Religious & Cultural benefits
* Extended Fasting Restrictions: Strict adherence to religious veganism and abstaining from animal proteins for roughly 200 days a year impacts agricultural value chains. Critics argue this restricts dietary diversity and limits essential nutrient intake, particularly for children and pregnant women. Ethiopia is known for malnutrition in the world.
* Work Stoppages & Church Holidays: Devout Orthodox communities follow a calendar of frequent saint and church holidays where physical labor is often prohibited. Economically, critics argue this results in lost work hours and reduced productivity.
* Gluttony & Feasting Cycles: The abrupt end of long fasts—like the 55-day Lent fast (Tsome Abiy)—often leads to sudden, heavy consumption of meat (Kircha). Medical perspectives note that these drastic dietary shifts can strain digestive systems.
* Belief in Faith Healing (Tsebel): Heavy reliance on holy water (Tsebel) and traditional faith healing over modern medical interventions can delay crucial health treatments and lead to the spread of disease in crowded monastic or ceremonial settings.
* Folklore & Tradition: Some critics point to a rigid prioritization of religious folklore and dogma, which they argue can suppress secular education and critical scientific thinking in rural areas.
Socioeconomic & Political
* Political Disenfranchisement: Dominant narratives around historical "Amhara rule" have bred resentment and systemic ethnic tensions throughout Ethiopia, leading to allegations of past marginalization of other ethnic groups.
* Corruption & Nepotism: Institutional corruption and entrenched nepotism have been cited as barriers to transparent governance and equitable economic distribution in Ethiopian history.
* Resistance to Reform: Patriarchal traditions and a strict adherence to deeply rooted social hierarchies have been criticized for impeding modern concepts of gender equality and rapid social reform.
Not sure this happened in Wurage villages, one Pente "prophet" instructed to unearth the cemetery of fresh-dead Wurage so that he would wake-up the dead. He jumpped jumped like a goat, but poor dead wurage was fallen in peace like a dear by the curb of a road.