Irecha Celebrated At Bishoftu

Irecha, the thanks giving day of the Ethiopian Oromo people to God (Waqa), was celebrated colorfully on Sunday at the town of Bishoftu.

Though Irecha celebration takes place mainly at Bishoftu by Lake Hora-Arsedi, it is also conducted in different parts of the State of Oromiya.

The Ethiopian Culture and Tourism Minister Amin Abdulkadir said on the occasion that the government is working to develop and promote the country's cultural heritages including Irecha, having the appropriate policy.

Traditionally the Oromo people have their own cultural, social and political system known as the Gada system.

The head or the leader of the Geda system is locally known as Aba Geda.

During the Irecha Festival, community leaders and Aba Gedas give thanks to Waqa for the blessed transition from the rainy season to the new bright year.

Head of the Oromia Tourism and Culture Bureau, Mohamed Jilo, said that this year's celebration is special for the Bureau in collaboration with federal offices is close to registering this colorful festival on the UNESCO world heritage list.

'Irecha is regarded as one of the intangible heritages. So both the Geda system and Irecha celebration are in process to be registered as one of world heritages. The necessary researches have been made and almost 80 % of the research about the Gada sytem is completed,' he said.

'We are working together with the Federal Heritage Authority to complete the rest 20 % research document including the Irecha celebration and the document is expected to be submitted to the UNESCO this year,' he added.

Foreign tourists attending the celebration disclosed that they have been amazed by the color of the people, culture and traditions witnessed at the festival.

'The people are very friendly and very nice celebrations, happy to be here.

It's really great, huge crowd, love it,' said one foreigner.

Aba Geda's from different districts of Oromia , high federal and state government officials including chief of ormoia state Muktar kedir, speaker of the house of peoples' representatives aba dula gemeda and the huge crowd of the oromo community coming from different parts of Ethiopia attended this year's Irecaha celebration in Bishoftu town.

Meanwhile during their first conference, Aba Gedas from various parts of the Oromia region came together and formed unity at Bishoftu town.