The Borana Oromo, also called the Boran, are a pastoralist ethnic group living in southern Ethiopia (Oromia) and northern Kenya.[1] They are a moiety of the Oromo people,[2] the other being the Barentu Oromo
Oromos in northern Kenya first entered the region from southern Ethiopia during a major expansion in the late 10th century. They then differentiated into the cattle-keeping Borana and the camel-keeping Gabbra, Sakuye and Rendille.[3]
The Borana speak Borana (or afaan Booranaa), a dialect of Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. Roughly over 7 million people identify as Boranas.[4]
Borana calendar
Main article: The Borana calendar
It is believed that the Borana developed their own calendar around 300 BC. The Borana calendar is a lunar-stellar calendrical system, relying on astronomical observations of the moon in conjunction with seven particular stars or constellations. Borana Months (Stars/Lunar Phases) are Bittottessa (Triangulum), Camsa (Pleiades), Bufa (Aldebaran), Waxabajjii (Bellatrix), Obora Gudda (Central Orion: Saiph), Obora Dikka (Sirius), Birra (full Moon), Cikawa (gibbous Moon), Sadasaa (quarter Moon), Abrasa (large Crescent), Ammaji (medium Crescent), and Gurrandala (small Crescent).[5]