What happened last year, according to Ethiopian calendar, in the land wherein no one is wronged?
Posted: 28 Oct 2020, 18:29
What is tradition? What is culture? What is hospitality?
Can they be born spontaneously out of a gem of somebody's imagination or are they established out of a practice over the ages? I have intuitively thought that it is out of the latter.
I do not think that if it weren't out of the latter, they wouldn't get any attention from the prophets, so much so that one of them would go to the extent of describing a land wherein no one is wronged.
Juxtapose that with what happened in Ethiopia just a few months ago, which is now last year according to Ethiopia's calendar. I have made a conscious decision to not listen to much of the reports. However, even based on the limited reporting I heard or read about, I couldn't help asking what the hell happened in "the land wherein no one is wronged." As a matter of fact, we could ask the same question about what has been happening over the last many decades.
Can a tradition be a brand? Can culture be a brand? Can hospitality be a brand? If not, why would the prophets get out of their ways to describe these attributes so remarkably in the so distant past? How can anyone explain this juxtaposition, which is what I have been asking myself for so some time and expressing it at this time?
In my understanding, "the land wherein no one is wronged" doesn't mean no can be wrong. No, far from it. All of us can be wrong. I think that even the prophets would say they were wrong if they learned about this juxtaposition. There is a big difference between no one being wronged and any conscious attempt to wrong someone.
Were their observations not well-founded or we failed to connect their observations in the so distant past with our own contemporary personal experiences?
Ever since I read about their observations, I have tried to understand and interpret them based on my own personal observation of the culture in which I grew up in rural Ethiopia as well as those I heard about in other rural parts of the country.
For you town folks, there is something called rural Ethiopia. If you live in the U.S., some of the best glimpses of it are the large paintings on the walls inside Fry's Electronics stores, at least in one local store where I live now. That is a different juxtaposition of fascinating rural scenery in one of the leading contemporary electronics stores.
I am certain that most of the people who lived in the distant past that the prophets talked about also lived in the countryside.
One of the stories that I heard about is that if a traveler in the countryside gets thirty and asks for water from a home, it is common that he is offered milk instead of water.
I have recently written about one of the modest homes that my late parents owned. In that small village, it stood out a little bit. It was on a route for caravans of countrymen going to the closest town from far away places to sell produce, purchase goods, and return to their villages. It used to happen about every Saturday, a common market day of the town.
On their way back from town, darkness often fell before some caravans could get back to their villages. It appeared that they often looked for homes that stood out to host them for a night. So, it was common for my late parents to host a small caravan at the family's homes on Saturday nights.
The hosting goes like the following, including rough translations of the conversations.
In the dark (they don't do that when there is still light,) a member of the caravan calls the family: ወረነ (እዚህ ቤተሰብ, this family)
A member of the family, usually the head of the family, responds: ኦ (ወዬ, yes)
The member of the caravan: ኑት ዽዬ፣ ኑ ቡልቻ (መሽቶብን ነዉ፣ ኣሳድሩን, it became dark on us, host us for the night)
The member of the family responds: መን ከን ዋቃት፣ ጎረ ቡላ (ቤት የዋቀ ነዉ፣ ጎራ በሉና እደሩ, the home is Waqa's, come in and spend the night)
That is basically it for the caravans to come in as guests, not as strangers, and spend the night. I don't remember any caravan asked who they are before they are let in. This is one of the typical examples through which I tried to understand the expression "the land wherein no one is wronged."
After the guests come in, they are treated to dinner, if it was ready, or waited chatting, mostly with the head of the family, until it got ready. It would be during that chat that the family gets to know more about the caravan and usually learned about people and other families that both sides knew.
Right after dinner, the guests bless the family for the meal and for hosting them by calling on Waqa. They genuinely appeal to Waqa, at least that is what I think, to pay the family for its generosity and hospitality.
In return, the head of the family also blesses the families of the caravan. My late mother's response to blessings is short and the same: አመናፍ ኤበ ዸቡ (ለዚህች ያህል ምርቃት መነፈግ ኣለ, would one be denied blessing for just this much?)
Moreover, mostly the oldest child who is present at the time, if not away to school, washes the feet of the guests. Yes, I have also washed the feet of guests several times, some of them arriving with shoes, some bare feet.
By the dawn of the next day, they would leave. I don't remember any day when I woke up and saw the guests still there.
I do not understand how other Ethiopians interpret the expressions of the prophets in terms of their lived experiences. For me, this experience feels real enough to connect me with those expressions.
If these values of tradition, culture, and hospitality are not out of the blue either in the distant past or during my own life time as a young man, how can you explain the juxtaposition between these values and what we all witnessed from near and far as happened in Ethiopia? I have been lost for words and I don't understand how anyone can explain it away.
Can they be born spontaneously out of a gem of somebody's imagination or are they established out of a practice over the ages? I have intuitively thought that it is out of the latter.
I do not think that if it weren't out of the latter, they wouldn't get any attention from the prophets, so much so that one of them would go to the extent of describing a land wherein no one is wronged.
Juxtapose that with what happened in Ethiopia just a few months ago, which is now last year according to Ethiopia's calendar. I have made a conscious decision to not listen to much of the reports. However, even based on the limited reporting I heard or read about, I couldn't help asking what the hell happened in "the land wherein no one is wronged." As a matter of fact, we could ask the same question about what has been happening over the last many decades.
Can a tradition be a brand? Can culture be a brand? Can hospitality be a brand? If not, why would the prophets get out of their ways to describe these attributes so remarkably in the so distant past? How can anyone explain this juxtaposition, which is what I have been asking myself for so some time and expressing it at this time?
In my understanding, "the land wherein no one is wronged" doesn't mean no can be wrong. No, far from it. All of us can be wrong. I think that even the prophets would say they were wrong if they learned about this juxtaposition. There is a big difference between no one being wronged and any conscious attempt to wrong someone.
Were their observations not well-founded or we failed to connect their observations in the so distant past with our own contemporary personal experiences?
Ever since I read about their observations, I have tried to understand and interpret them based on my own personal observation of the culture in which I grew up in rural Ethiopia as well as those I heard about in other rural parts of the country.
For you town folks, there is something called rural Ethiopia. If you live in the U.S., some of the best glimpses of it are the large paintings on the walls inside Fry's Electronics stores, at least in one local store where I live now. That is a different juxtaposition of fascinating rural scenery in one of the leading contemporary electronics stores.
I am certain that most of the people who lived in the distant past that the prophets talked about also lived in the countryside.
One of the stories that I heard about is that if a traveler in the countryside gets thirty and asks for water from a home, it is common that he is offered milk instead of water.
I have recently written about one of the modest homes that my late parents owned. In that small village, it stood out a little bit. It was on a route for caravans of countrymen going to the closest town from far away places to sell produce, purchase goods, and return to their villages. It used to happen about every Saturday, a common market day of the town.
On their way back from town, darkness often fell before some caravans could get back to their villages. It appeared that they often looked for homes that stood out to host them for a night. So, it was common for my late parents to host a small caravan at the family's homes on Saturday nights.
The hosting goes like the following, including rough translations of the conversations.
In the dark (they don't do that when there is still light,) a member of the caravan calls the family: ወረነ (እዚህ ቤተሰብ, this family)
A member of the family, usually the head of the family, responds: ኦ (ወዬ, yes)
The member of the caravan: ኑት ዽዬ፣ ኑ ቡልቻ (መሽቶብን ነዉ፣ ኣሳድሩን, it became dark on us, host us for the night)
The member of the family responds: መን ከን ዋቃት፣ ጎረ ቡላ (ቤት የዋቀ ነዉ፣ ጎራ በሉና እደሩ, the home is Waqa's, come in and spend the night)
That is basically it for the caravans to come in as guests, not as strangers, and spend the night. I don't remember any caravan asked who they are before they are let in. This is one of the typical examples through which I tried to understand the expression "the land wherein no one is wronged."
After the guests come in, they are treated to dinner, if it was ready, or waited chatting, mostly with the head of the family, until it got ready. It would be during that chat that the family gets to know more about the caravan and usually learned about people and other families that both sides knew.
Right after dinner, the guests bless the family for the meal and for hosting them by calling on Waqa. They genuinely appeal to Waqa, at least that is what I think, to pay the family for its generosity and hospitality.
In return, the head of the family also blesses the families of the caravan. My late mother's response to blessings is short and the same: አመናፍ ኤበ ዸቡ (ለዚህች ያህል ምርቃት መነፈግ ኣለ, would one be denied blessing for just this much?)
Moreover, mostly the oldest child who is present at the time, if not away to school, washes the feet of the guests. Yes, I have also washed the feet of guests several times, some of them arriving with shoes, some bare feet.
By the dawn of the next day, they would leave. I don't remember any day when I woke up and saw the guests still there.
I do not understand how other Ethiopians interpret the expressions of the prophets in terms of their lived experiences. For me, this experience feels real enough to connect me with those expressions.
If these values of tradition, culture, and hospitality are not out of the blue either in the distant past or during my own life time as a young man, how can you explain the juxtaposition between these values and what we all witnessed from near and far as happened in Ethiopia? I have been lost for words and I don't understand how anyone can explain it away.