Religious Mahbär in Ethiopia: Ritual Elements, Dynamics, and Challenges

This article explores the religious association mahbär, also called tsïwwa, in Ethiopia. Data from lay practitioners as well as priests show that religious mahbär has many religious as well as social functions. It is a ritual with long traditions in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church. The author...

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Auteurs: Flemmen, Anne Britt (Auteur) ; Zenebe, Mulumebet (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2016
Dans: Journal of religion in Africa
Année: 2016, Volume: 46, Numéro: 1, Pages: 3-31
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Äthiopien / Äthiopische Kirche / Rite / Changement socioculturel
RelBib Classification:KBL Proche-Orient et Afrique du Nord
KDF Église orthodoxe
Sujets non-standardisés:B religious association Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Christian mahbär tsïwwa commemoration zïkïr gender modernization
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Résumé:This article explores the religious association mahbär, also called tsïwwa, in Ethiopia. Data from lay practitioners as well as priests show that religious mahbär has many religious as well as social functions. It is a ritual with long traditions in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church. The authors show that what characterizes mahbär as a ritual is its unusual richness, complexity, multifunctionality and flexibility. By placing it within the Ethiopian religious context and the present development, the authors discuss why religious mahbär is in decline despite its multiple functions, flexibility, and support from the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Church. In difficult economic times one would expect traditional rituals such as mahbär to become more important to people, and hence to be strengthened, but this does not seem to be the case here. In the authors’ view, three factors are pushing this decline: economic challenges, time constraints, and member recruitment.
ISSN:1570-0666
Contient:In: Journal of religion in Africa
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340062