Factors Threatening the Maintenance and Inter-generational Transfer of Gifaataa Celebration of Wolaita

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess factors that are threatening the maintenance and inter-generational transfer of Gifaataa Celebration of Wolaita. The subjects used for the current study were 600 individuals of Wolaita who were selected by availability sampling from all walks of life to fill the questionnaire and 12 elders selected by purposive sampling (based on their deep knowledge of Wolaita language, culture, festivals and heritage) from six selected Woredas of Wolaita to respond the interview. With the inclusion of some of elders selected for interview, 60 individuals were purposively selected for FGD. The descriptive research design was used to conduct this study by using both the quantitative and qualitative data that were collected through aforementioned tools and analyzed using the mixed method of data analysis. The result indicated that Gifaataa celebration has been threatened by many different factors: the wrong-mixing-up of Gifaataa and Meskel celebrations, lack of awareness by younger generations of Wolaita, misconceived influence by some religious sects and lack of facilitative political environment. However, it is identified that Gifaataa has been celebrated with the display and marketing of various long-aged cultural heritages as identity markers of Wolaita people. Based on these findings, therefore, awareness enhancement training for younger generations of Wolaita, deep studies that promote the maintenance and intergenerational transfer of Gifaataa and promoting preservation of Gifaataa celebration through event marketing are forwarded as recommendations.

Keywords: Wolaita, identity, Gifaataa, celebration, maintenance