Arsi Oromo

Arsi Oromo is one of the branches of the Oromo people inhabiting the Oromia Region, mainly in the Arsi, Mirab Arsi, and Bale Zones, as well as in the Adami Tullu and Jido Kombolcha woreda of Misraq Shewa Zone. They claim to have descended from a single individual called Arse. The Arsi in all zones speak the same language, Afan Oromo (which is sometimes called Afan Arsi), and share the same culture and traditions.

Culture

The Arsi have developed a concept of Arsooma which roughly translates to Arsihood. This has provided Arsi with an identity that has been passing to clans and other groupings for a long period of time.^[1] The Arsi have a complex concept of tribal division. The two main branches are Mandoo and Sikko. Mandoo refers to the Arsis in the Arsi and northern Bale Zones, while Sikko refers to those mainly in the Bale Zone.

History

The Arsi Oromo demonstrated fierce resistance against the Ethiopian conquest of 1881-6, when Menelik II conducted several unsuccessful invasion campaigns against their territory.^[2] They put up stiff opposition against an enemy equipped with modern European firearms, until they were defeated in 1886.^[2]

It is a shared tradition of the people that the Oromo originated in Mada Walabu − an area that is still inhabited by Arsi. In Northern Ethiopia, for instance, an Agew tradition has it that the Arsi Oromo moved to the locality around the sixteenth century. According to the tradition, some of the Agew speakers near Metekel were Arsi Oromos who moved via Gabra Guracha town in Northern Showa. They named their new locality Jaawwii after an Arsi Oromo clan name. The fact that the locality is still called Jaawwii and a nearby church, Arusi Mikael, attests to the pertinence of the Agew story. ^[3]

The Arsi are also believed to have been mentioned on the Greek inscription of Adulis in the first century as people living south of Shewa.^[4]

References