and continue to sing until the sun rises.
At the beginning of the new day, the sorio sacrifice is performed: the baby’s father slits a bull’s throat. The danis and wades sticks are placed under the rivulets of blood so that they get soaked with the bull’s blood, while the reading of good wishes is performed and some pieces of meat are distributed to those who brought milk.A final ceremony, the handura (umbilical cord) marks the end of the great event. The baby’s father, followed by the mother who holds the baby and by the grandfather, enters the cattle fence; he holds the bowl containing the baby’s umbilical cord and the lock of hair. He then puts pieces of this mixture on the back of some cows, the ‘baby’s handura cows’, that symbolize the baby’s legacy, the guarantee for a wealthy life. This ceremony is repeated for four days. Before leaving, the elderly people make good wishes and some meat is offered to guests before they return to their own village and their work. (P.C.)

Herbs & Plants. Leonotis nepetifolia. ‘A Lion era’.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

In traditional medicine, the plant is used to treat a number
of diseases like bronchial asthma, fever, influenza, cough,
as well as treatment of epilepsy.

Medicinal plants are a huge element of the indigenous medical systems. Leonotis nepetifolia (Family Lamiaceae) is one of such medicinal plant species with significant medicinal values. It is commonly known as ‘Lion ear’ or ‘Christmas candlestick’ and is a shrub that originated from tropical Africa and now spread in many tropical regions worldwide. It is an erect annual herb that can grow up to 2.5 m in height.
The stem is unbranched at the base and loosely branched towards the apex with strongly angled stems having appressed retrorse hairs that are longer at the nodes. Leaves are smooth with toothed margin, ovate, lobed, acute, and winged in the upper part.

Inflorescence comprises axillary dense, globose many-flowered verticillasters. The flowers are orange, borne in spiny clusters, the floral leaves are lanceolate and deflexed, bracts are linear, highly spinous-pointed, and deflexed. The calyxes are tubular, incurved, hairy with 8-9 sharp pointed teeth. The plant typically has a bilabiate corolla, which is orange-scarlet. The stamens are four and didynamous. The ovary has four lobes and the fruit contains four nutlets and ovoid.
In traditional medicine, Leonotis nepetifolia is used to treat and/or manage a number of disease conditions and disorders including bronchial asthma, fever, influenza, cough, womb prolapse, analgesia, burns, breast swelling, ringworm, scalds, malaria, and rheumatic pain. In some communities, the plant is used in the treatment of epilepsy. The whole Leonotis nepetifolia plant is powdered and decoctions made from it are used in the treatment of malaria. Similarly, the leaf infusion is also used to treat malaria in some parts of Africa. It has been used in the treatment of diarrhea and other digestive system disorders in various communities along its distribution range. In addition, the decoction made from the whole Leonotis nepetifolia plant can be orally administered for the treatment of stomachache and dysentery.

The stem, leaves, and flowers of Leonotis nepetifolia are used in the treatment of asthma. The ash made from burning the whole plant of Leonotis nepetifolia is externally applied to treat paralysis. The ash of the whole plant mixed with mustard oil on external application relieves breast pain during the post-natal period and pain due to swelling anywhere in the body including joint pain. Decoction of the stem, leaf and flowers is administered for jaundice. The whole plant is used for regulating the menstrual cycle as well as diarrhea. The paste made from the whole plant is applied for the treatment of joint pain. Similarly, the infusion of Leonotis nepetifolia is drunk and rubbed to treat backache. The plant is boiled in mustard oil and used to manage waist pain. The decoction is given orally for relieving joint pains.

The decoction of the leaves is used to treat burns and skin ailments. The ash from the leaves of Leonotis nepetifolia is used to treat stomach infections. The paste made from the leaves is applied externally to treat eczema conditions. Crushed leaves of the plant are rubbed gently on the affected part to alleviate the burning sensation due to scorpion sting. The leaf paste of the plant is applied locally to cure joint pains and back pain. In some communities, the roots are used to treat vomiting in pregnant women. The decoction of flowers and seeds are used to treat burns and skin ailments. The powdered flower of Leonotis nepetifolia added in porridge or tea is utilized in the treatment of diarrhea. The seed, flower and inflorescence (ash and paste) are used as external application for burns. The application of the paste of inflorescence mixed with groundnut oil is used for wound healing. The paste of the inflorescence fried in ghee is administered for treating cough. The juice of the flower mixed with sugar is drunk for treatment of night blindness. The nectar from the flowers tastes sweet and is often eaten as food.The therapeutic potency of Leonotis nepetifolia may be attributed to the phytochemicals contained in it, including alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, steroids, and terpenoids.

Richard Komakech

Troubled waters in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

Geopolitical tension in the Indo-Pacific Region has been aggravated by the controversial purchase of submarines by Australia from the United States. At the root of the problem is the fear of Western countries and their allies at the growing naval power of China.

The reasoning is that Peking has 360 battleships and attack submarines at the end of 2020 compared with the 297 the United States has worldwide. China is expected to increase the number of its ships to 400 by 2025 and to 425 by 2030.
These data are furnished by the United States Office of Naval Information (ONI). According to Military Balance, the Chinese navy has in service 6 nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). These are quantitative details that do not consider the quality of capacity of the ships which is in favour of the United States, or of the global deployment of its 11 fleets around their respective aircraft carriers.

The US fleet has 21 submarines of which 8 are nuclear-powered and they are located in the Pacific off the coast of China (mostly based in Pearl Harbour). Between 2015 and 2019, Chinese naval shipyards built 132 as compared with 68 built by the US, 48 by India, 49 by Japan, 17 by France, 9 by Australia and 4 by the United Kingdom (of which 2 were aircraft carriers). In those four years, China launched a number of ships equal to the entire French fleet, the foremost European power. The head of the French navy, Pierre Vandier, believes that the Chinese navy absorbs 55% of the entire defence budget of the Asian power.

In the South China Sea, a conflict is developing over sovereignty with China on one side and the other coastal countries on the other. Of these countries, Vietnam has 6 Russian-made submarines, Singapore and Malaysia have 2 each, Indonesia has ordered 6 from South Korea and the Philippines is considering the creation of a fleet of submarines.
These countries have drawn up various treaties with Washington in their geopolitical war with Peking. Towards the East China Sea, Japan has 23 submarines and South Korea has 18.

These are two strong military allies of the United States close to China. About a dozen Russian submarines sail the seas around China: the Indo-Pacific, the South and the East. In line with the naval tensions in the region at the start of 2021, one of the French nuclear missiles, the Emeraude, navigated in the Pacific close to the zone of tension.
It was an unusual event and was presumably aimed at giving France a role in this geopolitical conflict.

However, on 15 September, an accord called AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom and the United States) was signed. This alliance aims at articulating an action to contain China and support the countries which fear it. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Asia and Oceania have invested 528,000 million dollars in military spending, a sum that represents an increase of 2.5% compared to 2019, but which is smaller than that of the USA which amounted to 801,000 million and 40% more than what Europe spends.

AUKUS comes on top of another Western and Indo-Pacific military project: the QUAD Group. This is an alliance between the United States and Australia, and India and Japan. Shortly after he took office, Biden held a virtual summit with the heads of government of the Group to activate it with a view to containing China. However, now, contemporaneously with the announcement of the AUKUS accord, the contract worth 50 billion dollars that Australia had signed with France for the purchase of 12 conventional submarines was suspended.

The first negotiations between Paris and Canberra took place in 2016. France saw the contract as already agreed but Australia suspended it and replaced it with another with the USA for 8 nuclear-powered submarines for 66 billion dollars.
President Macron of France responded angrily and ordered the recall of his ambassadors from Australia and the United States.

The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated that the change was due to the deterioration of security in the Indo-Pacific Region (made up of India, China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia) and the access to the technology implicit in the new accord. These events were aggravated by the resumption of long-range missile launching by North Korea the same week during which the AUKUS agreement was published. North Korea launched two missiles from Yangdeok (70 km from the capital). They reached a speed of 800 k per hour and reached an altitude of 60,000 metres before falling into the East Sea (as the sea to the south of Japan is called in both Koreas).

On its part, South Korea responded with a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) of the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho class, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Even if the South Korean president denied any connection with the North Korean launch, the conclusion was inevitable. A first South Korean test had been secretly conducted two weeks previously. South Korea thus became the eighth country capable of launching SLBM. The others are: USA, Russia, China, India, United Kingdom, France and North Korea.

The growing tension in the Indo-Pacific has had global repercussions. The Chinese government reacted strongly, accusing the United States of endangering the security of the region by agreeing to supply Australia with nuclear submarines ad of upsetting the balance of power to the detriment of the Asian power.
In addition, the European reaction was equally strong. It upheld the case of France against Australia and the United States over the agreement to replace the purchase of submarines. Various European leaders asserted that it is necessary to promote the “defence of Europe”, by Europe having its own military structure separate from the United States. It is worth noting that France is the main military power on the European continent and the only one with nuclear arms.

Rosendo Fraga/Nueva Mayoria

Philippine. The Fiesta, joyful celebration.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

The life of the Filipino villages and parishes is built around the “Fiesta”, a yearly celebration of the Patron Saint which includes the preparations, the solemn Mass, the procession with the images of the Saint, the cooking, and the hospitality.

Every town in the Philippines, no matter how big or small, holds a fiesta. Traditionally, the fiesta is a time of joyful celebration for Filipinos, who cook heaps of hearty food, throw open their doors to visitors, and parade in the streets. Some Filipino fiestas have evolved into elaborate, multi-day festivals, while others have kept their community roots.
Majayjay is a municipality in the province of Laguna. It is located at the foot of Mount Banahaw and stands one thousand feet above sea level, one hundred and twenty kilometres south of Manila. The Spanish colonial government made it a town in 1578.
Its location at the foot of the mountain gives it an abundant supply of fresh mountain spring water. Four rivers flow through the town.

In José Protasio Rizal’s El Filibusterismo, he spoke of an old Spanish bridge made of stone in the year 1851. Puente de Capricio was initiated by the Spanish Franciscan friar Victoriano del Moral, who was cruel and autocratic. Anyone who did not labour in the construction would be later punished by a whipping in the buttocks.
The bridge is still standing firm today, crossing the Olla River. It is called Tulay ng Pige (Bridge of Buttocks). The bridge now symbolizes the defiance of Filipino workers against the oppressive Spanish colonialists. At the same time, it is the pride of the inhabitants of Majayjay.
The town is home to one of the oldest and most beautiful Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines, the Saint Gregory the Great Parish Church. It was built in 1575 but destroyed several times by fire. Its restoration dates to 1730. Despite the repeated incidents of fire, the image of their Patron Saint, San Gregorio Magno, remained miraculously unscathed.The SaGreMa Festival (San Gregorio Magno Majayjay) marks the parochial Fiesta celebrated on September 3 and March 12, the dates when Saint Gregory became a pope and the day he died respectively. At this time of the year, the thirty thousand inhabitants come together for a grand celebration.

The extensive ceremonies are planned by a committee that is usually led by the Hermana Mayor (the big sister). The local bishop is usually invited as the main celebrant of the solemn Mass. A colourful procession follows during which all the statues of Saints are taken around the town in their floats, with the joyful sound of the local brass band.
The fiesta is a time during which the villagers take pride in their patron Saint, in the beauty of their place of worship, and their place in general. Overseas Filipino Workers often make a point in being present back to their town for the fiesta. It is when food is abundant, the hospitality is warm, and the sense of belonging grows strong.
The cohesion and normality of the village life and festivities are today taken for granted, but serious historians see in them the success of the evangelizing activity of the Spanish friars who are responsible for the organization of the village life around the parish church and the plaza.
William Cameron Forbes, a Protestant Governor-General of the Philippines (1909-1913), cannot hide his admiration at the endurance of the Spaniard’s evangelizing mission when he said, “Whatever their method may have been, no fair-minded person could underrate their achievements in dealing with the disunited, warring factions and tribes which they found inhabiting the Philippines Islands in 1565 and in giving them a unity of thoughts which comes from a common religion to which they are devoted and to the maintenance of which they have erected their most impressive and monumental buildings, where worship is conducted according to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The feasts of the Patron Saints have developed, in some places, into festivals like the Sinulog of Cebu and the Ati-Atihan of Kalibo in Aklan. The province of Quezon in Luzon Island has one of the most interesting fiestas in the Philippines. On May 15, Lucban and the towns nearby decorate their homes with fruits and vegetables in honour of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers.
A walk through the town reveals houses covered in all types of fresh produce. The festival is a way of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest, and the best-decorated house wins a prize. Toward the end of the festival, visitors are allowed to bring a basket and pick the fruits and veggies from the houses for free. The success of the religious festivals has inspired the other great cultural manifestations linked with nature like the annual “Flower Festival or Panagbenga” of Baguio and the kind of carnival with masks “Masskara” of Bacolod. Open Photo: kobby_dagan/123rf.com
Lorenzo Carraro

Azerbaijan: Unique Carpets.

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 8:00

The Azerbaijan art of weaving is unique: it is an ancient tradition, a mystical and pedagogical language and a sign of Azeri identity that has now become the Heritage of Humanity.

In Lahij, on the mountains of Azerbaijan, four generations come together around the loom on which carpets are woven. The woman doing the weaving learned the art when she was just five years old. The loom on which she made her debut was on the carpet her mother received as her dowry and woven by her grandmother. The daughter of this woman comes to see her and sits down at the loom to demonstrate and also perfect her weaving skills.
Carpet weaving in Azerbaijan is mostly done by the woman of the house but some men also weave. During the winter, the women of the extended family get together and each one does her creative part of the work. On such occasions, girls and boys learn from the mothers and grandmothers and the wives help their mothers-in-law.
Being handed down from one generation to the next, the traditional art of carpet-weaving has a history going back about four thousand years. The earliest traces are from the second millennium before Christ.

The Arab historian Al Mugaddasi, wrote in the X century BC: ‘Your carpets are unequalled anywhere else in the world’. In the V century BC, the Greek Herodotus, known as the father of history, refers to the advanced colouring techniques of the Azerbaijanis.
Travellers to the ancient Middle East and Asia, like Almaçudi and Xuan Tes Ank, and the Italian explorer Marco Polo, in the XIII century, recorded Azerbaijani weaving techniques; cloth and carpets were made and sold in the Azeri markets that were not to be found anywhere else in the world.
Azerbaijan carpets have been part of European art since the late Middle Ages. They are to be seen in works such as the Annunciation with St Emidius (1486), by Carlo Crivelli, the Virgin and Child (1487), by Hans Memling, or The Ambassadors (1533), by Hans Holbein the Younger.

Mystical and educational carpets
Azerbaijan is located on the old Silk Road that joined Europe and Asia and has always been a crossroads of civilisations, cultures and religions.
The cities of Azerbaijan were known as centres of commerce, science and culture. While the products of the soil – such as nuts, salt, saffron, sturgeon and caviar – were much sought-after by foreign merchants, the same was true of their artisan products, such as vessels in wood, non-ferrous metals and, in particular, natural colourings. The products of these arts were in great demand: raw silk, silk fabrics, cotton, multi-coloured ceramics, arms and other metal objects, precious stones, jewels and especially carpets that were sold by weight like precious metals.

This is because Azerbaijan weaving is much more than the simple provision of useful objects; it is a kind of visual language, all the elements of which have a meaning.
The experience and world vision of the Azeri are inseparable from the art of weaving to such an extent that Azeri men and women weavers may be classified as mystics and educators.
Azeri weaving incorporates the spiritual, social, cultural and artistic values of the country in each period of its history. This life wisdom is present and is transmitted in everyday life. Carpets cover all areas of the house: the floor, the walls and the ceilings. There is even an Azeri saying that goes: xalças harada, yurdum orada, meaning ‘where my carpet is, there is my home’. Special carpets are woven to depict various occasions: prayer, wedding ceremonies, births or mourning rituals. The arrival of a distinguished person is marked by laying down a carpet. In the world of fashion and entertainment, the first rows are covered with most beautiful carpets.

Symbol of Azeri identity
The ancient art of carpet weaving has become a tangible symbol of Azeri culture in which two aspects stand out: multiculturalism and innovation. Each of the ten regions of Azerbaijan has its own weaving techniques and elements of local designs. Aware of this richness and to use it to the best advantage, in the workshops of Azerkalcha, local artisans manage about five hundred works being produced nation-wide and, in this way, it is easily possible to acquire a view of the whole country.

Baku. Azerbaijan Carpet Museum.

Techniques of preceding centuries are traditionally used by the artisans of today but new technologies make it possible to explore other designs. One of the artists of this new generation of weavers is Faig Ahmed. Since childhood, he wanted to cut up a family carpet to rearrange its design. Today he dares to innovate at the point of contact between the old and the new and create carpets with deformed sections.
The symbolic element that unites the spiritual with daily life in Azeri carpets is fire. It is represented by more than ninety tones and configurations. A classical motif consists of mixed lines in the form of an S that spread out horizontally and vertically to create a stylised image of a dragon which is also a symbol of fire.
Fire indicates Azeri identity since the country has abundant reserves of natural gas and oil. It is easy to identify them by the flames on the surface, something that is seen when the gas comes into contact with the atmosphere and ignites.

A world heritage
The National Carpet Museum of Azerbaijan, in Baku, was opened in 1967. It looks like a rolled-up carpet pointing to the future. In it, the patrimony of ancient skills acts as a spur to innovation and ancient traditions appear genuine for today. Designed by Austrian Franz Janz, it is an architectural jewel. In 2010, UNESCO added Azerbaijani carpet weaving to the Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Since then, the practice has attracted the attention of international tourists and consumes and renews the passion of local artisans, guaranteeing further generations of weavers.

Fernando Félix

Photo Gallery – Snapshots from Africa

Advocacy

Baobab

Youth & Mission