Several activities took take place on the day of Gifata holiday at Wolayita Sodo, with a Gulia ceremony.
Gulia ceremony was officialy launched by Wolayita zone administrative representative Mr. Tsadiku Feleke, the zone culture and tourism directorate Mr. Teshome Habte, the mayor of Sodo city, Mr. Jegena Aiza and other high officials holding a chibo.
During the ceremony, meat is served to the community, they go to a fireplace with burning sticks, elderly men are asked to kiss the sticks first before they’re put to the fireplace.
Then a very popular cultural game called Hayaleke is played by rotating the fireplace pillar until the pillar falls.
If the last pillar of Gulia falls to the right, they will go home happily saying the new year is the year of happiness.
But if it falls to the left, it is expected that there will be drought and famine within the year, so they have to work hard to store grain in their barns for months of trouble ahead.
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