"Konso Information" Konso by strawberryfields

Of all the peoples in that ethnic tapestry which makes up the Southern Nationas of Ethiopia, perhaps most remarkable are the Cushitic people of Konso; an industrious farming culture who populate a barren and rugged basalt outcrop, strung from east to west across the bowl of the Great Rift Valley, roughly parallel to the southern extremity of the main Ethiopian plateaux. The Konso are a notoriously hardy farming culture; the final outpost of settled agriculture, as one descends into the arid badlands of Borena and the Omo valley, stretching down and away to the Kenya border. Their lowland neighbours to south, east (the Borana) and west (the Hamer, Bena and Erbore) are nomadic pastoralists, historically prone to raid the Konso for livestock which has greatly affecting their lifestyle. Their society is centred on walled hilltop villages, ringed by rough hewn walls of stone and broken up into fortified compounds, which cannot be too dissimilar from those of the Kelts in pre-Roman Britain.

Konso¡'s Culture

Fisher (1990) described the highlands of Konso as ¡§green and densely farmed mountains toped by orderly villages and neat round houses, which form an outpost of sedate, evolved culture in the midst of strange, wild country that grows ever more primal and savage as one journeys towards the Ethio-Sudanese Borders.

The Konso people intensely social and display a love of heavy physical work, immediately distinguishing from other Ethiopians. They speak an eastern Cushitic language, suggesting a link to other Cushitic speakers, such as the Oromos, with whom they claim kinship, but their exact origins are obscure, their own folk-law only vaguely indicating that they came from the east about 1000 years ago.

The Konso village is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its workmanship, constructed entirely from natural materials, cultivated or gathered from the surroundings. The village is ringed by dry-stone walls, at least a meter thick and two meters high. Pavements build from the black rock of the earth about then run between the domestic compounds. The stones are often polished to a shine by long years of service in the village¡¦s transport system.

Houses are arranged into family compounds, each with three to five tukuls (huts) and grain stores, raised off the ground on wooden poles. Animals including goats, cattle and the distinctive Konso fat-tailed sheep, are tethered under the grain-store and fed on hand-cut food, especially sorghum straw. The family compounds are organised into sub-communities, which form sections of the village, each of which has its own community house or Mora. The mora is a two-storey building comprising a sitting area under a huge thatched roof which contains heavy wooden ceiling. Above the ceiling there is therefore ¡¥an attic¡¦. The ¡§ground floor¡¨ of the mora is expertly paved with to form a public area where the men gather to govern the village life. It is also a place for recreation, the youth may gather here to play, chat and relax during the day when they are not working. The attic of the mora meanwhile is where all the adult men are obliged to sleep the night. This traditional mode of organisation meant that the men were grouped and ready to poor forth ¡§as a swarm of bees¡¨ in the case of attack or a fire or any other threat. Although attacks by marauding nomads are no longer a great threat these days the tradition is still maintained. Since Konso culture is very conservative and highly social there is thus little scope for people to indulge in extra-marital sex, meaning that HIV-AIDS has not ripped through Konso as it has through other people in Southern Ethiopia and if nothing else the tradition of the mora acts as a form of cultural contraception, since men must wait their to be allowed to go and sleep with their wives, and if they are not there, everybody else will know they must be up to something!

Kin Groups and Descent
The Konso are divided into nine patrilineal clans (called kafa), which are arranged into three groups associated with God, the Earth, and the Wild. The same system exists in the Borana Oromos and in the Darashie. The head of each lineage is the pogalla (pl. pogallada), who is the oldest male in line from the founder of the clan. The pogalla is responsible for blessing the lineage.

Men are prohibited from taking wives of the same clan as themselves. The Konso say that clan members do not like to live together tend to separate within the villages. Each village has all nine clans, and when Konsos travel to other villages they seek their own clan¡¦s representatives to
Marriage

Polygyny is permitted, but only about a tenth of men have enough wealth. The eldest son inherits his father's homestead and twice the share of land that is inherited by each of his younger brothers. If a man dies without heirs, the nearest male relative within the lineage will inherit. Women cannot inherit any form of property, nor can they transmit property rights.
http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Konso-Marriage-and-Family.html

Religion and Spiritual Beliefs
Waga, the Sky God (once common to many Cushitic peoples such as Oromo, Somali and Afar), is the supreme deity of justice, the bringer of life-sustaining rain and the initiator of social order. His benefits are requested by the performance of ritual. He is withdrawn from the world, but his presence is detected in certain natural phenomena such as the rainbow. Though he is now remote, he remains the source of morality and continues to intervene to punish sinners and judge between those who have called on him by oath in a dispute. Waga is the creator, responsible for the life of humans. There are different explanations as to how man was born; some say that the first humans were born of snakes, others that they emerged from a gourd, but it was Waga who gave them breath. When man was born, he had all the familiar physical aspects of the human body, except one thing: he did not move, he did not eat, he did not speak. Waga's wife, when she saw this, asked if Waga had a cure for this, if he had some speech medicine so Waga provided humans with breath. When man dies the breath returns to Waga.

Spirits
Opposed to God are many evil spirits, who live in the lowlands, under certain trees and around the villages, where they are especially active at night. They can cause insanity and sickness and some people are said to be possessed, in consequence, they, too, are feared. Another kind of spirit is the Ela, which inhabit the wells. They are not considered evil, but are potentially dangerous if annoyed.

http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Konso-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html


Ceremonies and Waqaa Statues
The most elaborate ceremonies occur when age grades of the gada system are promoted and the entire population of any one area participates. The warrior grade is represented by a dead juniper tree, placed in one or more sacred places in a town. The erection of these trees is accompanied by a complex ritual.

Another ceremony is the annual blessing of the pogalla for his clan lineage, their crops, and livestock.

In Garati, the mothers of those in the warrior grade perform a ceremony to bless their sons, the only occasion on which women assume such a role.

Konso is also known for the erection of Waqaa statues, memorial statues which represent dead warriors who have killed an enemy or a dangerous beast such as a lion or a leopard in their lifetime.

Konso's most distinguishing feature is its renowned agricultural system. The area, classified as a semi-arid ecology, sits in a dry belt with unreliable rainfall; averaging around 550mm annually, but varying between 300mm and 900mm. Most of that rain comes in torrential storms, usually during two periods; the big rains (mehr), between March and May and the small rains (belg) between September and November. The erratic rainfall causes rapid soil erosion and loss of fertility if land is cultivated ineptly or vegetation is removed by burning or over-grazing. (Webke Forch, 2003)

Konso land is poor quality and the country is cut up by deeply eroded gullies and canyons. The soil is generally very fragile. In the lower valleys alluvial deposits may be fertile, but the area is mostly mountainous, stony and prone to erosion. (Webke Forch, 2003)

Konso¡'s solution to this is their famous terracing which reduce soil erosion considerably. They have been constructed across large tracts of the rugged landscape by centuries of communal labour.

The terraces are planted with sorghum intercropped with a range of other species in a sophisticated system integrating annuals, perennials and livestock. Multiple cropping systems mean:

Greater intensity of production,
The ground is protected through vegetative cover over a longer period and
The harvest is spread over a longer period
The risk of total crop failure is minimised.
The integration of nitrogen fixing legumes maintains soil fertility,
A balanced diet is produced and
Weeds are suppressed.

A great variety of cereals, pulses, root crops and cash crops are cultivated. Major pulses are Phaseolus beans, peas, chickpea, cowpea, lentils and especially important is pigeon pea, a important food, fodder and source of firewood. Among root crops, sweet potato, irish potato, yams, taro (in gulley bottoms) and cassava are found. Sorghum, said to be ancient in the region, is the major staple crop of the Konso. At least 24 cultivars are named and distinguished by Konso farmers. It is very drought-resistant. (Webke Forch, 2003) Sorgum grain is ground to flower and used to make dumplings, called dama, or fermented to make chegga a thick sorghum beer, drunk as a broth mixed with hot water. Chagga is drunk through the day. It is extremely rich in carbohydrate and provides plenty of energy for hard work, but also insures that people are generally drunk!

The agricultural cycle depends on rainfall. Land preparation starts with the first rains in January/February. The main cultivation tool is a double-bladed hoe called a baira. Cereals and pulses are broadcasted in a seed mixture and lightly covered with soil, followed by root and tuber crops. Harvest takes place in the dry months in May onwards, first roots and tubers, then cereals and pulses, finally in mid-September sorghum. With sufficient small rains in October/November a second crop of maize is sown and sorghum ratooning (allowing the plant to re-grow from the stump).

Perennials are also widely integrated into Konso agriculture, forming an indigenous agro-forestry system. The cabbage tree (Moringa stenopetela) is planted densely within villages and more sparsely on the terraces. Its leaves, which are incredibly nutritious, are boiled like spinnich, forming an essential part of the Konso diet. It fills a gap in the annual food supply, continuing to yield through the dry season, and goes a long way towards preventing malnutrition in Konso. Fruit bearing trees, i.e. papaya, mango and citrus can also be found. Other trees planted for construction materials and fodder include Terminalia birowni, and Cordia Africana. Shrub perennials are also grown including coffee and chat (Catha edulis) Villages often contain large reserves of cactu (Opuntia ficus-indica), utilised as fodder bank and firebreak, and also Euphorbia tirucali, used as a fire retardant.