Addis Ababa, December 6, 2023(Addis Walta) Shuwal Eid, the Harari people’s religious and cultural festival, has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The inscription of Shuwal Eid Festival as a world heritage was announced at the eighteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage being underway from Monday 4 to Saturday 9 December 2023 at the Cresta Mowana Resort in Kasane, Republic of Botswana.
Shuwal Eid is an annual three-day festival celebrated by the Harari people of Ethiopia after six days of fasting to compensate for omissions during Ramadan. The Harari people celebrate Shuwal Eid at the shrines of Aw Shulum Ahmed and Aw Akebara, found at the main entrance gates of the walled city of Harar.
The festival starts with supplications and spiritual songs, followed by the reading of scriptures, music, and dance. The celebration is concluded with words of blessing.
The occasion unites community members of all ages and genders and serves as a platform for community elders to share their knowledge and experiences and to give blessings to the next generations, as well as for youth to learn about cultural values, norms, and traditions.
A platform for the transmission of performing arts, oral traditions, traditional dress, and other cultural elements, Shuwal Eid promotes social cohesion and a sense of identity.
The registration of these heritages by UNESCO is believed to help strengthen Ethiopia’s tourism development in addition to appropriately protecting the heritages.
Ethiopia has eleven tangible and 5 intangible UNESCO world sites.