DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0160
144 HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
cause when the lioness, to test the strength of her nine children, made them leap across
the ditch, according to the wide-spread Galla fable,1 the amakteta succeeded in clinging
with its claws a little below the opposite side of the ditch and therefore only a little behind
the lion. Verse 42 about the panther alludes to the calculation tables of the spoils which
are made use of in the butta (see song 15, notes). Verses 64-68 sing of the slaying of the
hostile Amara. It is noteworthy that such slaying should be reckoned up at the end, per-
haps not so much because it is more glorious (it is to be remembered, on the contrary, that
among some Galla tribes the killing of Amara is not worthy of being included in the butta,
cf. song 34), but because it was the last victorious undertaking of the tribe, and therefore
the one most present in the memory of the hearers. The festival of the is the most
significant ceremony of Galla paganism; thus the Chronicle of Guma (see Prose, text 1)
relates that Adam when he wished to convert Guma to Islam, first of all forbade the
In like manner, the Emperor Menilek forbade the butta to the Galla converted to Christian-
ity, but a terrible drought having come upon them, this misfortune was attributed to the
abandonment of the ancient ceremonies, and Menilek was obliged to revoke his prohibition.
143
The solemn oath of Galla paganism is a special and most interesting rite. Rather
than an oath, it should be called a “sworn renunciation,” because in it one does not swear
to do a thing, but not to do the opposite thing. Thus, Menilek in song 54, v. 24-26, swears
that “ they will not abstain from going among the Arussi,” according to a negative formula;
thus, the mother of Tufa Roba in song 15, v. 74, swears “ not to take a husband,” and there
fore to consider all men forbidden to her by oath. The oath is called by the Galla kakd or
kaku; the Amara who border on the Galla use to indicate such a Galla oath the word
gzzzit which really is equivalent to excommunication. The thing or person who is the
object of the sworn renunciation by which one binds oneself not to do a certain act,
is also called kaku (in Amharic ya-tagazza). The oath is taken with the feet resting on the
skin of a wild boar, and, at the conclusion, a four-pronged fork is hurled into the air. It is
noteworthy to find the skin of the wild boar (regarded from most ancient times as an unclean
animal among the Semito-Hamites) as a property of this ritual. This feature must certainly
be very ancient. Here is a stanza which is recited as the fork is hurled:
nd darbt ggde 5 badt baddu bat
murtutte kaku balbald san badt
ho ubaydy ho ubaydy
qzekd boyen^a ddltu
1 “ Hurl me,” has said 2 the murtutte of the oath. 3 Ho! ubaydy! 4 May the wildboar
inherit my house! 5 Perish! Destroy thyself! 6 0 five doors, perish! 7 Ho! ubaydy!
1 Also collected by Tutscheck.
cause when the lioness, to test the strength of her nine children, made them leap across
the ditch, according to the wide-spread Galla fable,1 the amakteta succeeded in clinging
with its claws a little below the opposite side of the ditch and therefore only a little behind
the lion. Verse 42 about the panther alludes to the calculation tables of the spoils which
are made use of in the butta (see song 15, notes). Verses 64-68 sing of the slaying of the
hostile Amara. It is noteworthy that such slaying should be reckoned up at the end, per-
haps not so much because it is more glorious (it is to be remembered, on the contrary, that
among some Galla tribes the killing of Amara is not worthy of being included in the butta,
cf. song 34), but because it was the last victorious undertaking of the tribe, and therefore
the one most present in the memory of the hearers. The festival of the is the most
significant ceremony of Galla paganism; thus the Chronicle of Guma (see Prose, text 1)
relates that Adam when he wished to convert Guma to Islam, first of all forbade the
In like manner, the Emperor Menilek forbade the butta to the Galla converted to Christian-
ity, but a terrible drought having come upon them, this misfortune was attributed to the
abandonment of the ancient ceremonies, and Menilek was obliged to revoke his prohibition.
143
The solemn oath of Galla paganism is a special and most interesting rite. Rather
than an oath, it should be called a “sworn renunciation,” because in it one does not swear
to do a thing, but not to do the opposite thing. Thus, Menilek in song 54, v. 24-26, swears
that “ they will not abstain from going among the Arussi,” according to a negative formula;
thus, the mother of Tufa Roba in song 15, v. 74, swears “ not to take a husband,” and there
fore to consider all men forbidden to her by oath. The oath is called by the Galla kakd or
kaku; the Amara who border on the Galla use to indicate such a Galla oath the word
gzzzit which really is equivalent to excommunication. The thing or person who is the
object of the sworn renunciation by which one binds oneself not to do a certain act,
is also called kaku (in Amharic ya-tagazza). The oath is taken with the feet resting on the
skin of a wild boar, and, at the conclusion, a four-pronged fork is hurled into the air. It is
noteworthy to find the skin of the wild boar (regarded from most ancient times as an unclean
animal among the Semito-Hamites) as a property of this ritual. This feature must certainly
be very ancient. Here is a stanza which is recited as the fork is hurled:
nd darbt ggde 5 badt baddu bat
murtutte kaku balbald san badt
ho ubaydy ho ubaydy
qzekd boyen^a ddltu
1 “ Hurl me,” has said 2 the murtutte of the oath. 3 Ho! ubaydy! 4 May the wildboar
inherit my house! 5 Perish! Destroy thyself! 6 0 five doors, perish! 7 Ho! ubaydy!
1 Also collected by Tutscheck.