THE GURAGE PEOPLES

Beth Rachlin
FACES OF THE GURAGE PEOPLE
 WHO ARE THEY?

• Southwest Ethiopia
• Fertile, semi-mountainous region
• Initially from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, descendants of
the military conquerors during the Askumite empire
• 2.5% of Ethiopia’s population
• 3,567,377 people
• Language is Semitic
• comprised of 3 major subgroups, some of which
speak languages that are not mutually intelligible
• Religion: pagan, Christian, Muslim
• Many participate in traditional religious practices
• Hang fetishes in houses to deter evil spirits
• Give offerings to a deity, “Waq”
 AGRICULTURE

• Lifestyle revolves around agriculture

• Cash crops:
• Coffee
• Khat
• Enset (staple crop)
• Native to Ethiopia
• Growing and harvesting for over 7,000 years
• Raising livestock
• Zebu
• Predominantly for milk and fertilizer meat consumption is
limited
 THE ENSET PLANT

• Names: ensete, “Ethiopian Banana”, “false banana plant”

• Perennial crop
• Resilient to both drought and heavy rains
• Grows up to 6m (20 ft) tall
• Maturation takes 4-5 years
 ENSET USES

Root, leaf, stem, and inner bark are edible

Surprisingly, the fruit is inedible
Other uses
Bark: insulation for thatched roofs
Dried leaves: plates
Leaves: wrappings, head pads
Coarse fibers: woven into rope or sacks
Livestock graze on it
 PREPARATION

• The bottom section of the enset plant (corm) can be boiled then eaten
OR
• The corm and large leaves are scraped using a bamboo scraper to
collect the starchy pulp and fibers
• The pulp is placed in a pit 2 meters in the ground and fermented for
1 month to 2 years (the longer it ferments, the tastier it is)
• Pit is covered with rocks and ensete leaves
• Fermented pulp is mixed with water and strained, creating a dough
• The dough is rolled, mixing in spices and butter
• Spiced dough is molded into a “flatbread” shape then baked over a
fire after being carefully placed between ensete leaves
• Finished product: Kocho
 KOCHO

• Traditional flatbread
• Served with cabbage and/or “Kitfo”
• Ubasha Cabbage
• Kitfo: made of raw beef
 BULA

• Bula: starchy powder made from ensete

• Made by scraping the stem and leaves of the
plant, and collecting the pulp and fibers
• Same process as when preparing Kocho,
however the powder is not fermented
• Once mixed with water, the powder is used to
make porridge, pancakes, dumplings, or even a
drink
 ENSET’S CULTURAL ROLE

• Use in rituals
• Fed to mothers after giving birth
• The umbilical cord is tied with enset fibers
• Women pound on the stems during funeral ceremonies
• Corpses are wrapped in enset leaves
• Central to social and economic life
• Symbolizes status: enset crops indicate how respected a man is within his community
• Can be used as a form of compensation for services
 A SYMBOL OF HOPE

• Climate change means Ethiopia is facing more droughts

• Increasing populations and hunger
• Ethiopia’s population has tripled since 1933 (now 94 million)
• 7.5 million are in need of food aid annually
• Provides food security for low income groups
• Enset initiatives
• Enset fiber factory: offers training on how to most efficiently dry
enset
• Enset Park
• Enset Festivals
 COMPARISONS AND TIE INTO BOOK?

• Cultural overlaps
• Corm is prepared and eaten like potatoes
• conclude your presentation by comparing and contrasting that group’s
practices/traditions with the ones you are familiar with
• (about 2 minute)
 REFERENCES

• https://visitgurage.weebly.com
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gurage
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurage_people
• https://www.livescience.com/37948-what-is-khat-cathinone.html
• https://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2014/02/gurage-people-ethiopias-afro-asiatic.html
• http://www.cooksinfo.com/kocho
• https://www.feedipedia.org/node/21251
• Scholarly sources

• http://ensetrestaurant.com/recipes/kocho-with-kitfo/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensete_ventricosum
• Shack, Dorothy. "Nutritional Processes and Personality Development among the Gurage of Ethiopia" in Food and Culture: A Reader. Ed.
Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik. (New York: Routledge, 1997). p117.
• Rituals