Kadhannaa-the waaqeffannaa spiritual society concept of prayer

The Waaqeffannaa spiritual society expresses their resentment, sadness, and happiness directly to their Creator Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkicha-HaQaa. The focus of their prayers is on the material conditions and well beings of the self, the family and the group. And thus their faithful prayers mainly focus on prayer for peace; prayer for health; prayer for deliverance from wrongdoing and harmful spirits and things; prayer for human and livestock fertility; prayer for growth of little ones and long life for adults; prayer for the goodness of the inside and the outside; and prayer for rain, harvest and development, inter alia. For the waaqeffannaa spiritual society prayer is the means of self-cleansing, awakening personal ayyaanaa, and revitalizing Waaqaa’s purposes in their day to day life. Therefore the waaqeffannaa spiritual society’s prayers are meant to mediate conditions of people to Waaqaa so He can intervene and alter their current conditions.

The Waaqeffannaa spiritual society has never had an idol to worship, but always had only Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkicha-HaQaa to believe in and to celebrate. They, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society, worship only the Supreme Deity Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkicha-HaQaa in His true abstract form. And so those who believe in Waaqaa believe in the Supreme Deity who created them; they pray to Him in a natural manner. This mean no other superior or inferior power is responsible for waaqeffannaa spiritual society’s happiness or sadness apart from their Creator Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa. They blame the misfortune and bad omen they have encountered in their daily activities which could be resulted from thier ignorance, negligence, or forgetfulness in derailing them away from the main chapters of Waaqaa’s Divine Orders. Then they directly complain to their Waaqaa for resilience. As the result the waaqeffannaa spirituality has no room for addressing fears arising from the imaginary realm of devil or evil. Thus Prayer among the waaqeffannaa spiritual society is, not barely, about inheriting the kingdom of heaven nor is it about seeking the help of Waaqaa in a battle against Satan as the concept of devil or Satan does not exist in the Waaqeffannaa spirituality. They believe that all kinds of suffering and misfortune or harm are the result of ignorance and lack of divine and spiritual knowledge, as knowledge can destroys evil and ignorance and can be linked to an awakened higher spiritual part of a person which sees the truth of things and can then eliminate within a person’s consciousness that which is opposite to and blocks divine consciousness from manifesting more. They believe that, they might have committed cubbuu at one time that could anger the tolerant Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa, which mainly araising from (their) ignorance. And so cubbuu that which cause suffering and misfortune is the result of lacking the attainment of the highest level of enlightenment and awakened consciousness. As per the Waaqeffannaa spiritual society, when someone commits cubbuu and if someone misses the faces of Waaqaa, he or she lacks the divine holy Ayyaanaa of Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa. This is to mean the Divine Holy Ayyaana Waaqaa withdraws from men of cubbuu. For this reason they honestly pray to Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa for forgiveness and deliverance individually or by getting together either at the environs of sacred water (Horaa Walaabuu), on High Mountain (tulluu), or being under the shade of the sacred sycamore tree (Odaa), or at the sacred galmaa of the Qaallittii-Qaalluu.

The waaqeffannaa spiritual society begins or opens every communal activity whether it is wedding, funerals, dances and music with blessings or prayers. In thier prayers or blessing, they, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society, pray to Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa to prevent them from wrongdoing and errors committed in ignorance. As the result, words used in prayers include: Prevent us from wrongdoing (dogogora nu oolchi), guard us againist faults or misfortune, fill my way with peace (karaan irra deemu nagaan guuti), guide my steps (adeemsa na qajeelchi), keep slander away from me (hamataa goomataa narraa qabi), keep murmuring away from me (gumgumaa narraa qabi), help me to spend the day without trouble (nagaan na oolchi), …… They thank their Waaqaa just observing His deeds and His gifts for the world. They believe Waaqaa is available everywhere and at any time, and pray to Waaqaa being where they are. They pray early in the morning when they rise, late in evening when they go to bed, before and after meal, for good harvest, ask for reconciliation when they saw sign of divergebce from the avenue of righteous, ask for continuity of progeny and fertility, prosperity, and mulitiplity, ask for optimal rain and so on. The prayer can be private or communal. As Prayers by its very nature is a form of request or entreaty, it requires the full conscious participation of the one praying with will, intellect, body and soul. The one engaged in prayer is in direct connection with the creator who hears everything the supplicant says and responds-though not necessarily in the affirmative – to each request.

Prayers are one of the obligatory spiritual practice among the waaqeffannaa spiritual society. It is an obligatory for all waaqeffannaa spiritual society in all walks of life except for the sick (kan dhukkubsatan), prepubescent (ijoollee gadaa hin guutiin), women on menses (dubartii jiinfira ofirraa qabdu), women in a puerperium after child birth (dubartoota ulmaa). It is obligatory in a sense that it benefits the prayer, not the Supreme Being Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkicha-HaQaa as He, the Supreme Being, needs nothing from Human being, and rather they pray for their incompleteness. They do pray to earn araaraa Waaqaa (Waaqaa’s reconciliation); prayer to gain peace and harmony; prayer to get the blessing of Waaqaa with fertility and rain; and prayer to become righteousness. And therefore, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society does hold the ritual of prayer session for five important inquires. These prayer rituals are prayers for righteousness (Gaarummaa); prayer for Peace and harmony (Nageenyaa); and prayer for fertility (Hormaataa), Prosperity (Badhaadhinaa) and reconciliation (Araaraa). This is in accordance with the waaqeffannaa spiritual society’s sacred law of Tajoo which states “we get what we throw, that is, He who did the righteous deed is rewarded with the righteous deed; He who does evil deed encounters evil deed”.

In the waaqeffannaa spiritual society prayer ritual, there are two types of prayers: Prayer of every day (Kadhannaa Guyyuu) and Prayer of Special occasion (Kadhannaa Addaa) where the detailed forms of prayers can be classed into three forms. These are Kamaa, Kalaa, and Kaddaa in which the first two prayer rituals are regarded as Daily Prayer Session (Kadhannaa Guyyuu) and the third one represents the Prayer of Special Occasion (Kadhannaa Addaa). Besides, these sacred rituals, the sacred ritual of Kamaa and Kalaa, can be held as a communal or private prayer session. In the communal prayer session, like the Kaddaa prayer sessions the sacred hayyuu, the sacred expert of the waaqeffannaa spiritual society, lead the prayer session by uttering the hymn loudly while the attendant of the session repeat the same hymn.

In preparation for this prayer sessions, the prayer, the person who is undertaking the prayer, needs to fulfill the following five important parameters 1) right frame of mind for the purpose of worship and purity (yaadaa fi qalbii qulqulluu), 2) optimal ablution ritual (dhiqoo ykn huqaa gahaa), 3) modest and clean dressing (uffannaa qajeelaa fi qulqulluu), 4) right attitude of mind (Yaadaa fi qalbii ciisaa) and 5) appropriate time and proper space (Yeroo fi qixa qajeelaa) to prayer otherwise it is considered as incomplete prayer (kadhannaa hir’uu). And so in preparation for prayer, the individual observant must make sure that they are in the right frame of mind before they pray; they must put aside all every day cares and thoughts so that they can concentrate exclusively on Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkicha-Haqaa.

In general as part of the Daily Prayer Sessions, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society is obligated to pray two times a day within specific time ranges. Thus the two prayer services that which recited daily are: the Morning Prayer session (Kamaa) which usually occasioned in early morning before the rays of the sun emerged; and the Evening Prayer Session (Kalaa) which usually occasioned after all domestic animals and family returned to their lodging. These prayer services are preceded by the ritual ablution in the form of Huqaa for Morning Prayer session and Dhiqoo or Huqaa for Evening Prayer session and usually performed two times per day. Therefore, among the waaqeffannaa spiritual society when someone prepares for prayer session or ritual, it is obligatory to undergo ritual washing. The sacred ritual ablution or washing among the waaqeffannaa spiritual society represent the act of washing oneself as a means of ritual purification. Thus it is usually considered as a ritual of purification before a prayer session.

And thus among the waaqeffannaa spiritual society the ritual washing practices takes two main forms: Huqaa- partial (gartokkee) ablution and Dhiqoo-the full (guutuu) ablution. Huqaa ritual ablution is a washing of partial section of the body which includes the washing of hands from the fingers up to and including the shoulder, washing of the feet from toes up to and including the knees, washing of the face including rinsing the mouth and rubbing with figures and spitting out the water. It is an important part of ritual purity in the waaqeffannaa spiritual society. It is typically done in preparation for formal Morning prayers.

The ritual of huqaa refers to the washing of half section of the body which includes the hands, legs and face and mouth before the prayer session. In this sense Huqaa is considered as partial ablution as opposed to dhiqoo (full ablution), which stand for washing the whole body in preparation for prayer session particularly when someone engaged in labour intensive or perspiratory activities. Therefore the dhiqoo ritual washing represent a ritual of washing full body with water. It is the waaqeffannaa spiritual society practices of ritual purification by washing the entire body. And so this dhiqoo ritual stands for the ritual of washing or bathing of the whole body before commencing the prayer session of, usually, the Evening Prayer. This ritual of dhiqoo is an obligatory ritual practices before holding the Evening Prayer session. And thus when someone prepares for prayer, it is obligatory to undergo the ritual washing of huqaa or dhiqoo.

Therefore, when preparing for prayer session, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society needs to wash their face including the mouth by rinsing the inner mouth with water and rub the tooth with finger and spit out the water; wash the entire hands up to and including the shoulder; washing both feet from the toes up to and including the knees unless they engaged in perspiratory activities. And so the conditions that require the full ablution is the condition of spending the day engaging in labour intensive activities and the condition of perspiration otherwise it necessitate partial ablution. This ritual represents the waaqeffanna spiritual society procedure for washing the whole body or parts of the body, a type of ritual purification.

In addition to this sacred rituals, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society prayer session begin with the uttering of the term “hayyee (hear me)” three times and concluded with the phrases “haa tahu (so it be)”. And thus the person holding or leading the ritual recites “hayyee” in the opening or beginning of the prayer session and “haa tahuu” in concluding the prayer session. The term Hayyee stands for the idea that connotes calling or asking Waaqaa Gurraacha-Tokkichaa-HaQaa so that He gives His attention to the supplicant (s) and listen to their request. Hayyee stand for an expression used at the beginning of a prayer or blessing session. It is a word used while recitating blessing or prayer ritual. It is a melodious sound used in the beginning of a prayer or blessing session. It refers to “Give us Your ear Waaqaa (Waaqi Gurra nuuf kenni); Hear us (Nu dhagahi); Listen to us or Give us Your attention (nu caqasi)”. On the other hand the phrase ‘haatahu’ refers to the phrase used at the end of prayer or blessing session signifying the conclusion of that particular session. And so it is stand for an expression used at the end of a prayer or blessing session. It literally refers to the Oromo word “eehee, ee, eejjenne, ee akkas, dhugaadha, dhuguma akkas, akkasuma” which literally translate as “so be it”. It connotes the meaning of “yes, I agreed, we say yes, we agreed”. It is a phrase used to show recipient’s or attendant’s agreement on the content of the prayer session. It means ‘I agreed on this truth (ani dhugaa kanatti waliigaleera, dhugaa kana nan fudhadha, qajeeladha).’