 Borana man voting at a polling station in Marsabit, Kenya. |
| Regions with significant populations |
|---|
| Ethiopia, Kenya |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
- Borana is also an alternate Spanish name of the Boran sub-family of the larger Witotoan language family.
The Borana Oromo, also called the Boran, are a pastoralist ethnic group living in southern Ethiopia (Oromia) and northern Kenya.[1] They are a moiety of the Oromo people,[2] the other being the Barentu Oromo.
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Profile [edit]
Oromos in northern Kenya first entered the region from southern Ethiopia during a major migratory expansion in the late 10th century. They then differentiated into the cattle-keeping Borana and the camel-keeping Gabbra and Sakuye.[3]
The Borana speak Borana (or afaani Boraana), which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. Roughly over 7 million people identify as Boranas.[4]
Borana calendar [edit]
It is believed that the Borana developed their own calendar around 300 BC. The Borana calendar is a lunar-stellar calendrical system, relying on astronomical observations of the moon in conjunction with seven particular stars or constellations. Borana Months (Stars/Lunar Phases) are Bittottessa (iangulum), Camsa (Pleiades), Bufa (Aldebarran), Waxabajjii (Belletrix), Obora Gudda (Central Orion-Saiph), Obora Dikka (Sirius), Birra (full moon), Cikawa (gibbous moon), Sadasaa (quarter moon), Abrasa (large crescent), Ammaji (medium crescent), and Gurrandala (small crescent).[5]
Subgroups [edit]
See also [edit]
Notes [edit]
- ^ a b Oromo, Borana-Arsi-Guji (Ethnologue)
- ^ Aguilar, Mario. "The Eagle as Messenger, Pilgrim and Voice: Divinatory Processes among the Waso Boorana of Kenya". Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 26, Fasc. 1 (Feb., 1996), pp. 56-72. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
- ^ Elliot M. Fratkin, Eric Abella Roth, As Pastoralists Settle, (Springer: 2005), p.39
- ^ Appiah & Gates 1999, p. 288.
- ^ Lawrence R. Doyle, The Borana Calendar REINTERPRETED
References [edit]
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- Appiah, Kwame Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., eds. (1999), Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00071-1, OCLC 41649745.
Further reading [edit]
- Asmerom Legesse, Gada
- Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some records of Ethiopia Hakluyt Society, 1954
- Bassi Marco, Decisions in the Shade. Political and juridical processes among the Oromo-Borana Red Sea Press, 2005
- Clifford H F Plowman CMG OBE, Notes On The Gedamoch Ceremonies Among The Boran, (Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jan., 1919), pp. 114-121 )
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