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136-570: What is known about Ennarea comes mostly from oral traditions as well as a few foreign written sources; it had no indigenous literacy tradition. According to oral traditions the royal Ennarean clan, the Hinnare Bushasho , originated in northern Ethiopia before settling in the Gibe region. In the 9th century Aksumite king Digna-Jan is said to have led a campaign into Innarya , accompanied by "150 priests carrying 60 consecrated tablets ( tabot )". In

272-523: A Jebena (coffee pot) with boiling water. When ready it is then served to people in little cups, up to three times per ceremony. The ceremony is typically performed by the woman of the household, or the female host and is considered an honor. Amhara women dress up for the occasion in a kemis , a traditional dress. Other locally produced beverages are tella (beer) and tej (honey wine), which are served and drunk on major religious festivals, Saints Days and weddings. Mackonen Michael (2008) noted that

408-570: A caste and perform a range of roles, including as a historian or library, musician, poet, mediator of family and tribal disputes, spokesperson, and served in the king's court, not dissimilar from the European bard . They keep records of all births, death, and marriages through the generations of the village or family. When Sundiata Keita founded the Mali Empire , he was offered Balla Fasséké as his griot to advise him during his reign, giving rise to

544-542: A writing system , or in parallel to a writing system. It is the most widespread medium of human communication. They often remain in use in the modern era throughout for cultural preservation . Religions such as Buddhism , Hinduism , Catholicism , and Jainism have used oral tradition, in parallel to writing, to transmit their canonical scriptures , rituals , hymns and mythologies. African societies have broadly been labelled oral civilisations , contrasted with literate civilisations , due to their reverence for

680-504: A Christian feudal culture, and by the adoption of Amharic , which from became the lingua franca . This population of a rather small province became the dominant group in the empire. Around this time, Medieval Arab historians state that Christian Ethiopia was under the sovereignty of "the Lord of Amhara" which confirms that the new Solomonic dynasty appears to be stock of the Bete Amhara in

816-468: A Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The proto-Amhara, or the northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of the center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in

952-406: A better understanding of Homeric epics. The long oral tradition that has sustained Albanian epic poetry reinforces the idea that pre-Homeric epic poetry was oral. The theory of oral-formulaic composition was developed also through the scholarly study of Albanian epic verse. The Albanian traditional singing of epic verse from memory is one of the last survivors of its kind in modern Europe , and

1088-503: A collective or tribal memory extending beyond personal experience but nevertheless representing a shared reality. Native languages have in some cases up to twenty words to describe physical features like rain or snow and can describe the spectra of human emotion in very precise ways, allowing storytellers to offer their own personalized take on a story based on their own lived experiences. Fluidity in story deliverance allowed stories to be applied to different social circumstances according to

1224-536: A heavily rhythmic speech filled with mnemonic devices enhances memory and recall. A few useful mnemonic devices include alliteration , repetition, assonance , and proverbial sayings. In addition, the verse is often metrically composed with an exact number of syllables or morae —such as with Greek and Latin prosody and in Chandas found in Hindu and Buddhist texts. The verses of the epic or text are typically designed wherein

1360-576: A high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. By about the 9th century AD, there was a linguistically distinct ethnic group called the Amhara in the area of Bete Amhara . The origin of the Amhara name is debated. A popular Folk etymology traces it to amari ("pleasing; beautiful; gracious") or mehare ("gracious"). Another popular etymology claims that it derives from Ge'ez ዐም ( ʿam , "people") and ሐራ ( ḥara , "free" or "soldier"). "Amhara"

1496-405: A means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion . For example, rather than yelling, Inuit parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water's edge by telling a story about a sea monster with

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1632-483: A phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among Albanians and their ancestors – the Illyrians , being able to preserve their "tribally" organized society . This distinguished them from civilizations such as Ancient Egypt , Minoans and Mycenaeans , who underwent state formation and disrupted their traditional memory practices. Albanian epic poetry has been analysed by Homeric scholars to acquire

1768-615: A physical struggle between a Thunderbird and a Whale. One such story tells of the Thunderbird, which can create thunder by moving just a feather, piercing the Whale's flesh with its talons, causing the Whale to dive to the bottom of the ocean, bringing the Thunderbird with it. Another depicts the Thunderbird lifting the Whale from the Earth then dropping it back down. Regional similarities in themes and characters suggests that these stories mutually describe

1904-540: A position of particular importance, as it was believed to be a more reliable medium for information transmission than prose. This belief stemmed from observations that highly structured language, with its rhythmic and phonetic patterns, tended to undergo fewer alterations during oral transmission. Each genre of rhymed poetry served distinct social and cultural functions. These range from spontaneous compositions at celebrations to carefully crafted historical accounts, political commentaries, and entertainment pieces. Among these,

2040-664: A pouch for children within its reach. One single story could provide dozens of lessons. Stories were also used as a means to assess whether traditional cultural ideas and practices are effective in tackling contemporary circumstances or if they should be revised. Native American storytelling is a collaborative experience between storyteller and listeners. Native American tribes generally have not had professional tribal storytellers marked by social status. Stories could and can be told by anyone, with each storyteller using their own vocal inflections, word choice, content, or form. Storytellers not only draw upon their own memories, but also upon

2176-811: A reason behind indoctrination . Writing systems are not known to exist among Native North Americans before contact with Europeans except among some Mesoamerican cultures, and possibly the South American quipu and North American wampum , although those two are debatable. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in a context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices. While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues. Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as

2312-523: A rigid, endogamous and occupationally closed social stratification among the Amharas and other Afro-Asiatic-speaking Ethiopian ethnic groups. Some label it as an economically closed, endogamous class system with occupational minorities, whereas others such as David Todd assert that this system can be unequivocally labelled as caste-based. The Amhara speak " Amharic " (" Amarigna ", " Amarinya ") as their mother tongue . Its native speakers account for 29.3% of

2448-427: A society, with the latter much more likely to use oral tradition and oral literature even when a writing system has been developed or when having access to one. The Akan proverbs translated as "Ancient things in the ear" and "Ancient things are today" refer to present-day delivery and the past content, and as such oral traditions are both simultaneously expressions of the past and the present. Vansina says that to ignore

2584-624: A song dedicated to Yeshaq it is stated that Ennarea had to pay a tribute to the empire in the form of gold, slaves and cattle. Between 1578 and 1586, the Borana Oromo reconquered the Gibe region, eventually taking the territory from around Ennarea to the Blue Nile . During this period of war the Oromo formed a new federation, known as Sadacha. It was the Sadacha who would continue to wage war against Ennarea for

2720-589: A study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago. Significantly, this is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria ", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the Gunditjmara people, an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of

2856-399: A viable source of evidence for establishing the affiliation between cultural objects and Native Nations. Oral traditions face the challenge of accurate transmission and verifiability of the accurate version, particularly when the culture lacks written language or has limited access to writing tools. Oral cultures have employed various strategies that achieve this without writing. For example,

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2992-410: A wat, or thick stew, served atop injera , a large sourdough flatbread made of teff flour in the shape of pancakes usually of about 30 to 45 cm in diameter. When eating traditional injera dishes in groups, it's normally it eaten from a mesob (shared food basket), with each person breaking off pieces of injera flatbread using only the right hand, from the side nearest them and dipping it into stew in

3128-679: A white-red-black (from left to right) flag, an umbrella and diverse musical instruments. Most kings were provided by the Hinnaro Bushasho clan, although it seemed to have been divided into two groups or lineages: a native one and one that claimed a northern, perhaps Amhara or Tigre origin. The latter were generally regarded as superior to the former. The kings had two residences: one in Yadare and one in Gowi . The true seat of power in Ennarea did not rest with

3264-576: A written intermediate, and they can also be applied to oral governance. Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book provides an excellent demonstration of oral governance in the Law of the Jungle . Not only does grounding rules in oral proverbs allow for simple transmission and understanding, but it also legitimizes new rulings by allowing extrapolation. These stories, traditions, and proverbs are not static, but are often altered upon each transmission, barring any change to

3400-437: Is a cultural identity; however, much of the scholarship indicates that it is solely a class-based identity, devoid of ethnicity". Solomon Gashaw asserts that "there is no intra-Amhara ethnic consciousness, except among northern settlers in southern Ethiopia". He notes that most Amharic-speaking people identify by their place of birth. He asks, "what is Amhara domination?", answering: "It is a linguistic and cultural domination by

3536-457: Is also a key socio-cultural component in the practice of their traditional spiritualities , as well as mainstream Abrahamic religions . The prioritisation of the spoken word is evidenced by African societies having chosen to record history orally whilst some had developed or had access to a writing script . Jan Vansina differentiates between oral and literate civilisations, stating: "The attitude of members of an oral society toward speech

3672-634: Is believed to have begun somewhere during the Aksumite period. The political importance of Amhara further increased after the fall of Aksum , which marked the shift of the political center of the Christian Ethiopian state from Aksum in the north to the Zagwe region of Lasta further inland. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe dynasty prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus (lit. "language of

3808-493: Is distinct from oral history , which is the recording of personal testimony of those who experienced historical eras or events. Oral tradition is also distinct from the study of orality , defined as thought and its verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (writing and print) are unfamiliar. Folklore is one albeit not the only type of oral tradition. According to John Foley, oral tradition has been an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of

3944-399: Is located to the south-east of Hayq , as well as to the north-east of Ancharo (Chiqa Beret). The decorations and symbols which are inscribed on the pottery substantiate the expansion of Aksumite civilization to the south of Angot. According to Karl Butzer "By 800, Axum had almost ceased to exist, and its demographic resources were barely adequate to stop the once tributary pastoralists of

4080-513: Is performed. Furthermore, the climate in which traditions are told influences its content. In Burundi , traditions were short because most of them were told at informal gatherings and everyone had to have his say during the evening; in neighbouring Rwanda , many narratives were spun-out because a one-man professional had to entertain his patron for a whole evening, with every production checked by fellow specialists and errors punishable. Frequently, glosses or commentaries were presented parallel to

4216-688: Is provided in the Historia Aethiopica by Hiob Ludolf , the data of which came from Abba Gorgoryos , himself a native of Amhara. On the map of Historia Aethiopica , Amhara is situated between the Abay River to the west, the Bashilo River in the north, the Afar Depression to the east and the Awash River to the south. The province consisted of much of Wollo and northern Shewa , and encompassed

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4352-532: Is similar to the reverence members of a literate society attach to the written word . If it is hallowed by authority or antiquity, the word will be treasured." For centuries in Europe, all data felt to be important were written down, with the most important texts prioritised, such as Bible , and only trivia, such as song, legend, anecdote, and proverbs remained unrecorded. In Africa, all the principal political, legal, social, and religious texts were transmitted orally. When

4488-625: Is slightly modified from the Ethiopic or Ge'ez script , an abugida . For centuries, the predominant religion of the Amhara has been Christianity , with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church playing a central role in the culture of the country . According to the 2007 census, 82.5% of the population of the Amhara Region was Ethiopian Orthodox; 17.2% of it was Muslim , 0.2% of it was Protestant (see P'ent'ay ) and 0.5% of it

4624-406: Is solemnized in church, where divorce is forbidden, and usually observed among the orthodox priests. Patrilineal descent is the norm. While the wife had no inheritance rights, in case a child was conceived during the temporary damoz marriage, the child could make a claim a part of the father's property. Amhara cuisine consists of various vegetable or spicy meat side dishes and entrées, usually

4760-489: Is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Ṛgveda ( c.  1500 BCE ). Research by Milman Parry and Albert Lord indicates that the verse of the Greek poet Homer has been passed down not by rote memorization but by " oral-formulaic composition ". In this process, extempore composition is aided by use of stock phrases or "formulas" (expressions that are used regularly "under

4896-399: Is through speech or song and may include folktales , ballads , chants , prose or poetry . The information is mentally recorded by oral repositories , sometimes termed "walking libraries", who are usually also performers. Oral tradition is a medium of communication for a society to transmit oral history , oral literature , oral law and other knowledge across generations without

5032-612: The Eskista ; the most well known Amharan folk dance. The begena , a large ten-string lyre; is an important instrument solely devoted to the spiritual part of Amhara music. Other instruments includes the Meleket wind instrument, and the Kebero and Negarit drums. From the 1950s onward foreign influence i.e. foreign educated Ethiopians and the availability of larger quantities of new instruments led to new genre's of Amharic music and ushered in

5168-645: The Awa-rasha (the king's spokesman), the Barta-rasha (probably had a religious function) and the Gutchi-rasha (observer of Ennarea's slave trade). The Atche-rasha (responsible for the royal treasures) is also claimed to have been part of the council, though this is not certain. Ennarea was "a rich slave state, completely exploited of its natural and human resources for the benefit of foreign overlords.” The exports of Ennarea focused primarily on slaves and gold. Its gold

5304-519: The Bamums in Cameroon invented a script , the first to be written down was the royal chronicle and the code of customary law . Most African courts had archivists who learnt by heart the royal genealogy and history of the state, and served as its unwritten constitution . The performance of a tradition is accentuated and rendered alive by various gesture, social conventions and the unique occasion in which it

5440-595: The Gojeb river . Six years later, under the rule of Shisafotchi, Ennarea was finally overrun by the Sadacha. After the fall of the kingdom, Shisafotchi led an exodus south of the Gojeb river, into Kaffa. By the early 19th century this Ennarean exile kingdom had been defeated and vassalized by Kaffa, although its kings remained in nominal office until the Agar Maqnat . Cultural assimilation, slavery, epidemics and political repression made

5576-673: The Golden age such as Asnaketch Worku , Bahru Kegne, Kassa Tessema and Mary Armede were renowned for their mastery of traditionel instruments. The political turmoil during the Derg regime (1974-1991) led to censorship of music; night life came to a standstill through government imposed curfews and the curbing of musical performances. Notable Ethiopian musicians were jailed including those of Amhara descent such as Ayalew Mesfin and Telela Kebede . A revival of Qene ; Amharic poetic songs which uses double entendre known as sam-enna warq ( wax and gold )

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5712-742: The Kouyate line of griots . Griots often accompany their telling of oral tradition with a musical instrument, as the Epic of Sundiata is accompanied by the balafon , or as the kora accompanies other traditions. In modern times, some griots and descendants of griots have dropped their historian role and focus on music, with many finding success, however many still maintain their traditional roles. Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations. They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in Albania ,

5848-502: The attributes of Allah —all-mighty, all-wise, all-knowing, all-high, etc.—often found as doublets at the end of a verse. Among the other repeated phrases are "Allah created the heavens and the earth" (found 19 times in the Quran). As much as one third of the Quran is made up of "oral formulas", according to Dundes' estimates. Bannister, using a computer database of (the original Arabic) words of

5984-643: The oral word and widespread use of oral tradition. Oral tradition is memories, knowledge, and expression held in common by a group over many generations: it is the long preservation of immediate or contemporaneous testimony . It may be defined as the recall and transmission of specific, preserved textual and cultural knowledge through vocal utterance. Oral tradition is usually popular, and can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes. As an academic discipline , oral tradition refers both to objects and methods of study. It

6120-531: The 13th century, Ennarea was recorded to be a province of the Motalami's of Damot , a kingdom south of the Blue Nile . An early 19th-century document regarding the early history of Damot and Ennarea attests a political union of these two kingdoms. It appears that since the late 14th century (around the same time when Kaffa was founded in the south) Ennarea gained nominal independence from its northern neighbor, although it remained in close contact with it. While Damot

6256-509: The 1960s and 1970s Golden Age of Ethiopian music . The popular Ethio-Jazz genre pioneered by Mulatu Astatke was created from the Tizita qañat of the Amhara combined with the use of Western instruments. Saxophone legend Getatchew Mekurya instrumentalized the Amhara war cry Shellela into an genre in the 1950s before joining the Ethio-Jazz scene later in his career. Other Amharic artists from

6392-560: The 2007 national census, Amharas numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9% of Ethiopia's population, and they are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christian (members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ). They are also found within the Ethiopian expatriate community, particularly in North America . They speak Amharic , an Afro-Asiatic language of the Semitic branch which serves as

6528-465: The 20th century, the minimum age was raised to 18, and this was enforced by the Imperial government. After a church wedding, divorce is frowned upon. Each family hosts a separate wedding feast after the wedding. Upon childbirth, a priest will visit the family to bless the infant. The mother and child remain in the house for 40 days after birth for physical and emotional strength. The infant will be taken to

6664-415: The 50 days between Easter and Pentecost . On all other days meat and dairy products are allowed. A variety of vegan dishes are consumed during fasting periods. Ethiopia is a Buna (coffee) exporter, but also has a very large domestic consumer base. During social gatherings Amharas drink Buna in a unique and traditional way known as a coffee ceremony . First the coffee is roasted, then ground and placed in

6800-733: The 9th century AD, when the Istifanos monastery was erected on Lake Hayq . Several other sites and monuments indicate the presence of similar Axumite influences in the area, such as the Geta Lion statues, which are located 10 km south of Kombolcha , and are believed to date back to the 3rd century AD, though they may even date back to pre-Axumite times. In 1998, ancient pieces of pottery were found around tombs in Atatiya in Southern Wollo, in Habru which

6936-482: The Amhara identity is claimed to be composed of multiple ethnicities by some, whereas others "reject this concept and argue that Amhara exists as a distinctive ethnic group with a specific located boundary". He further noted that "although people from the Ethiopian highland areas think of themselves as Amharas, the Northern Shoans specifically call themselves Amhara. That is why the Oromo and Tigrian discourse associate

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7072-443: The Amhara, mostly a peasant population, is different from a mixed group of urban people coming from different ethnic background, who have adopted Amharic as a common language and identify themselves as Ethiopians". In a 2017 article, historian Brian J. Yates notes that some "scholars and politicians have attempted to sketch out what an Amhara is, but there are considerable divergences on the nature of this identity. Some argue that it

7208-598: The Donald Levine, these consisted of high-ranking clans, low-ranking clans, caste groups (artisans), and slaves. Slaves or rather servants were at the bottom of the hierarchy, and were primarily drawn from the pagan Nilotic Shanqella and Oromo peoples. Also known as the barya (meaning "slave" in Amharic), they were captured during slave raids in Ethiopia's southern hinterland. War captives were another source of slaves, but

7344-522: The Ennarea dynasty declined, as the Oromo weakened its economy by cutting it off from the Ethiopian empire. Eventually, in the mid 17th century, the royal clan of Kaffa seized power in Ennarea. Thus, Kaffa, but also Sheka , became independent from Ennarea. In 1704, an expedition led by emperor Iyasu I reached the kingdom, where he was confronted with a civil war between two throne claimants. It seems that Iyasu's expedition succeeded in pushing back Kaffa south to

7480-475: The Ennarean people vanish into history. Meanwhile, the Oromo settled in what once constituted Ennarea, changed their mode of production from pastoralism to agriculture, and, by the early 19th century, founded five kingdoms: Limmu-Ennarea , Jimma , Gera , Gomma and Gumma . The kingship of Ennarea was a divine one: the king ( Hinnare-tato ) dined one time a day, always behind a curtain and with his meal resting on

7616-513: The Ethiopian population. It belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and is the largest member of the Ethiopian Semitic group. As of 2018 it had more than 57 million speakers worldwide (32,345,260 native speakers plus 25,100,000 second language speakers), making it the most commonly-spoken language in Ethiopia in terms of first- and second-language speakers, and

7752-661: The Lord of the Jabarta." The cultural contact and interaction between the Amhara and the indigenous Agaw accelerated after the 14th century. As the Agaw adopted the Amharic language and converted to Orthodox Christianity , they increasingly succumbed to Amhara acculturation. Other South Semitic speakers like the Gafat and Argobba in Shewa also began to adopt Amharic and assimilate into Amhara society. By

7888-444: The Northern Shoans as oppressive-Amharas." According to Gideon P. E. Cohen, writing in 2000, there is some debate about "whether the Amhara can legitimately be regarded as an ethnic group, [...] given their distribution throughout Ethiopia, and the incorporative capacity of the group that has led to the inclusion of individuals from a wide range of ethnic or linguistic backgrounds". Similarly, Tezera Tazebew notes that "the early 1990s

8024-566: The Qur'anic text was generated." Dundes argues oral-formulaic composition is consistent with "the cultural context of Arabic oral tradition", quoting researchers who have found poetry reciters in the Najd (the region next to where the Quran was revealed) using "a common store of themes, motives, stock images, phraseology and prosodical options", and "a discursive and loosely structured" style "with no fixed beginning or end" and "no established sequence in which

8160-490: The Quran and of their "grammatical role, root, number, person, gender and so forth", estimates that depending on the length of the phrase searched, somewhere between 52% (three word phrases) and 23% (five word phrases) are oral formulas. Dundes reckons his estimates confirm "that the Quran was orally transmitted from its very beginnings". Bannister believes his estimates "provide strong corroborative evidence that oral composition should be seriously considered as we reflect upon how

8296-569: The Quran from memory, not reading, the predominant mode of teaching it to others. To this day the Quran is memorized by millions and its recitation can be heard throughout the Muslim world from recordings and mosque loudspeakers (during Ramadan ). Muslims state that some who teach memorization/recitation of the Quran constitute the end of an "un-broken chain" whose original teacher was Muhammad himself. It has been argued that "the Qur'an's rhythmic style and eloquent expression make it easy to memorize," and

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8432-508: The Vedangas. Each text was recited in a number of ways, to ensure that the different methods of recitation acted as a cross check on the other. Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat summarizes this as: These extraordinary retention techniques guaranteed an accurate Śruti, fixed across the generations, not just in terms of unaltered word order but also in terms of sound. That these methods have been effective,

8568-473: The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition. An Irish seanchaí (plural: seanchaithe ), meaning bearer of "old lore" , was a traditional Irish language storyteller (the Scottish Gaelic equivalent being the seanchaidh, anglicised as shanachie). The job of a seanchaí was to serve the head of a lineage by passing information orally from one generation to

8704-519: The back and shoulders of a slave. He probably also sat behind a curtain when a visitor came along, communicating with him via an intermediary, the Afe Busho . The kings wore rich golden jewelry, like a bracelet, a crown with a cross on its top as well as a phallic projection on the front (possibly gifted by emperor Sarsa Dengel in 1587) and two pieces representing the two sexes, symbolizing "eternal fertility and prosperity". Non-gold royal insignia consisted of

8840-483: The border marches from pillaging the defenseless countryside." With some of the common people the Axumite elite abandoned Axum in favor of central Ethiopia. Christian families gradually migrated southward into Amhara and northern Shewa. Population movement from the old provinces in the north into more fertile areas in the south seems to have been connected to the southward shift of the kingdom. The Christianization of Amhara

8976-503: The center of the basket. There is also a great variety of vegetarian stews such as lentils, ground split peas, grains, accompanied by injera and/or bread. Amharas adhering to any of the Abrahmic religions do not eat pork or shellfish of any kind for religious reasons. Amhara Orthodox Christians do not consume meat and dairy products (i.e. egg, butter, milk, and cheese) during specific fasting periods, and on every Wednesdays and Fridays except

9112-523: The church for baptism at 40 days (for boys) or 80 days (for girls). Surviving Amharic literary works dates back to the 14th century, when songs and poems were composed. In the 17th century Amharic became the first African language to be translated into Latin when Ethiopian priest and lexicographer Abba Gorgoryos (1595–1658) in 1652 AD made a European voyage to Thuringia in Germany . Gorgoryos along with his colleague and friend Hiob Ludolf co-authored

9248-464: The corrupt and uncorrupted hadith, this other source of revelation is not nearly so free of corruption because of the hadith's great political and theological influence.) At least two non-Muslim scholars ( Alan Dundes and Andrew G. Bannister) have examined the possibility that the Quran was not just "recited orally, but actually composed orally". Bannister postulates that some parts of the Quran—such as

9384-407: The duality either way would be reductionistic. Vansina states: Amhara people Amharas ( Amharic : አማራ , romanized :  Āmara ; Ge'ez : ዐምሐራ , romanized:  ʾÄməḥära ) are a Semitic -speaking ethnic group indigenous to Ethiopia , traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia , particularly inhabiting the Amhara Region . According to

9520-772: The earliest grammar book of the Amharic language, an Amharic-Latin dictionary, as well as contributing to Ludolf's book "A History of Ethiopia". Modern literature in Amharic however, started two centuries later than in Europe, with the Amharic fiction novel Ləbb Wälläd Tarik , published in Rome in 1908, widely considered the first novel in Amharic, by Afäwarq Gäbrä Iyäsus . Amhara intellectual Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam pioneered African and Ethiopian theatre when he authored Fabula: Yawreoch Commedia , Africa's first scripted play. Since then countless literature in Amharic has been published and many modern-day writers in Amharic translate their work into English for commercial reasons. Up until

9656-478: The end of the 16th century, the populations of Gojjam , Lasta and Begemder were almost completely made up of Christian Amharic speakers. Despite every work on Ethiopia stressing the political dominance of the Amhara people in the history of the Ethiopian Christian empire. In both Christian and Muslim written traditions up to the 19th century, and in the Ethiopian chronicles of the 14th to 18th centuries,

9792-474: The ensete all the Gonga people grew various potato species, black yams and teff . Pumpkins are recorded to have been introduced by the Oromo. It remains unknown when and how Christianity took roots in Ennarea. Christian influence can be assumed since the 9th century, with the priest-accompanied expedition of Digna-Jan. In the later 14th century a Christian missionary was said to have been sent to Ennarea. However, it

9928-441: The episodes must follow".{{ref|group=Note|Scholar Saad Sowayan referring to the genre of "Saudi Arabian historical oral narrative genre called suwalif ". The Catholic Church upholds that its teaching contained in its deposit of faith is transmitted not only through scripture , but as well as through sacred tradition . The Second Vatican Council affirmed in Dei verbum that

10064-726: The eyes of the contemporary. The Egyptian historian al-Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il in 704 Hijri (1304-1305 AD) labelled the Emperor of Abyssinia as al-Malik al-Amhari or "the Amhara King". In 1436 Ibn Taghribirdi wrote a passage about the death of Emperor Yeshaq referring to him as the Lord of Amhara, "The Hatse, the Abyssinian king, the infidel and the Lord of the Amhara in Abyssinia died (in this year). His estates were much enlarged after wars waged and led by him against Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din ,

10200-768: The first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down. In the Middle East, Arabic oral tradition has significantly influenced literary and cultural practices. Arabic oral tradition encompassed various forms of expression, including metrical poetry , unrhymed prose , rhymed prose ( saj' ), and prosimetrum —a combination of prose and poetry often employed in historical narratives. Poetry held

10336-622: The folk epics known as siyar (singular: sīra) were considered the most intricate. These prosimetric narratives, combining prose and verse, emerged in the early Middle Ages. While many such epics circulated historically, only one has survived as a sung oral poetic tradition: Sīrat Banī Hilāl . This epic recounts the westward migration and conquests of the Banu Hilal Bedouin tribe from the 10th to 12th centuries, culminating in their rule over parts of North Africa before their eventual defeat. The historical roots of Sīrat Banī Hilāl are evident in

10472-449: The form of filigree jewelry and religious emblems. The Amhara culture recognizes kinship, but unlike other ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa region, it has a lesser role. Household relationships are primary, and the major economic, political and cultural functions are not based on kin relationships among the Amharas. Rather abilities of the individual matter. For example, states Donald Levine,

10608-566: The generations. Many forms of recitation or pathas were designed to aid accuracy in recitation and the transmission of the Vedas and other knowledge texts from one generation to the next. All hymns in each Veda were recited in this way; for example, all 1,028 hymns with 10,600 verses of the Rigveda was preserved in this way; as were all other Vedas including the Principal Upanishads , as well as

10744-860: The help of elaborate mnemonic techniques : According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it a "parallel products of a literate society". Mostly recently, research shows that oral performance of (written) texts could be a philosophical activity in early China . It is a common knowledge in India that the primary Hindu books called Vedas are great example of Oral tradition. Pundits who memorized three Vedas were called Trivedis. Pundits who memorized four vedas were called Chaturvedis. By transferring knowledge from generation to generation Hindus protected their ancient Mantras in Vedas, which are basically Prose. The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with

10880-526: The human intellect, and the memory to retain information and sharpen imagination. Perhaps the most famous repository of oral tradition is the west African griot (named differently in different languages). The griot is a hereditary position and exists in Dyula , Soninke , Fula , Hausa , Songhai , Wolof , Serer , and Mossi societies among many others, although more famously in Mandinka society . They constitute

11016-459: The importance of storytelling in preserving Roman history . Valerius Maximus also references oral tradition in Memorable Doings and Sayings (2.1.10). Wiseman argues that celebratory performances served as a vital medium for transmitting Roman history and that such traditions evolved into written forms by the third century CE. He asserts that the history of figures like the house of Tarquin

11152-512: The influence of clergy among the Amhara has been based on "ritual purity, doctrinal knowledge, ability to perform miracles and capacity to provide moral guidance". The social relationships in the Amhara culture are predominantly based on hierarchical patterns and individualistic associations. Family and kin relatives are often involved in arranging semanya (eighty bond marriage, also called kal kidan ), which has been most common and allows divorce. Other forms of marriage include qurban , which

11288-479: The introduction of text , oral tradition remained the only means of communication in order to establish societies as well as its institutions. Despite widespread comprehension of literacy in the recent century, oral tradition remains the dominant communicative means within the world. All indigenous African societies use oral tradition to learn their origin and history , civic and religious duties, crafts and skills, as well as traditional myths and legends . It

11424-641: The king") as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. Yekuno Amlak , a prince from Bete Amhara (lit: House of Amhara) claimed descent from Solomon , and established the Solomonic Dynasty in 1270 AD. The early rulers of the Solomonic Dynasty may have been referred to as the "kings of Amhara ", due to the origin of their founder, Yekuno Amlak , and therefore, their followers were called "Amhara" and brought this new name with them when they conquered new lands. Characterized by

11560-592: The king, however, but the council, the Mikretcho . A decision by the Mikretcho was absolute and could not be vetoed by the king. It was also them who decided what prince would become the next king. The council consisted of following title holders: the Bushashe-rasha (probably two brothers of the current king, who spoke for him on council meetings), the Hinnare-katemerasha (royal representative and leader in war),

11696-451: The last survivor of the Balkan traditions. "All ancient Greek literature", states Steve Reece, "was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so". Homer 's epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, "was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally". As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in

11832-664: The lived experience of earthquakes and floods within tribal memory. According to one story from the Suquamish Tribe , Agate Pass was created when an earthquake expanded the channel as a result of an underwater battle between a serpent and bird. Other stories in the region depict the formation of glacial valleys and moraines and the occurrence of landslides, with stories being used in at least one case to identify and date earthquakes that occurred in 900 CE and 1700. Further examples include Arikara origin stories of emergence from an "underworld" of persistent darkness, which may represent

11968-487: The long and short syllables are repeated by certain rules, so that if an error or inadvertent change is made, an internal examination of the verse reveals the problem. Oral traditions can be passed on through plays and acting, as shown in modern-day Cameroon by the Graffis or Grasslanders who perform and deliver speeches to teach their history through oral tradition. Such strategies facilitate transmission of information without

12104-536: The main and one of the five official languages of Ethiopia. As of 2018, Amharic has over 32 million native speakers and 25 million second language speakers. The Amhara and neighboring groups in North and Central Ethiopia and Eritrea, more specifically the diaspora refer to themselves as "Habesha" ( Abyssinian ) people. Historically, the Amhara held significant political position in the Ethiopian Empire . They were

12240-462: The mid 20th century, Amharic music consisted mainly of religious and secular folk songs and dances. Qañat Amhara secular folk music developed in the countryside through the use of traditionel instruments such as the masenqo , a one-string bowed lute ; the krar , a six-string lyre ; and the washint flute played by the local village musicians called the Azmaris , and the peasantry dancing

12376-563: The mid 9th century AD as a location. Amharic is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba and others. Some time before the 1st century AD, the North and South branches of Ethio-Semitic diverged. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Semitic language and mixed with the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with

12512-601: The mid-19th century. Within the broader territory of Amharic speakers, certain regions developed into autonomous political centers. To the south, beyond Lake Tana, the province of Gojjam developed a dynasty of rulers and became a powerful kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire . The district of Menz in Shewa became the center for the development of a political dynasty culminating in King Sahle Selassie , Emperor Menelik II and Emperor Haile Selassie . Through their control of

12648-418: The millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality. Before

12784-494: The narrative, sometimes answering questions from the audience to ensure understanding, although often someone would learn a tradition without asking their master questions and not really understand the meaning of its content, leading them to speculate in the commentary. Oral traditions only exist when they are told, except for in people's minds, and so the frequency of telling a tradition aids its preservation. These African ethnic groups also utilize oral tradition to develop and train

12920-463: The next 130 years. In 1588 the Oromo took over Ennarea. It was probably this invasion that triggered the Ennarean wish to convert to Christianity. In the same year, emperor Sarsa Dengel pushed south of the Nile, into Ennarea, to bring Christianity. Although Ennarea lost the land between the main Gibe river and Gibe Ennarea due to another Sadacha attack in 1594 it managed to expand north. In the 17th century,

13056-416: The next about Irish folklore and history, particularly in medieval times. The potential for oral transmission of history in ancient Rome is evidenced primarily by Cicero , who discusses the significance of oral tradition in works such as Brutus , Tusculan Disputations , and On The Orator . While Cicero ’s reliance on Cato’s Origines may limit the breadth of his argument, he nonetheless highlights

13192-449: The old tradition of sam-enna warq and used layered expression to evade skirt stringent censorship and oppressive laws (such as the anti-terror law) while reminding the people of their similarities and the importance of maintaining solidarity. In June 2022 Teddy Afro bashed Abiy Ahmed and his regime in a critical new song (Na'et), following the Gimbi massacre . In his song he tries to vent

13328-468: The oldest oral traditions in existence. A basalt stone axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill. Native American society was always reliant upon oral tradition, if not storytelling , in order to convey knowledge, morals and traditions amongst others, a trait Western settlers deemed as representing an inferior race without neither culture nor history, often cited as

13464-405: The oral passing of what had been revealed through Christ through their preaching as teachers. Jan Vansina , who specialised in the history of Central Africa , pioneered the study of oral tradition in his book Oral tradition as history (1985). Vansina differentiates between oral and literate civilisations, depending on whether emphasis is placed on the sanctity of the written or oral word in

13600-683: The origin of the Solomonic dynasty and all the emperors of Ethiopia were Amhara with the exception of Yohannes IV since the restoration of the dynasty in 1270. The earliest extants of the Amhara as a people, dates to the early 12th century in the middle of the Zagwe Dynasty, when the Amhara were recorded of being in conflict in the land of Wargih against the Wärjih in 1128 AD. A non-contemporary 13th or 14th century hagiographical source from Saint Tekle Haymanot traces Amhara even further back to

13736-530: The overall meaning. In this way, the rules that govern the people are modified by the whole and not authored by a single entity. Ancient texts of Hinduism , Buddhism and Jainism were preserved and transmitted by an oral tradition. For example, the śrutis of Hinduism called the Vedas , the oldest of which trace back to the second millennium BCE. Michael Witzel explains this oral tradition as follows: The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without

13872-657: The perception, treatment and duties of these prisoners was markedly different. According to Levine, the widespread slavery in Greater Ethiopia formally ended in the 1930s, but former slaves, their offspring, and de facto slaves continued to hold similar positions in the social hierarchy. The separate Amhara caste system of people ranked higher than slaves was based on the following concepts: (1) endogamy, (2) hierarchical status, (3) restraints on commensality, (4) pollution concepts, (5) traditional occupation, and (6) inherited caste membership. Scholars accept that there has been

14008-402: The political center of Ethiopian society and via assimilation, conquests, and intermarriages, the Amhara have spread their language and many customs well beyond the borders of their primary homeland in Bete Amhara . This expansion served as a cohesive force, binding together the disparate elements of the larger Ethiopian polity. This cohesion proved crucial for the Ethiopian state as it engaged in

14144-419: The present-day distribution of groups claiming descent from the tribe across North Africa and parts of the Middle East. The epic's development into a cohesive narrative was first documented by the historian Ibn Khaldūn in the 14th century. In his writings, Ibn Khaldūn describes collecting stories and poems from nomadic Arabs, using these oral sources to discuss the merits of colloquial versus classical poetry and

14280-563: The process of modern nation-building in the 19th century, thereby preserving its independence against potential threats from European colonial powers. Additionally, it facilitated various modernizing initiatives, including the abolition of the slave trade, the implementation of new communication and transportation systems, the establishment of schools and hospitals, and the creation of modern government institutions. Within traditional Amharic society and that of other local Afro-Asiatic -speaking populations, there were four basic strata. According to

14416-404: The region of Lake Hayq and the famous Istifanos Monastery . The Amhara monarchs moved continuously from region to region, showing a particular preference for the southernly regions of Ifat , Shewa and Dawaro until the political upheavals of the 16th century, after which the province of Begemder became home for the city of Gondar , royal capital for the Ethiopian polity from the 1630s to

14552-649: The remembrance of life in the Arctic Circle during the last ice age, and stories involving a "deep crevice", which may refer to the Grand Canyon. Despite such examples of agreement between geological and archeological records on one hand and Native oral records on the other, some scholars have cautioned against the historical validity of oral traditions because of their susceptibility to detail alteration over time and lack of precise dates. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act considers oral traditions as

14688-586: The same metrical conditions, to express a particular essential idea"). In the case of the work of Homer, formulas included eos rhododaktylos ("rosy fingered dawn") and oinops pontos ("winedark sea") which fit in a modular fashion into the poetic form (in this case six-colon Greek hexameter). Since the development of this theory, of oral-formulaic composition has been "found in many different time periods and many different cultures", and according to another source (John Miles Foley) "touch[ed] on" over 100 "ancient, medieval and modern traditions." The most recent of

14824-517: The second most spoken Semitic language after Arabic . Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Many followers of the Rastafari movement learn Amharic as a second language, as they consider it to be a sacred language. Amharic is the working language of the federal authorities of the Ethiopian government, and one of the five official languages of Ethiopia. It

14960-504: The seven re-tellings of the story of the Iblis and Adam , and the repeated phrases "which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?" in sura 55—make more sense addressed to listeners than readers. Banister, Dundes and other scholars (Shabbir Akhtar, Angelika Neuwirth, Islam Dayeh) have also noted the large amount of "formulaic" phraseology in the Quran consistent with " oral-formulaic composition " mentioned above. The most common formulas are

15096-408: The stories with local characters or rulers to give the stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience, but making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition unreliable. The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in

15232-419: The storyteller's objective at the time. One's rendition of a story was often considered a response to another's rendition, with plot alterations suggesting alternative ways of applying traditional ideas to present conditions. Listeners might have heard the story told many times, or even may have told the same story themselves. This does not take away from a story's meaning, as curiosity about what happens next

15368-402: The succeeding Ennarean monarchs were Catholic or Orthodox. What seems clear, however, is the fact that only the nobility remained Christian in general, with their religion functioning as a kind of elite status, while the common people stuck to Paganism. Ennarea probably played the role of a filter of Christian influences from the north upon the other Gonga people, especially Kaffa and Seka. Islam

15504-491: The suppressed public anger and indignation, the swelling public resentment to the chaos in the country. Amhara art is typified by religious paintings. One of the notable features of these is the large eyes of the subjects, who are usually biblical figures. It is usually oil on canvas or hide, some surviving from the Middle Ages. The Amhara art includes weaved products embellished with embroidery. Works in gold and silver exist in

15640-476: The teachings of Jesus Christ were initially passed on to early Christians by "the Apostles who, by their oral preaching, by example, and by observance handed on what they had received from the lips of Christ, from living with Him, and from what He did". The Catholic Church asserts that this mode of transmission of the faith persists through current-day bishops , who by right of apostolic succession , have continued

15776-505: The term "Amhara" is a region, not an ethnonym. In pre-17th century Ethiopia, Amhara was described as the heartland of the Empire and the cradle of the monarchy. Medieval European maps suggest that within the Ethiopian Empire , Amhara had a higher position as a "kingdom" among provinces. The Italian ( Venetian ) cartographer Fra Mauro , notes a Regno Hamara or "Kingdom of Amhara" in his famous Mappomondo in 1460. Important information on Amhara

15912-650: The use of script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalized early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a tape-recording ... Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. Ancient Indians developed techniques for listening, memorization and recitation of their knowledge, in schools called Gurukul , while maintaining exceptional accuracy of their knowledge across

16048-661: The value of oral histories in written historical works. The Torah and other ancient Jewish literature, the Judeo-Christian Bible and texts of early centuries of Christianity are rooted in an oral tradition, and the term "People of the Book" is a medieval construct. This is evidenced, for example, by the multiple scriptural statements by Paul admitting "previously remembered tradition which he received" orally. Australian Aboriginal culture has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through thousands of years. In

16184-440: The world". Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures: The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of

16320-453: The world's major religions, Islam claims two major sources of divine revelation—the Quran and hadith —compiled in written form relatively shortly after being revealed: The oral milieu in which the sources were revealed, and their oral form in general are important. The Arab poetry that preceded the Quran and the hadith were orally transmitted. Few Arabs were literate at the time and paper

16456-548: Was Jewish (see Beta Israel ). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church maintains close links with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria . Easter and Epiphany are the most important celebrations, marked with services, feasting and dancing. There are also many feast days throughout the year, when only vegetables or fish may be eaten. Marriages are often arranged , with men marrying in their late teens or early twenties. Traditionally, girls were married as young as 14, but in

16592-484: Was already mentioned in the 14th century and was recorded to be of extraordinarily high quality. Evidently, the Ethiopian emperors were quite keen to keep European travellers away from Ennarea, since they feared for their gold monopoly. Concerning horticulture , the Ennareans, like the other Gonga people, cultivated the ensete , or “false banana plant”. It was not only consumed but also used to make toys and clothes. Beside

16728-421: Was for some time also the sole language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by regional languages such as Oromo and Tigrinya . Nevertheless, Amharic is still widely used as the working language of Amhara Region , Benishangul-Gumuz Region , Gambela Region and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region . The Amharic language is transcribed using a script ( Fidal ) which

16864-413: Was historically a medieval province located in the modern province of Wollo ( Bete Amhara ), the area which is now known as the Amhara Region was composed of several provinces which had little or no autonomy, these provinces included Dembiya , Begemder , Gojjam , Wollo, Lasta , Shewa , Semien , Angot and Wag . Evidence of a traceable Christian Aksumite presence in Amhara dates back to at least

17000-472: Was known for his justification of the oral tradition and criticism of the written word. Stories are used to preserve and transmit both tribal history and environmental history, which are often closely linked. Native oral traditions in the Pacific Northwest, for example, describe natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Various cultures from Vancouver Island and Washington have stories describing

17136-434: Was less of a priority than hearing fresh perspectives on well-known themes and plots. Elder storytellers generally were not concerned with discrepancies between their version of historical events and neighboring tribes' version of similar events, such as in origin stories. Tribal stories are considered valid within the tribe's own frame of reference and tribal experience. The 19th century Oglala Lakota tribal member Four Guns

17272-451: Was likely passed down through oral storytelling for centuries before being recorded in literature. Although Flower critiques the lack of ancient evidence supporting Wiseman's broader claims, Wiseman maintains that dramatic narratives fundamentally shaped historiography. In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with

17408-475: Was made so to facilitate the "preservation and remembrance" of the work. Islamic doctrine holds that from the time it was revealed to the present day, the Quran has not been altered, its continuity from divine revelation to its current written form insured by the large numbers of Muhammad's supporters who had reverently memorized the work, a careful compiling process and divine intervention. (Muslim scholars agree that although scholars have worked hard to separate

17544-708: Was marked by debates, both popular and scholarly, on the (non-)existence of Amhara as a distinct ethnic group", giving the debate between the academic Mesfin Woldemariam and president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi in July 1991 as an example. Due to large amounts of assimilation into the northern Amhara culture after Ethiopian imperial expansion , Siegfried Pausewang concluded in 2005 that "the term Amhara relates in contemporary Ethiopia to two different and distinct social groups. The ethnic group of

17680-483: Was not available in the Middle East. The written Quran is said to have been created in part through memorization by Muhammad's companions , and the decision to create a standard written work is said to have come after the death in battle ( Yamama ) of a large number of Muslims who had memorized the work. For centuries, copies of the Qurans were transcribed by hand, not printed, and their scarcity and expense made reciting

17816-438: Was only for a short period: only some decades later, during the reign of emperor Susenyos, it was recorded that Ennarean Christianity had “very much declined". To counter that fact Susenyos, who was a Catholic , sent a large number of priests to Ennarea. Perhaps it was under him when Catholicism was introduced in the region. King Emana Krestos (r. c. 1630–1640) was recorded to be a "very good Catholic", but it remains unclear if

17952-453: Was only in the early 16th when a Christian community was actually recorded to have thrived inside the kingdom. During the reign of king La’Ashohni ( c. 1570–1580), who was recorded to have "loved the Christian religion", a request for baptism was sent to the imperial court, which was, however, rejected, since Christian subjects had to pay considerably less tribute than Pagan ones. The request

18088-549: Was probably only of limited relevance in the region before 1710, although Muslims were mentioned to have lived in Ennarea at the time of king Benero. Chronology based on Werner Lange's "The History of the Southern Gonga (southwestern Ethiopia)": Oral tradition Oral tradition , or oral lore , is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission

18224-419: Was repeated by his son Badancho. This time the emperor accepted the request (though mostly to have a Christian buffer state against the invading Oromo forces). After conversion, Badancho attempted to spread Christianity among his subjects not only by building many churches, but also by offering precious gifts to every single convert. Expectedly, a high number of people converted, but this golden age of Christianity

18360-514: Was soon annexed by the Ethiopian Empire Ennarea developed to the most important kingdom of the non-Muslim south, replacing Damot as one of the biggest gold and slave mines and degrading Kaffa and Bosa to tributaries. By the reign of Yeshaq I (early 15th century) Ennarea is attested to have been a tributary of the empire, although it seems likely that it had been so already since the campaigns of emperor Amda Seyon 100 years earlier. In

18496-582: Was used for subversive dialogue and resistance to state censorship. Thousands of Ethiopians including musicians migrated during this period to form communities in different countries. Amharic songs of resistance against the autocratic EPRDF regime led by the TPLF (1991-2018) continued; with prevailing themes being rampant corruption, economic favoritism, excessive emphasis on ethnic identity and its ability to undermine national unity. Amharic musicians; such as Getish Mamo, Nhatty Man, Teddy Afro and others turned to

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