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Superstition is highly prevalent in Ethiopia. Like Turkey and Greece, Ethiopian culture believes in the evil eye. In Ethiopia this belief helps uphold a caste system. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2023) |
Superstition is highly prevalent in Ethiopia. Like Turkey and Greece, Ethiopian culture believes in the evil eye. In Ethiopia this belief helps uphold a caste system. [1]
One folk religion inspired by superstition is Buda. Buda is associated with Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) and lower castes, primarily with artisans and manual laborers. Manual laborers are considered lower caste by the aristocratic families, who, like tribal lords, spiritualists, and scholars are considered part of the highest caste. Within this social structure, manual laborers socializing with higher castes is seen as sinful and impure, with the lower caste being referred to as "envious, malevolent, and selfish", and "carriers of evil". Beads and amulets such as Kitab jewelry are worn to protect against some effects of the evil eye. [1]
Samuel Gobat recorded an encounter in the 1830s when a Christian priest accused some members of Beta Israel of being Budas; they rejected the charge: "We are not boudas. [...] if boudas exist, you are obliged to believe that they can do nothing contrary to the will of God; consequently they cannot harm those who have true faith in God. Thus your groundless fear of boudas only proves your total want of faith in the God of Israel." [2]
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 originally acquired from an elemental source of evil via the paternal lineage, rather like a Faustian pact." [3] [4] : 20–21 It is also believed that these powers allow one to shapeshift into animals such as hyenas. These beliefs are also present in Sudan, Tanzania, and among the Berber people in Morocco. [5]
In Ethiopia, it is generally agreed that there are twelve harmful superstition-related practices, including female genital mutilation, polygamy, uvulotomy, milk teeth extraction, forced marriage, food prohibition, work restriction, abdominal massaging of pregnant women, excessive feasting, unnecessary incision, and widow inheritance.
Among the Bale Oromos, fungo is a belief that a dowsing rope will act as an object of divination. This superstition was observed during the Ethiopian Civil War, when parents went to a diviner to find their children who had been displaced during the war.
Other superstitious Ethiopian practices and beliefs include: [6]
Among the southern Omotic language-speaking community, mingi is a type of superstition that asserts that children born with physical abnormalities, including the top teeth coming in before the bottom teeth, are cursed. These children were killed by drowning, suffocation, strangulation, or by leaving the infants in the forest. In July 2012, the Bari people officially banned the practice of infanticide but retained the belief. [8]
Belief in Zār (evil spirits) is widely prevalent in Ethiopia, though many Ethiopian also believe in benevolent, protective spirits or adbar. Zār is also practiced by Beta Israel, the Ethiopian diaspora living in North America and Europe, and northern Ethiopian Amhara people with its center in Gondar. Zār is believed to have started in Harar by Harari and Somali women. [9]
Dr. Simon Messing, a sociologist who did his work in northwestern Ethiopia (Gondar) in 1953–1954, collected 80 essays on beliefs representing 13 provinces of Ethiopia of 80 students of Haile Selassie I University. [10]
The Oromo people are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya. They speak the Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. According to the last Ethiopian census of 2007, the Oromo numbered 25,488,344 people or 34.5% of the Ethiopian population. Recent estimates have the Oromo comprising 45,000,000 people, or 35.8% of the total Ethiopian population estimated at 116,000,000.
The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy. The belief in the evil eye among humans has existed since prehistory, and amulets to protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago.
Harar, known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey, is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saints.
The Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, are an African community of the Jewish diaspora. They coalesced in the Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire, which is currently divided between the Amhara Region and Tigray Region in modern-day Ethiopia. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the Beta Israel immigrated to Israel or were evacuated from Africa through several initiatives by the Israeli government.
Knocking on wood is an apotropaic tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doing or intending to do so, in order to avoid "tempting fate" after making a favorable prediction or boast, or a declaration concerning one's own death or another unfavorable situation.
Falash Mura is the name given to descendants of the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia who converted to Christianity, primarily as a consequence of Western proselytization during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This term also includes Beta Israel who did not adhere to any Ethiopian Jewish practices, as well as the aforementioned historical converts to Christianity. While most voluntarily converted, some were also forcibly converted against their will, or felt compelled to convert due to economic hardship and social exclusion in a majority Christian population.
The Qemant are a small Cushitic ethnic group in northwestern Ethiopia, specifically in Gondar, Amhara Region. The Qemant people traditionally practiced an early Pagan-Hebraic religion, however most members of the Qemant are followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They are historically related to, but distinct from, the Beta Israel.
Werehyena is a neologism coined in analogy to werewolf for therianthropy involving hyenas. It is common in the folklore of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East as well as some adjacent territories. Unlike werewolves and other therianthropes, which are usually portrayed as being originally human, some werehyena lore tells of how they can also be hyenas disguised as humans.
Caste systems in Africa are a form of social stratification found in numerous ethnic groups, found in over fifteen countries, particularly in the Sahel, West Africa, and North Africa. These caste systems feature endogamy, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality.
Religion in Ethiopia consists of a number of faiths. Among these mainly Abrahamic religions, the most numerous is Christianity totaling at 67.3%, followed by Islam at 31.3%. There is also a longstanding but small Ethiopian Jewish community. Some adherents of the Baháʼí Faith likewise exist in a number of urban and rural areas. Additionally, there is also a substantial population of the adherents of traditional faiths.
In the cultures of the Horn of Africa and adjacent regions of the Middle East, Zār is the term for a demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals, mostly women, and to cause discomfort or illness. The so-called zār ritual or zār cult is the practice of reconciling the possessing spirit and the possessed individual. Zār possession is often considered lifelong and the rituals associated with it are a form of adorcism, though some have falsely attributed it as an exorcism rite because it involves possession. It is similar to the Maghreb's Hamadsha, Hausa Animism, and various African Traditional religions, such as Voodou.
The history of the Jews in Ethiopia refers to people in Ethiopia who practice Judaism or have Jewish ancestry. This history goes back millennia. The largest Jewish group in Ethiopia is the Beta Israel, also known as Ethiopian Jews. Offshoots of the Beta Israel include the Beta Abraham and the Falash Mura, Ethiopian Jews who were converted to Christianity, some of whom have reverted to Judaism. Addis Ababa is home to a small community of Adeni Jews. Chabad also maintains a presence in Addis Ababa.
The Yejju Oromo, also historically known as the Yajju, Edjow or Edjou Galla, are a sub-clan of the Barento branch of Oromo people. They are one of the northernmost communities of Oromo people residing in Ethiopia, along with the Raayyaa.
Buda, in Ethiopian and Eritrean folk religion, is the power of the evil eye and the ability to change into a hyena. Buda is generally believed by the wider society to be a power held and wielded by those in a different social group, for example among the Beta Israel or metalworkers. The belief is also present in Sudan, Tanzania, and among the Berber people in Morocco.
The Weyto are a caste living in the Amhara region along the shore of Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia. They worship the Nile River. They currently live in Bahir Dar, Abirgha, Dembiya and Alefa. The Weyto also made up part of the population of the Blue Nile Falls and Fogera, where currently their presence has not been ascertained.
A debtera is an itinerant religious figure in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, and the Beta Israel, who sings hymns and dances for churchgoers, and who performs exorcisms and white magic to aid the congregation. A debtera will claim an ecclesiastical identity and behave as in minor orders. They may in fact be officially ordained as deacons, or may act outside the Church hierarchy. They are usually feared by the local population.
The Harla, also known as Harala, Haralla are an ethnic group that once inhabited Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic family.
Superstition in Judaism refers to the credulous beliefs in the supernatural present in Judaism and Jewish culture. Judaism, unlike many of its contemporaries, lacks the framework for superstitious belief and often condemns it. Because idolatry was deeply connected to Canaanite and Bronze Age superstition, the Torah specifically warns against believing in lucky numbers and superstitious signs, as it can lead people away from God. However, following the Jewish diaspora, some Jewish communities partially adopted the superstitious customs of their neighbours.
The Gafat people are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited present day western Ethiopia. They spoke the Gafat language, an extinct South Ethiopic grouping within the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic languages and closely related to Harari and Eastern Gurage languages. According to Alleqa Taye, in the year 1922 Gafat was only spoken privately in Gojjam due to the Amhara designating them outcasts.
Spotted hyenas are widely distributed in Ethiopia specifically in the eastern parts like Harar and Somali Region. They also dwell in urban areas like Addis Ababa where they have been estimated at about a thousand and scavenge rubbish substances and feral dogs and cats. Scavenging on remains is a common feature of spotted hyenas that focus around waste material and also corpses.