page_title: Gurage people
section_title: Agriculture and ensete
hierarchical_section_title: Gurage people / Agriculture and ensete
caption_attribution_description: English: A Gurage teenager picking potatoes on one of the Ethiopian highlands. This is an image of "African people at work" from Ethiopia
context_page_description: The Gurage people are Habesha peoples speaking the Gurage languages inhabiting Ethiopia. The Gurage people traditionally inhabit a fertile, semi-mountainous region in southwest Ethiopia, about 125 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, bordering the Awash River in the north, the Gibe River, a tributary of the Omo River, to the southwest, and Lake Zway in the east.
  In addition, according to the 2007 Ethiopian national census the Gurage can also be found in large numbers in Addis Ababa, Oromia Region, Dire Dawa, Harari Region, Somali Region, Amhara Region, Gambela Region, Benishangul-Gumuz Region, and Tigray Region
  It is believed the name Gurage is acquired from a place called Gura, Eritrea. This belief is based on the assumption that the southern Afroasiatic language speakers of the Gurage people originally came from the Northern Ethiopia. A southward Semitic migration during the medieval period is often used to explain origin of The Gurage. However, there is no written evidence for this explanation.
context_section_description: The principal crop of the Gurage is ensete (also enset, ensete edulis, äsät or "false banana plant").  This has a massive stem that grows underground and is involved in every aspect of Gurage life. It has a place in everyday interactions among community members as well as specific roles in rituals. For example: the ritual uses of Ensete include wrapping a corpse after death with the fronds and tying off the umbilical cord after birth with an ensete fiber; the practical uses include wrapping goods and fireproofing thatch.  Ensete is also exchanged as part of a variety of social interactions, and used as a recompense for services rendered.
  Ensete is totally involved in every aspect of the daily social and ritual life of the Gurage, who, with several others tribes in Southwest Ethiopia, form what has been termed the Ensete Culture Complex area... the life of the Gurage is enmeshed with various uses of ensete, not the least of which is nutritional.
  Ensete can be prepared in a variety of ways. A normal Gurage diet consists primarily of kocho, a thick bread made from ensete, and is supplemented by cabbage, cheese, butter and grains. Meat is not consumed on a regular basis, but usually eaten when an animal is sacrificed during a ritual or ceremonial event. The Gurage pound the root of the Ensete to extract the edible substance, then place it in deep pits between the rows of ensete plants in the field.  It ferments in the pit, which makes it more palatable.  It can be stored for up to several years in this fashion, and the Gurage typically retain large surpluses of ensete as a protection against famine.  The resulting paste is used to make porridge and bread. The only way to eat ensete is to make into a paste.
  In addition to ensete, a few cash crops are maintained (notably coffee and khat) and livestock is raised (mainly for milk and fertilizer). Some Gurage also plant teff and eat injera (which the Gurage also call injera).
  The Gurage raise zebu. These cattle are primarily kept for their butter, and a typical Gurage household has a large quantity of spiced butter aging in clay pots hung from the walls of their huts. Butter is believed to be medicinal, and the Gurage often take it internally or use it a lotion or poultice. A Gurage proverb states that "A sickness that has the upper hand over butter is destined for death." Different species of ensete are also eaten to alleviate illness.
  The Gurage regard overeating as coarse and vulgar, and regard it as poor etiquette to  eat all of the ensete that a host passes around to guests. It is considered polite to leave at least some ensete bread even after a very small portion is passed around.
  It is typically expected that a Gurage will extend hospitality to their neighbors and kinfolk in dispensing ensete freely to them.
caption: A Gurage teenager picking potatoes on one of the Ethiopian highlands
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