In the heart of Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, the Boro-Shinasha people welcome the New Year with drums, prayer, and powerful rituals of renewal — keeping ancient tradition alive in a changing world. The hills of Benishangul-Gumuz come alive each Meskerem with the sound of drums, laughter, and prayer. Beneath the bright Ethiopian sun, the Boro-Shinasha people gather for one of the most profound celebrations in their cultural calendar — Gari-Woro, their traditional New Year.

Taking place around September, when the heavy rains give way to clearer skies, Gari-Woro marks the start of a new agricultural cycle — a time when the land is fertile, the rivers calm, and hope is reborn.At dawn, elders lead the community in solemn prayers, offering thanks for survival through the past year and blessings for the harvest ahead. Then, the mood shifts — the air fills with songs, ululations, and the deep heartbeat of traditional drums.Women dress in hand-woven white cloth, their beaded necklaces catching the sunlight. Men play bamboo flutes and dance in circles, their movements mimicking the rhythm of the earth itself.

More than a festive occasion, Gari-Woro is a living classroom of Boro-Shinasha values. Families reconcile, friends share meals, and old grievances are resolved in a gesture of peace. Neighbors exchange blessings, plates overflow with sorghum, maize, and honey wine, and laughter rolls across the highlands like wind through the trees.The celebration bridges generations. Elders preserve the rituals; the youth remix them with fresh energy — dance, song, even short videos that find their way to social media, drawing national attention to a culture that refuses to fade quietly into history.

The Boro-Shinasha — also known as the Shinasha, Borna, or Boro people — are an Omotic-speaking community native to Ethiopia’s western highlands. Their population may be small, but their cultural legacy runs deep.Fiercely proud of their heritage, they maintain unique spiritual beliefs, agricultural wisdom, and oral histories that have survived centuries of change. Gari-Woro stands at the center of that identity — a festival that fuses faith, nature, and family into one pulse.

For the Boro-Shinasha, Gari-Woro is more than an annual celebration — it’s a declaration of continuity. It says, We are still here. Our language still sings. Our spirit still dances.

And in that quiet, after the music ends, one truth remains:A people who celebrate together, endure together.