By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
The conservative character of traditional Ethiopian life, which we
are considering in these articles, found expression in the opposition of
the Ethiopian Church to the use of tobacco and coffee.
“Enemies of the Church”
Tobacco and coffee might have been expected to have spread widely in
the Christian areas of the country, as in the other provinces, had not
the priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church taken resolute action to
prevent it. Though a theological case was developed against both tobacco
and coffee the underlying reason for their opposition would appear to
be the essentially conservative one that their use had first been
adopted by either Muslims or “animists”, i.e. “pagans” as they used to
be termed. The basic reason, as the French scholar A. Caquot put it, was
that both articles “belonged to the enemies of the monophysite church.”
In the nature of things the Christian areas of the country were the
most isolated. Innovations coming from abroad therefore tended to reach
non-Christian lands, before those inhabited by Christians. The latter
could therefore dismiss almost anything new on the ground that it had
been accepted by others, and was therefore alien to their own culture.
This was so to speak a built-in institution of conservatism.
“The Plant of Setatira”
Christian antagonism to smoking is manifested in a Ge’ez manuscript
of uncertain date entitled the “Dersana Raguel”, or Homily in Honour of
the Archangel Raguel. It refers to tobacco by the mysterious term “plant
of Setatira.” The document, as Caquot says,
“makes vigorous protest against the adoption of pagan practices by
the Christians of Ethiopia. The most abominable of these practices, the
one whose condemnation recurs on almost every page of the text, is the
use of tobacco, without doubt because this practice belonged also to the
enemies of the monophysite church.”
“Poisoned by the Devil”
The document presents its opposition to tobacco in pseudo- historical
terms, by telling of a prophecy supposedly made by the Archangel Raguel
to King Lebna Dengel when the latter was confronted by the invasion of
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, now better known as Gragn, or the Left-Handed. The
text claims that the Archangel called tobacco “more impure than hyena’s
flesh “, as well as a plant “poisoned by the devil.”
Raguel was also supposed to have prophesised victory for the rulers
of Ethiopia, but to have warned them that the gravest possible danger
would result from any compromise with tobacco. He supposedly declared
that if the rulers of the country were “lovers of the plant of Setatira”
they would be “prevented from triumphing” over their enemies. “Instead
our God will cut them to pieces at the least pretext”, by placing in the
hand of the enemy “the sword of malediction”. And the text continues:
“If the King [i.e. Lebna Dengel] does not renounce smoking the plant
of Setatira the priests of Ethiopia will be exterminated by war and
famine, his kingdom will not be soon restored, and he will not lack
tribulation among the priests and princes in every land . . .”
On the other hand:
“if the King excludes from the Church those who love the plant of
Setatira his kingdom will be restored and he will govern the whole
world, not only Ethiopia, but also Egypt and Rome.”
A great prophecy this, on any showing!
“A Demon responsible”
Another manuscript, apparently written at the same time, also
contains a critique of tobacco. This document, entitled “History of
Gragn and of the Gallas”, claims that a demon was responsible for
popularising the practice of smoking among what it terms the Gallas,
i.e. the Oromos in modern parlance, and added that the practice incited
pride, debauchery and idolatry in all who adopted it.
Lebna Dengel and his subjects, according to this text, subsequently
learnt the custom of smoking from the Gallas, i.e. Oromos, with the
result that the King became “inordinately proud”, even going to the
extent of praying for a war so that he could have enemies to defeat. The
Echage, or chief of the monks, was reportedly very worried. However, a
group of Egyptian and other foreign Christians (damn them!) declared
that, though they had abandoned idolatry in their own country, they
nonetheless permitted smoking.
Fortified by this information Lebna Dengel is said to have ordered
that any priest prohibiting the use of tobacco should be punished. When
they heard this, it is claimed, “all the priests began to smoke”. One
monk of Debra Metmaq was even supposed to have taken tobacco while
celebrating Mass, but, the text asserts, was thereupon struck dead as a
punishment for this offense. (A punishment he obviously much deserved!)
“Growing on the Grave of Arius”
Traditional condemnation of the use of tobacco, which, as we see it,
was very largely conservative in character, was deeply ingrained in
Ethiopian society. The late nineteenth century French traveller Jules
Borelli came across the legend that smoking was forbidden because the
plant had grown on the tomb of Arius.
For his own part, however, Borelli believed that the real reason for
the prohibition was that smoking was practiced by the Gallas, i.e.
Oromos, during their tribal assemblies which sometimes preceded
political disturbance.
Borelli’s twentieth century compatriot, the ethnographer Marcel
Griaule, later picked up an entirely different tradition. It held that
there was a widespread belief that the plant should be pulled up,
because when Christ was crucified it was the only living thing that did
not wither, in shame.
Opposition to tobacco in the first part of the nineteenth century was
in fact widely established throughout the Ethiopian highlands. Hatred
of the plant was expressed not only by the Christian population, but
also by the Falashas, who, according to the German missionary Martin
Flad, were “strictly forbidden” from smoking, and could not enter their
temples if they took snuff.
Opposition to Coffee Drinking
Opposition to the drinking of coffee was also very intense in many
parts of Ethiopia, particularly in Shoa, which lay on the borders of
lands inhabited by coffee drinking peoples. The German missionary J.L.
Krapf, reporting in the 1840′s, stated that the priests would not allow
the drinking of this beverage. He claimed that this was partly because
the beverage was drunk by the Gallas, or Oromos, in their non-Christian
festivities, and partly “in opposition to the Mohammedans.” The British
envoy Cornwallis Harris likewise observed that the cultivation of coffee
trees was “strictly interdicted” to Christians, as “savouring too
strongly” of the Muslims. Another British traveller of this time,
Douglas Graham, notes that he and a party of his compatriots were
“considered Muslims” because of their practice of drinking coffee and
smoking tobacco.
Food Conservatism
The element of conservatism, which we are discussing in these
articles, also found expression, historically, in a certain initial
reluctance on the part of Shoa Amharas to adopt Oromo or Gurage, items
of diet. Thus the above cited “Amharic History of Gragn and of the
Gallas” whose author, as we have seen, was most conservative, arguing
that the qencha of the Oromos, i.e. a kind of mash made of boiled barley
and butter, when eaten by the Amharas, led to “pride, debauchery and
idolatory”, in exactly the same way as did the smoking of tobacco. The
same document also included an indictment of what it regarded as other
“Galla practices”, such as the chewing of the narcotic chat, the
anointing of persons with blood, and the decoration of horses with
amulets.
The conservatism of this period is, however, apparent in areas of
activity which cannot be explained in terms of fear, distrust, or
dislike, of neighbours.
There is abundant evidence to show that many early nineteenth century
Ethiopians for example maintained a very conservative attitude to the
sword. Importers were in general in agreement that this weapon could
only be assured of a ready sale if it was of the traditional type, i.e.
curved and without a hilt. Swords differing from the norm, the traders
learnt to their cost, were by no means popular, and found virtually no
sale at all.
Amoles, Salt bars, or Maria Theresa Dollars
No less revealing, perhaps, was the popular attitude to money, the
embodiment of wealth. Notwithstanding the inconveniences of such items
of “primitive money”, as the “amole”, or bar of salt, the introduction
of the Maria Theresa dollar in the early nineteenth century was a most
difficult affair.
When the British traveller Henry Salt visited Antalo, the capital of
Tigray, in 1805, he tried to obtain some dollars with the aid of credit,
but was told by the ruler, Ras Walde Sellassie, that Antalo was a town
of:
“cattle, bread and honey; why do you want money? There is none to be
had here . . . everything that you may want, you shall have, till you
are safe at Massawa.”
A generation or so later it is recorded that a chieftain of Shoa
offered a horse for sale. The price agreed upon was two hundred pieces
of salt. So many pieces not being readily available the purchaser sent
the equivalent in dollars, whereupon the chief replied, in most
conservative terms, “I have kept your silver because you have sent it;
but in future when I sell you a horse, I shall expect you to pay me in
salt.”
Behind these stories lies the considerable suspicion with which the
Maria Theresa dollar was regarded, in large measure at least because it
was new. Foreign travellers of the early nineteenth century are
unanimous in declaring that the Ethiopian public would only accept the
new currency after the most minute scrutiny, particularly of the
ornament on the queen’s effigy. The English surgeon Charles Johnston for
example states that when a dollar was offered in payment it would be
“at first well scrubbed with the fingers, then spat upon, followed by a
good rub in the hair, and very probably, after all, the coin is handed
back with a sagacious shake of the head, as much as to say, ‘I am not
going to be done in that way.’”
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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