Religion holds enormous importance in the lives of the Amhara.
91.2% of the people of the Amhara region are Christian: following the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 18.1% are Muslim, and 0.1% are Protestant. Easter and epiphany are important celebrations to the Christian Amhara. They have many feast days, in which they can only eat fish and vegetables. (Amhara People: 2014)
The Amhara converted to Christianity in the 300 A.D. They were an advanced civilization, and they had a written language early on. Ge'ez is the religious language of the Amhara. The Amhara practice Christianity, but it’s different than other kinds of Christianity. They have combined Christianity with their traditional religion, so it has both monotheistic and polytheistic attributes. They believe in one god, but also multiple gods. The act of combining the traditional Amharan religion and Christianity is called syncretism. Syncretism is just the combining and mixing of different cultures or religions. In essence, their religion is divided into four categories. (Amhara: 2014).
The first element is the Christian religion with God, the Devil, and angels. The second part includes the adbar and zar spirits. They are protectors, but they will also punish non-believers.
The third category is the sub-humans, known as the buda. These people are thought to be not quite human, but also able to curse and kill the pure humans. The buda must kill one person a year, and they must kill them through tightening a knot while standing within a close radius. After their victim is dead, they bury the body and chant. This chant rises the body from the grave and turns the person into a slave for seven years to the buda. After seven years, the body will disintegrate.
The fourth component of Amhara religion is believing in spirits and ghosts, who will hurt the living. (Amhara: 2014).
Each Amharic person has a patron saint. On the patron saint’s day, the Amharic person will throw a party. They will invite all friends and relatives, and serve refreshments. They also have saints that everyone celebrates. Because they have so many celebrations, the Amhara fast over 200 days of the year. (Sheep, goats, and chickens are slaughtered at a sacrifice. )There are also non-religious, or secular, holidays. These include Battle of Adwa Dav and Freedom Day, celebrating the time they truly became an independent nation.
The two biggest rites of passage in Amhara society today are marriage and death. If a child, or someone young, dies it is an extremely somber occasion. People are surprised and hurt, and there is much thought into the burial. After, friends and family will meet and reflect on the deceased person’s life.They will pray, and the host will offer refreshments.
One of their main forms of entertainment and an integral part of their religion is telling parables. Parables are short stories that use examples of everyday life to teach a lesson or prove a point. Many of the parables used demonstrate core concepts and beliefs of the Amhara people. These parables also define the behavior of how different social groups treat one another. (Amhara: 2014).
Another form of entertainment for the Amhara is painting religious paintings, the commanding art form in Ethiopia. These works can be distinguished by the large eyes of mainly biblical figures. These paintings are often oil on either canvas or hide. Many Europeans and Americans consider these works “treasures of civilization”. The Amhara are also known for weaving patterns decorated with embroidery, and for crafting gold and silver filigree jewelry and more religious art. (Amhara People: 2014)
Amharic religion even affects what they wear. In order to distinguish themselves from Muslim Amhara, Christian Amhara wear blue neck cords, also known as a meteb. (Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)
In the country, the Church is the law. The church consecrates (ordains, almost) many people to their cause in the roles of: church students, boy deacons, priests, nuns monks, and chorister-scribes. The chorister-scribe is not ordained, though does many essential tasks, such as translating the liturgy from Ge’ez to Amharic, chanting, and occasionally composing qēnē, devotional poetry, and creating amulets (doing so is improper, and priests don’t approve of it, though the people use them to prevent disease). Before exams, some anxious students will chew (and even swallow) a weed called Datura, more commonly known as astenager (literally: to stimulate talk), in order to remember more of their biblical studies, and help with correct pronunciation. The parish priest, there, is known as the qes. (Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)
Ceremonies, against the sacredotal (relating to priests) emphasis of their religion, often mark times in the year. The calendar is Julian, though the year begins on the ninth of September, influenced by the ancient Egyptians. The calendar is called amete mehrāt (year of grace). Therefore, the year of 1948 A. M. is about the same as the western (Gregorian) 1956 A.D. The new year starts within the month Meskerem (named after the beginning religious holiday: Mesqel-abeba, celebrating the Feast of the Cross), following the rainy season. Large poles are stacked to become a bonfire, with much celebrating (parading, feasting, and dancing) on the seventeenth day. In comparison, Christmas (Ledet) holds no importance. Epiphany (Timqet) holds much more significance, being on the eleventh day of Ter. The priests carrying the tabot (a symbol of the holy ark) on their heads, then, get escorted by a ceremonial parade to a water pool. The celebrate all night, praying for rain and feasting. The lengthy Lenten season is coming, where the people look forward to Easter (Fassika) and the feasting done on that day, the seventeenth of Miyazya. On Fassika, chanting from house to house, children get new clothes and gifts. Even mehabber, where guys (only men) drink (barley) beer and confess to the confessor-priest, is said to have come from private communion. Members take turns hosting monthly meetings, and must act as a “mutual aid society”: donating, extending loans, and even paying for a funeral (tazkar) of another member forty days after their death, should their family not be able to afford it.(Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)
91.2% of the people of the Amhara region are Christian: following the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 18.1% are Muslim, and 0.1% are Protestant. Easter and epiphany are important celebrations to the Christian Amhara. They have many feast days, in which they can only eat fish and vegetables. (Amhara People: 2014)
The Amhara converted to Christianity in the 300 A.D. They were an advanced civilization, and they had a written language early on. Ge'ez is the religious language of the Amhara. The Amhara practice Christianity, but it’s different than other kinds of Christianity. They have combined Christianity with their traditional religion, so it has both monotheistic and polytheistic attributes. They believe in one god, but also multiple gods. The act of combining the traditional Amharan religion and Christianity is called syncretism. Syncretism is just the combining and mixing of different cultures or religions. In essence, their religion is divided into four categories. (Amhara: 2014).
The first element is the Christian religion with God, the Devil, and angels. The second part includes the adbar and zar spirits. They are protectors, but they will also punish non-believers.
The third category is the sub-humans, known as the buda. These people are thought to be not quite human, but also able to curse and kill the pure humans. The buda must kill one person a year, and they must kill them through tightening a knot while standing within a close radius. After their victim is dead, they bury the body and chant. This chant rises the body from the grave and turns the person into a slave for seven years to the buda. After seven years, the body will disintegrate.
The fourth component of Amhara religion is believing in spirits and ghosts, who will hurt the living. (Amhara: 2014).
Each Amharic person has a patron saint. On the patron saint’s day, the Amharic person will throw a party. They will invite all friends and relatives, and serve refreshments. They also have saints that everyone celebrates. Because they have so many celebrations, the Amhara fast over 200 days of the year. (Sheep, goats, and chickens are slaughtered at a sacrifice. )There are also non-religious, or secular, holidays. These include Battle of Adwa Dav and Freedom Day, celebrating the time they truly became an independent nation.
The two biggest rites of passage in Amhara society today are marriage and death. If a child, or someone young, dies it is an extremely somber occasion. People are surprised and hurt, and there is much thought into the burial. After, friends and family will meet and reflect on the deceased person’s life.They will pray, and the host will offer refreshments.
One of their main forms of entertainment and an integral part of their religion is telling parables. Parables are short stories that use examples of everyday life to teach a lesson or prove a point. Many of the parables used demonstrate core concepts and beliefs of the Amhara people. These parables also define the behavior of how different social groups treat one another. (Amhara: 2014).
Another form of entertainment for the Amhara is painting religious paintings, the commanding art form in Ethiopia. These works can be distinguished by the large eyes of mainly biblical figures. These paintings are often oil on either canvas or hide. Many Europeans and Americans consider these works “treasures of civilization”. The Amhara are also known for weaving patterns decorated with embroidery, and for crafting gold and silver filigree jewelry and more religious art. (Amhara People: 2014)
Amharic religion even affects what they wear. In order to distinguish themselves from Muslim Amhara, Christian Amhara wear blue neck cords, also known as a meteb. (Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)
In the country, the Church is the law. The church consecrates (ordains, almost) many people to their cause in the roles of: church students, boy deacons, priests, nuns monks, and chorister-scribes. The chorister-scribe is not ordained, though does many essential tasks, such as translating the liturgy from Ge’ez to Amharic, chanting, and occasionally composing qēnē, devotional poetry, and creating amulets (doing so is improper, and priests don’t approve of it, though the people use them to prevent disease). Before exams, some anxious students will chew (and even swallow) a weed called Datura, more commonly known as astenager (literally: to stimulate talk), in order to remember more of their biblical studies, and help with correct pronunciation. The parish priest, there, is known as the qes. (Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)
Ceremonies, against the sacredotal (relating to priests) emphasis of their religion, often mark times in the year. The calendar is Julian, though the year begins on the ninth of September, influenced by the ancient Egyptians. The calendar is called amete mehrāt (year of grace). Therefore, the year of 1948 A. M. is about the same as the western (Gregorian) 1956 A.D. The new year starts within the month Meskerem (named after the beginning religious holiday: Mesqel-abeba, celebrating the Feast of the Cross), following the rainy season. Large poles are stacked to become a bonfire, with much celebrating (parading, feasting, and dancing) on the seventeenth day. In comparison, Christmas (Ledet) holds no importance. Epiphany (Timqet) holds much more significance, being on the eleventh day of Ter. The priests carrying the tabot (a symbol of the holy ark) on their heads, then, get escorted by a ceremonial parade to a water pool. The celebrate all night, praying for rain and feasting. The lengthy Lenten season is coming, where the people look forward to Easter (Fassika) and the feasting done on that day, the seventeenth of Miyazya. On Fassika, chanting from house to house, children get new clothes and gifts. Even mehabber, where guys (only men) drink (barley) beer and confess to the confessor-priest, is said to have come from private communion. Members take turns hosting monthly meetings, and must act as a “mutual aid society”: donating, extending loans, and even paying for a funeral (tazkar) of another member forty days after their death, should their family not be able to afford it.(Amhara-Religion and Expressive Culture: 2014)