This refers to a sacred stone located in a mountain in the Menge woreda, one of the places where the Berta originally settled when they arrived to Ethiopia.

For this reason, and for protecting themselves from slave raids coming from Sudan, the Shangul communities decided to establish their villages in naturally-defended hills and mountains, amidst rocky outcrops.

German traveler Ernst Marno described Shangul architecture and villages in his Reisen im Gebiete des Blauen und Weissen Nil (Vienna, 1874).

After several centuries of influence by the Arabic-speaking regions of Sudan, the Berta are now mostly Muslim and many speak fluent Sudanese Arabic.

Due to their intermarriage with Arab traders, some Berta were called Watawit -the local name for "bat", meaning that they were a mix of two very different groups.

After the wedding, the husband has to build a hut and live in his wife's village for a year or more, tilling his father-in-law's land.