Superstition in Ethiopia
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Superstition is highly prevalent in Ethiopia. Like Turkey and Greece, the Ethiopian culture nurtures the belief of the evil eye and responsible for caste system.[1][clarification needed]
Buda
The most renowned folk religion inspired by superstition is Buda, associated with Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and lower castes, primarily with manual trader. Manual workers are considered lower caste by the aristocratic families, socializing with their own caste. In contrast, tribal lords, spiritualists and scholars are considered the highest caste. Within these social organizations, enforcing manual workers to contribute to the working class would be sin and impure, labeling them "envious", "malevolent", and "selfish". In this sense, beads and amulets such as Kitab, jewelry to protect against some effects of Buda.[1]
According to Niall Finneran, "the idea of magical creation underpins the perception of artisans in Ethiopia and in the wider African context. In many cases these skills have been acquired originally from an elemental source of evil via the paternal lineage, rather like a Faustian pact."[2][3]: 20–21 The power also allowed one to shapeshift into hyena, and attack another person while concealing his/her identity. Bouda is also present in Sudan, Tanzania, and among the Berber people in Morocco.[4]
Samuel Gobat argued that some Beta Israel people rejected the belief as a Christian superstition, he wrote "if Bouda exist, you are obliged to believe that they can do nothing contrary to the will of God". Some Beta Israel smiths and carpenters are suspected to Christian mockery by making both crosses and tabot (ark) for the church.[5]
Other beliefs
In Ethiopia, twelve superstition related harmful practices are identified: female genital mutilation, polygamy, uvulotomy, milk teeth extraction, forced marriage, food prohibition, work restriction, massaging abdomen of pregnant women, excessive feasts, incision, and widow inheritance.
Among Oromo people, evidence collected that Bale Oromos are practicing harmful superstition. "Fungo" is type of belief consisted of rope "telling the direction of lost things or person". This superstition was observed during the Ethiopian Civil War where parents go to "skilled person" to find their children alive or dead who departed to the war. Others include:[6]
- Because of the relatively high rate of infant mortality in Ethiopia, a common practice is to slaughter a goat before the birth of a baby[citation needed].
- hyena scratches their house, people feel subjected to victim of future war
- Hyena screaming is considered the death of a person; where two hyenas screaming, children would die; five to six hyenas screams could cause the death of a woman, and seven would cause the death of a man[citation needed].
Among the southern Omotic language-speaking community, mingi is a type of superstition which posited that children born with physical abnormality are cursed being including the top teeth erupting before bottom teeth. Many children are killed or disposed of either through drowning, putting soil in their mouths and strangling or leaving infants in the forest tribes. In July 2012, the Karo tribe officially banned the practice, but retain the belief.[7]
Zār
The Zār cult is widely prevalent in Ethiopia with many Ethiopian classified it as both malevolent and benevolent, protective spirits or adbar. Zār also disseminated by Beta Israel as well as Ethiopian diaspora living in North America and Europe, and permeated in northern Ethiopia (Amhara) with its center in Gondar. Zār also allegedly originated from Harar by Harari and Somali women to Aden in Yemen.[8]
Dr. Simon Messing, a sociologist who did his work in northwestern Ethiopia (Gondar) in 1953–1954, collected 80 essays on the belief representing 13 provinces of Ethiopia of 80 students of Haile Selassie I University.[9]
References
- ^ a b "The Social Implications of Evil Eye Beads in Ethiopia". The Bead Chest. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
- ^ Finneran, Niall (2003). "Ethiopian Evil Eye Belief and the Magical Symbolism of Iron Working". Folklore. 114 (3): 427–432. doi:10.1080/0015587032000145414. S2CID 161976625. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Wagaw, Teshome G. For Our Soul: Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1993.
- ^ Woodward, Ian (1979). The Werewolf Delusion. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-448-23170-9.
- ^ Kaplan, Steven (1992). The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia: From Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century. NYU Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-8147-4664-6.
- ^ "A SURVEY OF OROMO POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS WITH REFERENCE TO SELECTED DISTRICTS IN BALE ZONE" (PDF). 22 June 2022. p. 3.
- ^ Petros, Gezahegn (2000). The Karo of the lower Omo Valley: subsistence, social organisation and relations with neighbouring groups. Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Administration, Addis Ababa University. p. 57.
- ^ Spaulding, Jay (1996). "Women of the Zar and Middle-Class Sensibilities in Colonial Aden, 1923-1932". African Languages and Cultures. Supplement (3). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 173. JSTOR 586659.
- ^ Torrey, E. Fuller (June 1967). "The Zar Cult in Ethiopia". International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 13 (3): 216–223. doi:10.1177/002076406701300306. ISSN 0020-7640. PMID 5585776. S2CID 39519787.