The story
Fichee-Chambalaalla in Hawassa
Fichee-Chambalaalla is the Sidama people's New Year celebration, centred on Hawassa, with its date determined by traditional astrologers, or Ayyaantoo, who track lunar-solar cycles rather than following a fixed calendar. The festival commemorates a legend of community sharing through buurisame, a false-banana dish, and was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2015.
Fichee-Chambalaalla, the Sidama people's New Year celebration centred on the Hawassa area of southern Ethiopia, traces its origin to a tradition of a Sidama woman who visited her parents once a year after marriage, bringing buurisame, a dish made from false banana, milk and butter, to share with neighbours, a gesture the festival still commemorates as a symbol of community unity.