Pakistan Embassy Ethiopia Wishes IRREECHAA Festival to Oromo People

By
Usama Ibrahim
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418
The IRREECHAA Festival Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, 2 October 2021 (TDI): On the occasion of the colorful thanksgiving of the IRREECHAA festival, the Pakistan Embassy in Ethiopia extends its warm wishes to all Ethiopians, especially the people of the Oromo region.

For centuries, the people of the Oromo region have celebrated the IRRECHAA thanksgiving festival during the end of the winter season to thank their god Waaqa. At the end of every winter season in Ethiopia’s Oromo region, the thanksgiving festival marks a public holiday. This thanksgiving aims to praise and thank the god Waaqa for his blessings throughout the previous year.

 

Along with it, the IRREECHAA festival marks the beginning of the spring season in the Oromo region after a harsh winter and rainy season. The festival is celebrated every year near various sacred lakes across Oromia. The festival is one of the biggest festivals in Ethiopia, and hundreds of thousands of people attend it.

By showering love and respect of the people and government of Pakistan towards the people of the Oromo region in Ethiopia, the Pakistan Embassy Ethiopia displayed Pakistan’s acceptability towards cultural diversity and mutual growth.

IRREECHAA festival

Irreecha is a Thanksgiving festival that is celebrated during the winter and the monsoon months in the Oromia region of south and central Ethiopia. These months, precede the heavy rains and there is also chance of an increase in the diseases like Malaria. This makes the visit to the family and friends difficult. Hence the celebrations. The festivity also commemorates the arrival of Birra and blessings for the people.

For this festival, people dance, sing and gather together with friends and family. The big part of the celebration is where people cut grass and place flowers in the lakes around the region. This is a way for thanking  Waaqa for good fortune and prosperity.