[quoted from Torrey 1970:53 :-] "There are also several spirits which are said to be similar to Zar spirits but which are called by different names. Woukabi, Abokebre, Tenquai, and Wizard are the most common of these."

[quoted from H. S. Lewis 1984:422 :-] "calling the spirits, the drumming, and the dance and trance and jerking (gurri) which indicates the spirits’ presence; the dreams which foretell the coming of a spirit and call for the building of temples; the idea that a person is "caught" by the spirits; the enlistment of servants pledged to the service of the spirits."

p.

adbar

102

"The adbar is a female, protective spirit, and She protects a certain neighborhood, its inhabitants and their land, animals and children from all sorts of ailments, if properly treated. In ... most places where trees are found, the adbar "is" {hath as abode} an old, huge t.ed [Juniperus procera] {cf. <ar. /t.wd/ ‘to soar’} with branches which stretch themselves out in a wide circle from the trunk, thus providing a natural "room" with a deep and high roof and lowered walls from the bowed branches. In other tracts of the country, stone adbars may still be revered. {cf. <ar. /t.adah/ ‘mullet’ (LA-L 3:77b), mullet being used to punish adulterers (Juv. 10:317; Cat. 15:19 – cited in LD s.v. "mugil"), much as adulterers were punished by Aztec god of stones Itztlacoliuhqui} ... The tree is referred to as the adbar, and it is ... able to take a mortal revenge on people who try to cut it. {Mortal revenge was likewise taken by Hellenic tree-nymphs (druades et al.) upon humans who hewed down their tree.} ... The wide branches of the old tree were therefore supported

103

with sticks ... when they became too wide to support themselves. ... The regularised "interaction" with the adbar is the coffee ceremony ... . People sometimes stress that the coffee ceremony is ... done for the adbar of the house."

104

"The personal adbar needs a bigger feast in its honour once a year ... in the generally dangerous month of Genbot, a feast called ya:-genbot bora:ntecha ... held ... in the evening, after dark." [fn. 178 : "Oromo ... genii loci or boranticha ... spirits, living "in or around streams, lakes ...""]

105

"the adbar’s property ... is ... a ja:ba:na (coffee pot) {with coffee-pot cf. Chinese (and Japanese) Tea Caerimony held in a garden of "sacred trees" ("JG")} and an umbrella. ... . ... suti [fn. 179 : "Suti are decorated, colourful, embroidered pieces of cloth"] ... were ... kept in the adbar".{ cf. the Hellenic custom of "hanging ... ribbons from the branches of sacred trees" ("VO")}

p.

power

122

"A secret herb, known by ta:mari, is used by the sa:labi to make themselves invisible and hidden for human eyes (es.a ma:sa:wer, "hiding herb"). [fn. 200 : "for (becoming a) sa:labi : "you take the left fore-foot of a hyena three times around the threshing-field and bury it". {In Mande belief, "The hyena ... has the power to make itself invisible." (WE, p. 65)}]

123

"the evil eye (buda ...)" : ""blacksmiths (man) and potters (women), are believed to be hereditary carriers of the buda power".

124

"spirits who are believed to have special attachment to water , especially rivers, may be ... having ... the assistance of a bahr ka:fach (lit. "sea opener") ... . People who claim to have made use of the services of such experts, allege that they could "hear the voice of the Devil" ..., and that large rocks came flying through the air at the riverbed."

"the t.a:t[.]a:r t.ay (lit. "gravel investigator", from t.a:t.a:r, gravel, pebble, and t.a:ya:qa:, query, ask, question). ... The pebbles have to be collected from a river (probably in the Afar region, e.g. Robi Adawi), and knowledge of how to "throw the pebbles" is also ascribed to the Adal (Afar), from whom some of the Amhara t.a:t.a:r t.ay have learned it. The small stones, thirty-four in number, are black {cf. black pebble in Ka<bah of Makkah} and rounded ..., ... and when they are "interrogated", they are thrown at a small straw plate with a pedestal (erbo)."

p.

weqabi

126

"confirmation of weqabi means that the patient from this point on has to cultivate his relation with one or several spirits, which until now have caused sickness and suffering but which can be turned into a benevolent relationship if properly cultivated and respected. The relationship ... is impossible to break ... and thus may last until his death; only weqabi has the power ... to decide the terms by which they are to "live together". Neither the possessed person nor any other human agent is able to exorcise a weqabi from its host."

127

[statement by female bala: weqabi :] "He put me at the top of a big tree. He made me stay there for three days. ... He put me at the top of the house for three days. ... He told his name. He said "I will explain it all, and I will make erect what is bent. I will cure the sick, and I will give solution (ma:ftehe`) for the people"."

128

"The weqabis and the zars have their own "spirit language" (glossolalia, or rather an "argot" of Amharic ...), and some bala: weqabis claim that their spirit speaks all kinds of languages (xenoglossia) ... . [The female spirit-medium who was taught reading by God] even claimed to understand the languages of animals, and she explained that she did not eat chicken or goats, "because I understand their language"! Morton (1973:289) may well be right in that "glossolalia is one of the main signs of possession by a wuqabi." In Ga:na:t, the weqabi language is known as ta:gori."

[statement by an "elderly woman, who practices as a bala: weqabi" :] "I was taught by God [infra : "I do not know who"] for nine months, using books, I was not able to read before that. After that, I became able to understand all the languages, except the language of the monkeys. ... I do not know who taught me. {not knowing the name of the specific deity} He did it in my dreams. I’m praying, standing on one foot {Goddess Sati stood on a single foot in order to prove herself worthy of marrying S`iva.}, and He is telling he to my ears ... . ... He taught me how to calm down people who have gone mad, and how to cure sick persons. ... I was not able to talk for one year ... . The sickness was when I was fourteen years old, that time I returned from death. ... The wa:ge`sha (a woman) gave me medicine from stinging nettle (sama) and I became cured. ...

129

(Her husband adds): ... He [the deity] made her stand, looking at the stars for hours in evenings and mornings." {cf. Siddha-artha’s attainment of Buddhahood by observing the morning star.}

132

T.a:qwar ... : "the black one"."

p.

communication

142

"he serves coffee from the big ja:ba:na (coffee pot) which is reserved for the haja sessions ... .

143

After all have been served the first round of coffee, the session may start, and the second and third round of coffee may be done parallel to it ... . [fn. 229 : "all three rounds of coffee (abol-, ba:ra:ka-, and sosta:gna buna respectively) have to be served, and one should accept a cup from each round".] ... After the initial prayers, part of which may be in weqabi "language" (ta:gori) and unintelligible for others ... the session soon starts, and clients are called one by one to the fence, where they start their dialogue with the spirit."

p. 146

clients of the possessed spirit-medium : "When they have their turn to address the spirit, they greet Him ..., kiss the ground outside the fence, and stand erect ... . Both men and women may wet their faces with their tears, and several times during their spiritual dialogue ... with an exclamation of respect ... : ... ("OK Lord", "that is truth, Lord", "that is correct, my Lord")."

p. 147

description of function of servant of the spirit-medium : "the zar spirit, speaking through His possessed medium ..., described the function of the agafari, which was to "treat the participants in the reception room and give a sort of seminar ... to them before they join the hadra.""

"For ... everyday matters ... the medium needs somebody to communicate with the spirit on his behalf. ... such matters may be to ask the weqabi’s permission to travel, even short distances, to beg Him to foregive him minor faults he might have made himself guilty of ... . [The bala: weqabi] has a group of ... persons who can act as his intermediators and who are related to him as his shemagele` ["lit "elder", "old person" (fn. 235)]."

"Ya:-t.ut lej" is a adoptee. "The sweet finger symbolises the breast or nipple (t.ut); hence ya:-t.ut lej means "breast child"." {cf. Indra’s pointing his finger at the moon in order to extract amr.ta thence.}

p.

official

duty

151

sa:gle`n

"to receive ... sela:t ..., to ask clients who bring such gifts about their case, and to inform the weqabi about them. They will bring the gift before the spirit and He will bless it."

ga:ra:d (‘woman servant’)

"to make wa:t." [wa:t is a "stew, usually made of pulses and red pepper" (p. 245)]

152

balte`t (‘elderly woman’)

"In Ma:saka:ra:m they bring fresh flowers. On Ma:sqa:l they clean the weqabi be`t using cow dung". {In India, cow-dug is likewise used to purify sacred places.}

p.

coffee

154

"The Ethiopian church was very much opposed to coffee drinking, and especially so in Sha:wa." {Likewise, the Mormon church is very much opposed to the drinking of coffee (and of tea).}

"The spirit may demand a house built for his ja:ba:na [cf. <ib. /gibben/ crookbackt/] (coffee pot) ra:ka:bot [cf. <ib. /rkub/ ‘chariot’] (coffee tray) as a token of deference and honour. ...

155

The most central act in serving weqabi is the kedmiya – to prepare and serve coffee in His honour. ... It is the weqabi who also appoints this specialist assistant; ... a kadami ... . ...

156

It is tempting to suggest a parallel between the kadami, whose responsibility it is to prepare the coffee in the spirits’ honour, and the aqabit of the church, who also prepared a central and symbol-loaded element : the wine and the bread which is consumed ... . The coffee ceremony may thus be viewed as a ... version of the Holy Communion, ... which ... replaced ... pre-Christian ... coffee".

Moti Rabi.

T.a:qwar."

"night sessions ... during which only close adepts (shemagele`woch) and other bala: weqabis ... have participated" : "Such night sessions are the events of the cult adepts, where ... the demands and cravings from the spirits are communicated and discussed between spirits and humans. Such sessions involve the use of drums (debi) ... . Hand-clapping by non-possessed and frantic dancing by the possessed are normal elements in such sessions."

p.

sections

175

"Inside, the house is divided in three sections, each separated by ... rather high fences made of bamboo poles and pieces of cloth. ...

176

The sections of the house are :

176-7

p. 176 alga kefel (alga ‘throne’ + kefel ‘room’)

p. 177 "the room for ... the ashka:r/ga:ra:d, and the balte`t ... sitting ... at the right wall."

178-9

p. 178 sa:q:ala kefel (sa:qa:la ‘hanging’)

p. 178 "with ... bench ... for ... the sagle`n ... and the weqabi abat". decorated with branches from the wa:yra tree, which are (p. 179) replaced annually.

179

h^alqa kefel

sacred objects (including "ceremonial costume") are stored herein.

180

The sida is ... apparently a borrowing from Oromo, where it is "a place of worship, usually a pile of pebbles ..."". {cf. Mongolian sacred cairns}

p.

object

181

the spear (t.or). The spear symbolises ... the hunter ... (... Ada:gn Wa:rqu – "Wa:rqu the Hunter" ...)."

182, fn. 257

[quoted from Morton 1973:611 :] "wuqabi ... Birr Alenga ("silver whip") to whom the whip belongs."

182

The other ... is perfume or eau de cologne. Before ... sessions, household members and guests sometimes get generous doses of perfume or eau de cologne from spray bottles."