Tour Guide, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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(Waaqeffannaa) Traditionally, the Oromo practiced irrecha ritual as a thanksgiving celebration twice a year (in autumn and spring) to praise Waaqa (God) for peace, health, fertility and abundance they were given with regards to the people, livestock, harvest and the entire Oromo land.
Irrecha is celebrated as a sign of reciprocating Waaqa in the form of providing praise for what they got in the past, and is also a forum of prayer for the future. In such rituals, the Oromo gather in places with symbolic meanings such as hilltops, river side and shades of big sacred trees.
Here, I would like to make clear that Oromo people never worship any of these physical landscapes though some outsiders and detractors of Oromo culture and religion represent it as such. Rather, these physical landscapes are chosen for their representations in Oromo worldviews, for example, green is symbolized with fertility, peace, abundance and rain.
In Oromia, the core center of irrecha celebration has been around Hora Arsadi in Bishoftu town, some 25kms to the south of Finfinne, the capital city. Annually, particularly during the Irrecha birraa (the Autumn Irrecha) in September or October, the Oromo from different parts of the country come together and celebrate the ritual.