The term ‘Ekerdubbistuu’ derived from two different words ekeraa and dubbistuu. The term ekeraa literally refers to ‘the soul or spirit of deceased person’ while the term dubbistuu itself derived from the word dubbii which mean “speech’, speak’, or ‘talk’; and dubbisuu which stand for ‘to read”, “to speak to”, “to talk to”, or “to utter to”. It refers to the exchange of spoken words or something spoken. And the term dubbistuu mean ‘talker, speaker, utterer or verbalizer. It refers to someone who expresses in language or someone who talks. The two term together form the word ekerdubbistuu, and therefore, refers to someone who speak to the soul or the spirit of deceased person (ekeraa), that is, a person (she/he) who is able to act as a channeling medium to tell someone what the soul of dead person have spoken to him. And therefore, ekerdubbistuu is a person (male or female) who is able to speak to the soul of the deceased person and communicate back to the alive, the relative of deceased person, what deceased person speak to him.
The waaqeffannaa spiritual society communicates with and offers sacrifice to ekeraa (this supernatural being, ancestral spirituality) where in return this being talks to Waaqaa on their behalf. These People who have special relationship with the ekeraa called ekerdubbistuu. The ekerdubbistuu interprets the tongues to the hearing of the attendant of the session, the top secret of the ekeraa. The act of communicating the ekeraa, the mystical communication between an ekerdubbistuu and/ or a person and their ancestor or with ancient one is called Ekerdubbisuu. And therefore, the ekerdubbissuu is a sacred means of communicating with the ancestors, a potent spiritual communication. This is so when the ekerdubbistuu, the mediator is in tune with self. He, the ekerdubbistuu, is filled with the divine Holy Ayyaanaa (, or Holy Spirit), the connective power or energy that which activate the awakening of highest consciousness and makes contact with the ancestors. It is an expression of deep spiritual consciousness, an act of speaking to the ancestors, the waaqeffannaa spiritual society experience of ekeraa. And so the term ekerdubbissu stand for the way that ancestors connected to the living, through the ekerdubbistuu, the sacred waayyuu he who can activate his deep spiritual consciousness which is done so in a more internalized and spiritual manner.
In the waaqeffannaa spiritual society, a man will live eternal life in a way that the spirit, soul, of the deceased person goes to Waaqaa soon after death and rest/reside in a kingdom called Iddoo dhugaa, and the soul live as ekeraa. And so when a person dies, he/she joins ancestors in afterlife, in a kingdom called Iddoo Dhugaa and become what is called ekeraa. And so they teaches we all will live further after deaths as Ekeraa with our ancestors (forefathers) in a placed called Iddoo Dhugaa with Waaqa Gurraachaa, without any possibility of punishment in hell as the consequences of our Cubbuu is not losing eternal life, but suffering in our earthly life. They do utter as,
“We believe Waaqa is the one who wants us not to do a collective Cubbuu, and expects us to keep the balanced ordering of nature, in which His power is manifested. Waaqa want us to rely on and learn from argaa-dhageettii, based on what we see and hear. The consequence of Cubbuu is only to be seen here on earthly life, not in the coming life after death. There is no hell that Waaqayyoo has prepared to punish the people with the consequences of Cubbuu”.
The teaching also includes the Living Man has soul, but starting from the first minute of his death, his soul becomes Ekeraa. But on its way to Iddoo dhugaa, the ekeraa, the soul of the deceased person, is questioned for its wrongdoing while he was alive to weigh against the safuu and laguu Waaqaa. If the ekeraa is found guilty of breaching safuu and laguu, it will be suspended from Iddoo dhugaa, and send back to the graveyard (sooduu, Irreessaa, Awwaalaa) of the it’s corpse and live around the vicinity of his family until his or her relatives or families do the falannaa (sacrificial offering or gumaa) ritual for the wrongdoing the deceased person did while he/she was alive. And if the family or relatives of the deceased person leave the area before this falannaa ritual where he/she used to live by death or change of residential places, the Ekeraa of the deceased person will disappear from that vicinity, and may remain suspended.
The waaqeffannaa spiritual society do not believe on the presence of an evil spiritual power, which acts and lives against the Almighty Power of Waaqa Gurraachaa. There is only one sovereign power doing and undoing all things in a Walaabuu that is the Almighty Waaqa Gurraachaa. They do believe that the evil things we do experience in life are due to the imbalance of nature as a result of the unwise or wicked deeds of human being as collective, that is, it is human cubbuu with its consequences on the earth. The waaqeffannaa spiritual society do ask their Creator Waaqa for Wisdom to keep the balanced ordering of nature and that He leads them to those with good intention and protects them from those with bad intention. They do pray as:
O Waaqa!
(Yaa Waaq)
Lead to us who is good to us,
(Tolaa nutti qabi)
Keep away from us who is evil to us
(Hamaa nuraa achi qabi/hamaa irraa nu eegi)
And so good is someone who works to keep the balanced ordering of nature and evil is the contrary. The Waaqeffannaa spiritual society believe there is nothing we have to do now to earn eternal life after death, except keeping Waaqaa’s natural ordering and balance, life after death is a free gift we got from our father, Waaqayyoo, whom we just need to celebrate and thank as we do daily and during the yearly celebrations such as Irreechaa and Gubaa. Our Waaqaa never regret for creating us and other fellow creatures for their wickless and He do not want to give us a savior who has to suffer and die for us, so that we can get life after death, earning eternal life. Waaqa want His creature, human being, to try to live the quality life (the character of eternal life) according to His Will here on earth. Waaqa want to live this quality life, we need to activate our potentials given to us from Waaqa and then walk on the karaa nagaa towards the Kaayyoo Waaqaa for our life, being free from cubbuu by keeping both Safuu and Laguu And so the dead will not return from the dead (, or resurrect) and never return back to life in a way that he/she will be covered by the same flesh and return back as a living man as they do talk “Du’aan hin ka’u.” And therefore there is no life after death.
Therefore, the reason why people wish to speak to Ekeraa is to find out /learn the wrongdoing the deceased person made while she/he was alive so that they can rectify and return him on the avenue of righteousness by holding the sacred Falannaa ritual. The term falannaa is derived from Oromo word falu which stand for the word “solution” “resolution”. It refers to a decision to do something. The suffix nnaa added to the end of the word meant to makes the term a noun. And the two together make the term falannaa, and it represents the act of making a resolution. Therefore, the term falannaa stand for the ritual made to rectify the wrongdoing of a deceased person he committed while alive.
And therefore, the Ekerdubbistuu help the living, the relatives or families of the deceased person, to talk to the deceased person. A person can talk to one’s Ekeraa in an attempt to contact him via the mediator, EkerDubbistuu. The act of contacting the Ekeraa is referred to as Eker Dubbissuu.
It is only those who know the deceased person well enough, and knows his/her top-secret (Iccitii) can ‘talk to’ the Ekeraa. When relatives of the deceased go to the Ekerdubbistuu they bring offerings to the Galmaa such as grain (Midhaan) or money to buy the Grain and myrrh (Qumbii) which is used on the sacred ritual of ekerdubbisaa. On this sacred ritual, the waayyuu smoke myrrh and make dadarbaa from the grain offering brought to the galmaa of the sacred ekerdubbistuu. He, the ekerdubbistuu, then utters to the ekeraa the sacred words to call upon. When the ekeraa appeared, he signals the arrival of the ekeraa to the family. He, the ekerdubbistuu, asks the ekeraa to confess who he/she is and to identify him/herself (itself) by telling a top secret between two. He, then, reveals the top secret confessed by the ekeraa to the family to check whether the ekeraa is the right one.
When the deceased person’s family confirmed that the Ekeraa is the one they want, they start to communicate about the issue they want to raise through mediator, the Ekerdubbistuu. The Ekerdubbistuu should only communicate the true to the Ekeraa. This can be proved based on the secret info the ekeraa gives in the first talk. For instance, if the dead person is a husband, the wife should only prove if the secret info she and her husband only know is communicated to the Ekerdubbistuu.
Innoo, the sacred qaalluu-ayyyantuu and the Great Teacher, pronounced about the ekerdubbistuu as;
“Ekerdubbistuu should only talk the true message provided by the Ekeraa without any addition or subtraction as talked by the Ekeraa. If the Ekeraa in charge is an appropriate Ekeraa, the Ekerdubbistuu should only communicate the secret evidence between the deceased person and the relatives of deceased person which the Ekeraa speaks to him.”
When the Ekeraa present (when they heard message of the Ekeraa) it is not allowed to cry and even in between the session as the Ekeraa disappears when they heard a sound of cry, and do not reappear again on that day. Talking to the Ekera is by itself not a solution, it is just to identify if there is any wrongdoing or diversion from the venue of peace (Karaa nagaa) and the venue of Waaqa (Karaa Waaqaa) while the person was alive so that they can correct the wrongdoing. The Ekerdubbistuu is only to communicate what the Ekeraa say, not to suggest or give the solution for the wrongdoing. One can only communicate to the Ekeraa of his relative as far as he is living on the homestead or vicinity where the deceased person used to live as the Ekeraa is believed to stay near the place where the person once lived.
Learning the wrongdoing of the deceased person from the Ekeraa helps the families of the deceased person to hold a memorial ceremony for correcting the wrongdoing he/she commit while alive. On this memorial ceremony prayer ceremony should be held to Waaqa for pardoning the Ekeraa of the deceased person and give his family long life and offering of animal will be made as sacrifice on this falannaa ritual to memorize and rectify his/her wickedness. The offerings take place near the family or clan cemetery, which is usually in a village.