Amhara people

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 the perception, treatment and duties of these prisoners was markedly different.[61] 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.^[62]

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.^[58][63] Scholars accept that there has been 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,^[64][65] whereas others such as David Todd assert that this system can be unequivocally labelled as caste-based.^[66][67][68]

Language

The Amhara speak "Amharic" ("Amarigna", "Amarinya") as their

Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic.[71] Many followers of the Rastafari movement learn Amharic as a second language, as they consider it to be a sacred language.^[72]

Amharic is the working language of the federal authorities of the Ethiopian government, and one of the five official languages of Ethiopia. It was for some time also the sole language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by regional languages such as

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 was Jewish (see Beta Israel).^[74]

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church maintains close links with the

Marriages are often arranged, with men marrying in their late teens or early twenties.^[75] Traditionally, girls were married as young as 14, but in 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.^[75] 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 the church for baptism at 40 days (for boys) or 80 days (for girls).^[76]

Culture

Literature

Surviving Amharic literary works dates back to the 14th century, when songs and poems were composed.^[77] In the 17th century Amharic became the first African language to be translated into Latin^[78] 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 the earliest grammar book of the Amharic language, an Amharic-Latin dictionary, as well as contributing to Ludolf's book "A History of Ethiopia".^[79][80]

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.^[81] Amhara intellectual Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam pioneered African and Ethiopian theatre when he authored Fabula: Yawreoch Commedia, Africa's first scripted play.^[82] Since then countless literature in Amharic has been published and many modern-day writers in Amharic translate their work into English for commercial reasons.^[83]

• 
  Abba Gorgoryos (1595-1658)
• 
  Afäwarq Gäbrä Iyäsus (1868-1947)
• 
  Heruy Wolde Selassie (1878-1938)
• 
  Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam (1884-1977)
• 
  Kebede Michael (1916-1998)
• 
  Getatchew Haile (1931-2021)
• 
  Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin (1936-2006)
• 
  Asfa-Wossen Asserate (1948–present)

Music

Up until the mid 20th century, Amharic music consisted mainly of religious and secular folk songs and dances.^[84] Qañat Amhara secular folk music developed in the countryside^[85] 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,^[86] and the peasantry dancing the Eskista; the most well known Amharan folk dance.^[87] The begena, a large ten-string lyre; is an important instrument solely devoted to the spiritual part of Amhara music.^[88] 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 the 1960s and 1970s Golden Age of Ethiopian music.^[89][90] 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.^[91] 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.^[92][93] Other Amharic artists from 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

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 the suppressed public anger and indignation, the swelling public resentment to the chaos in the country.^[99]

• 
  Getatchew Mekurya(1935-2016)
• 
  Tilahun Gessesse(1940-2009)
• 
  Alemayehu Eshete(1941–2021)
• 
  Mulatu Astatke
  (1943–present)
• 
  Alemu Aga
  (1950–present)
• 
  Aster Aweke
  (1959–present)
• 
  Teddy Afro
  (1976–present)
• 
  Zeritu Kebede
  (1984–present)

Art

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 the form of filigree jewelry and religious emblems.^{[citation needed]}

Kinship and marriage

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, 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".^[17]: 120 The social relationships in the Amhara culture are predominantly based on hierarchical patterns and individualistic associations.^[17]: 123

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.^[100] Other forms of marriage include qurban, which is solemnized in church, where divorce is forbidden, and usually observed among the orthodox priests.^[101][102] Patrilineal descent is the norm.^[101] 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.^[102][103]

Cuisine

Amhara cuisine consists of various vegetable or spicy meat side dishes and entrées, usually 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 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.^[104][105]

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 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.^[104][105]

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 a Jebena (coffee pot) with boiling water. When ready it is then served to people in little cups, up to three times per ceremony.^[104][105]

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.^[104][105]

• 
  Doro Wot
  A stew dish served with beef, lamb, chicken, eggs and variety of vegetables, on top of Injera flatbread.
• 
  Gored gored
  A spicy raw beef dish seasoned with a variety of spices.
• 
  Tibs

  
  Grilled beef with tomato, onions and green peper. There are several variations of Tibs dishes.
• 
  ful
  Beans with variety of vegetables, feta cheese and bread, flavored with Berbere spice and olive oil.
• 
  vegan

  dish.
• 
  Tej
  Honey Wine.
• 
  Buna
  Amhara coffee culture & hospitality. Young woman in traditional wear serving coffee.

Nature of Amhara ethnicity

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: the rise of Amhara ethnic nationalism and the resultant growth of ethnic identification. See Talk:Amhara people for discussion on this topic. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2020)

Mackonen Michael (2008)^[106] noted that 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 the Northern Shoans as oppressive‐Amharas."^[107]

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".^[108] Similarly, Tezera Tazebew notes that "the early 1990s 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.^[109]

Due to large amounts of assimilation into the northern Amhara culture after Ethiopian

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 is a cultural identity; however, much of the scholarship indicates that it is solely a class-based identity, devoid of ethnicity".[111]

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 a multi-ethnic group who speak Amharic".^[112]

Writing in 1998, Tegegne Teka wrote that "the Amhara do not possess what people usually refer to as objective ethnic markers: common ancestry, territory, religion and shared experience except the language. The Amhara have no claims to a common ancestry. They do not share the same sentiments and they have no mutual interests based on shared understandings. It is, therefore, difficult to conclude that the Amhara belong to an ethnic group. But this does not mean that there is no Amhara identity".^[113]

According to ethnographer Donald Levine, writing in 2003 and citing Christopher Clapham, "Only in the last quarter of the 20th cent. has the term [Amhara] come to be a common ethnic appellation, comparable to the way in which Oromo has become generalized to cover peoples who long knew themselves primarily as Boorana (Boräna), Guğği, Mäč̣č̣a and the like. Even so, Amharic-speaking Šäwans still feel themselves closer to non-Amharic-speaking Šäwans than to Amharic-speakers from distant regions like Gondär and there are few members of the Šäwan nobility who do not have Oromo genealogical links".^[114] According to Takkele Taddese, Amharic-speakers tend to be a "supra-ethnic group" composed of "fused stock".^[115] Taddese describes the Amhara as follows:

The Amhara can thus be said to exist in the sense of being a fused stock, a supra-ethnically conscious ethnic Ethiopian serving as the pot in which all the other ethnic groups are supposed to melt. The language, Amharic, serves as the center of this melting process although it is difficult to conceive of a language without the existence of a corresponding distinct ethnic group speaking it as a mother tongue. The Amhara does not exist, however, in the sense of being a distinct ethnic group promoting its own interests and advancing the

Herrenvolk philosophy and ideology as has been presented by the elite politicians. The basic principle of those who affirm the existence of the Amhara as a distinct ethnic group, therefore, is that the Amhara should be dislodged from the position of supremacy and each ethnic group should be freed from Amhara domination to have equal status with everybody else. This sense of Amhara existence can be viewed as a myth.^[115]

In the 17th century, Abyssinian traveler Abba Gorgoryos states the following in a letter to his German friend Hiob Ludolf:

As to my origins, do not imagine, my friend, that they are humble, for I am of the House of Amhara which is a respected tribe; from it come the heads of the Ethiopian people, the governors, the military commanders, the judges and the advisers of the King of Ethiopia who appoint and dismiss, command and rule in the name of the King, his governors, and grandees. "^[116]

On March 28, 1898, near

*Amhara forces: We are from the sovereign of the Amhara Menelik.
Turkana tribe: We do not know Amhara-Menelik. Go away! Go away!

• Turkana tribe: Who is this Amhara-Menelik to whom we are supposed to submit?
  Amhara forces: We are Amhara, and Menelik is our great king.^[117]

The rise of ethnic consciousness and nationalism

Zola Moges notes the emergence of Amhara nationalism and ethnic consciousness with origins in the early 1990s but taking clearer shape with the establishment of the National Movement of Amhara in 2018 along with the rise of Fano ethnic militias in the 2010s. Moges writes that a "younger generation has adopted its 'Amharaness'; but most ordinary people are yet to fully embrace it, not least because of the lack of any effectively articulated ideological foundation or priorities and the absence of any 'tailor-made' solutions to the challenges facing them".^[118]

Amanuel Tesfaye writes that: "While the older Amhara population still detest ethnic identification and ethnic forms of political organization, preferring pan-Ethiopian nationalism, the young have no problem pronouncing their Amhara identity, advocating for the protection and advancement of the rights and interests of their ethnic kin within the framework of the multi-nation state, and organizing politically along that particular ethnic identity".^[119]

Amhara nationalism in the 2020's

Amhara nationalism, which was once seen as taboo, exploded during the Tigray War. Civilian's from the Amhara and Agew ethnic groups took up arms to defend the region from the TPLF rebel groups and take back the contested lands of Welkait-Tegede and Raya Azebo which were forcefully annexed and ethnically cleansed into Tigray by the TPLF in 1991. The joint militias from Wollo, Gojjam, Gonder, and Shewa unified as one under the name of Fano. Mistrust between the Amhara people and Abiy Ahmed's Prosperity Party heightened when Abiy Ahmed made the surprise decision to retreat from Tigray on July 1, 2021, leading to the TPLF aligned Tigray Defense Forces marching thorough cities in North Gonder, North Wollo, and Wag Hemra causing mass rape and destruction.

The Ethiopian National Defense Forces further severed their relationship with the Amhara Fano when they forced the Fano to disarm after the end of the Tigray war resulting in the beginning of the Amhara War in April 2023.

Wide spread attacks and mob killings of Amhara women and children by the Oromo Liberation Army and aligned Oromo nationalist groups in Oromia, specifically Wollega, for the past decade has caused widespread outrage around the Amhara region. This wave of violence has led to more Amharas turning towards Amhara nationalism to seek justice.

Genetics

Autosomal ancestry

Research shows that Amharas have a mixture of a type of native African ancestry unique and autochthonous to the Horn of Africa, as well as ancestry originating from a non-African back-migration. Pickrell et al. (2014) found that, among Ethiopians, West Eurasian ancestry peaks in the Amhara and Tigrayans at 49% and 50%, respectively.^[120] Hodgson et al. (2014) found a distinct African ancestral component in Afro-Asiatic populations in the Horn (dubbed "Ethiopic")^[121]

Studies comparing blood oxygenation in Amharas to nearby lowlands populations, and to the Andeans and Tibetans showed unique adaptations to living in a high altitude environment.^[122][123]

Uniparental lineages

See also

• Habesha people
• History of Ethiopia
• Ethiopians

References

Further reading

• ISBN 3-447-04496-9
  .
• Donald N. Levine, Wax & Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972)
  ISBN 0-226-45763-X

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amhara people.

• Lemma, Marcos (MD, PhD). "Who ruled Ethiopia? The myth of 'Amara domination'". Ethiomedia.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2005.
• People of Africa, Amhara Culture and History

See also

• Amhara Region coup d'état attempt
• Habesha people
• History of Ethiopia

Further reading

• ISBN 3-447-04496-9
  .
• Donald N. Levine, Wax & Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972)
  ISBN 0-226-45763-X

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amhara people.

• Lemma, Marcos (MD, PhD). "Who ruled Ethiopia? The myth of 'Amara domination'". Ethiomedia.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2005.
• People of Africa, Amhara Culture and History