Kulubi is a town located in the

East Hararghe Zone East Hararghe () is a Zones of Ethiopia, zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Hararghe Zone is bordered on the southwest by Bale Zone, Bale, on the west by West Hararghe Zone, on the north by Dire Dawa and on the north and east by the Somal ...

of the

Oromia Region Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

lying south of

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa (; , meaning"where the Dir (clan), Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", , Harari language, Harari: ድሬዳዋ, lit. "Plain of Medicine"; ) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromia, Oromo borde ...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2130 meters above sea level. Based on figures published by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, Kulubi has an estimated total population of 4,478 of whom 2,318 are males and 2,160 are females. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 2,501 of whom 1,257 were males and 1,244 were females. It is one of two towns in

Meta Meta most commonly refers to: * Meta (prefix), a common affix and word in English ( in Greek) * Meta Platforms, an American multinational technology conglomerate (formerly ''Facebook, Inc.'') Meta or META may also refer to: Businesses * Meta (ac ...

Aanaa Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after '' zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of wards call ...

. Kulubi is known for its large church, dedicated to St. Gabriel, which was built to commemorate the victory of

Menelik II Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...

warriors over Muslim mosques (i.e. Jibril Mosque that was buried three kilometers from the Church). The site serves massive twice-yearly

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

s (on 26 July and 28 December) attended by tens of thousands of Orthodox pilgrims. The present church was erected in 1962 by Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

, replacing one his father, Ras Makonnen, had erected to celebrate the Ethiopian victory in the

Battle of Adwa The Battle of Adwa (; ; , also spelled ''Adowa'') was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian army defeated an invading Italian and Eritrean force led by Oreste Baratieri on March 1, 1896, near the town of Adwa. ...

. Nega Mezlekia, in his ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly'', describes the discussion inhabitants held over dedicating a church to St. Gabriel when "there were already two churches within twenty kilometers dedicated to the same saint. ... and that prayers and pleas directed to one saint, at the same hour and from two separate locations, had ended in disaster, for the requests of the two parishes were too often mutually exclusive."Nega Mezlekia, ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian Childhood'' (New York: Picador, 2000), p. 261.

References

Cities and towns in Oromia {{Oromia-geo-stub