Excerpted from Rastafari and Its Shamanist Origins by Wade A. Bailey.

Ethiopia’s bedrock belongs to the earth’s first continent, a continent called Gondwanaland by geologists, of which Africa forms the last intact remnant. The structures of this 600-million-year-old land, made up of hard, massive folded pre-Cambrian crystalline rock, have been covered over throughout most of Ethiopia by recent formations. Ethiopia is called the cradle of mankind by some geologists and anthropologists. The Bible records in Genesis 2:8-14 that: ‘And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison, that is, it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good, there is Bdellium and the Onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second is Gihon (Blue Nile) the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel, that is, the river which goeth toward the east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. As per the biblical description Eden was a huge landmass and the river that flowed out of it, straddled more than one country, Ethiopia is one that was specifically named as being completely surrounded by one of the rivers namely Gihon (Blue Nile), judging from the biblical description the Garden of Eden is placed on the African continent, interestingly said placement is in agreement with, scientific, archaeological, historical references and evidence.

Here we have a visual map aide showing the proximity of Arab countries to Africa; from those countries, Cannabis was introduced to the continent. Ethiopia is located in northeastern Africa, the ‘Horn’ of Africa, so-called because of the horn-shaped tip of the continent, which demarcates the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean. Ethiopia is bordered by Sudan on its western border, Somalia to the southeast, Kenya to the south, Djibouti to the east, and Eritrea to the north and northeast. Ethiopia consists of four major river systems. The first system consists of the Takaze, also known as the Atbara, the Abbay or the Blue Nile, and lastly the Baro, originating in Sudan, then flowing westward into the Nile.

According to the officially available figures, Ethiopia’s population is about 76 million people, making it the third most populous nation in Africa. The varying ethnicities that comprise Ethiopia’s populace is diverse and are grouped as follows: the Amhara and Tigrinya, 32 per cent, the Oromo 40 per cent, Sidamo 9 percent, Somali 6 percent, Shankella 6 per cent, Gurage 2 per cent, Afar 4 percent. There are hundreds of languages spoken in Ethiopia that fall into four major categories. Three of which have a common ancestry that is called proto-Afroasiatic by linguists (Afro-Asiatic is Hamitic-Semitic). The three are known as Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic. Harold G. Marcus wrote in his seminal work, A History of Ethiopia, published by the University of California, that: ‘Evidence is strong that the Afro-Asiatic (Hamitic-Semitic) group of languages developed and fissured in the Sudan-Ethiopian borderlands. The Proto-Cushitic and Proto-Semitic began their evolution. In Ethiopia, the Semitic branch grew into a northern group, today echoed in Tigrinya, and a southern group, best heard in Amharic. It simultaneously spread to the Middle East, whence, millennia later, it returned in a written form to enrich its cousins several times removed. Cushitic includes the Agaw, the Somali, the Afar, the Saho, the Hadiya, the Kambata, the Oromo, and the Gedeo. Omotic, the term Omotic is derived from the fact that the people thus designated traditionally lived on both sides of the Omo River. The following nationalities comprise the Omotic, the Dorze, Janjaro, Maji, Kafa, Waylata and the Dizi.

The last category is the Semitic Geez, which is the oldest Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is largely confined to the religious sphere, i.e. sacral literature and theology. Other Semitic languages are Amharic, Tigrinya, Harari, and Gurage. There are the Nilo-Saharan language groups, which are not connected to the Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic language groups previously cited. They are as follows: the Anuak, the Nuer, the Kunamain in southwestern Eritrea, the Gumuz in western Gojam and the Manjanjir. Linguistic and archaeological evidence points to a prehistoric genesis for Ethiopian culture. Early evidence of human existence has been found in the varied array of stone tools found in many parts of Ethiopia. Village farming was developed in Ethiopia during the Neolithic period. There is empirical evidence that Stone Age culture endured in Ethiopia during different epochs. The Watta of Ethiopia were related to the hunting groups of northeastern and eastern Africa. The Agau is an early population that still exists today in Ethiopia. The Agau discovered new strains of plants, the domestication of the donkey and mule breeding regionally. The plateau peoples are grouped into three groups, linguistically and anthropologically; they are referred to as the Central Agau and Eastern Cushites. During the second Millennium, the population increased dramatically; as a result, the Cushitic population who lived in the southern fringes expanded into Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika. The migrations of the Bantus into Ethiopia changed the population dynamics in Ethiopia and all other southern African societies. Along with the aforementioned and the erection of the phallic stones in southern Ethiopia, the basis for the development of states in Ethiopia was established. The development of city-states in Ethiopia was spurred by various socio-religious dynamics and the interpersonal relationships of the various people groups vis-à-vis their counterparts. One of the ethnicities in Ethiopia credited with helping advance the proto-city state to the contemporary city-state is the Oromo.

The Oromo lived in the Ethiopian highlands in areas like Bali, the borders of what is now the Republic of Somalia. They claim to have emerged from the Borana region of southwestern Ethiopia. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, powerful Abyssinian kings by force of arms made the Oromo move west and southwest into the barely habitable, salt pans, lava fields, and toward the boulder and sand deserts near Lake Rudolph. Some Oromo groups, over time, developed powerful monarchial states. The Oromo are notable for their martial feats, specifically as cavalry (mounted soldiers). Ancient Ethiopian literature is replete with mentions of or praises to the Oromo for their exploits on the battlefield. In 1776, the civil war ushered in the era of the ‘age of princes’; the war and political intrigues persisted till 1855. The civil war ultimately resulted in the proto-provincialism that is prevalent even today; as a result, the various provinces competed for territory and resources against the other provinces in a struggle for ultimate hegemony. The period saw the ascendency of various provincial dynasties, each province was demarcated along ethnic and national lines, the loyalty of the people was not to Ethiopia, but to their provinces and their kings who ruled over them. The Gondar monarchy’s decline led to an increase in the influence of the Galla. Gondar was once Ethiopia’s largest city and a hub of religion and art. Gondar was Ethiopia’s de facto capital from 1635 to 1867. By this time, the Solomonic dynasty and ethos extant for hundreds of years were well established. Since the Galla at the time were a well-established and powerful ethnic group, the royal family forged strong ties with the Galla through marriage.

The Ethiopian imperial monarchy was diluted because the majority of Galla were Muslims; the throne then was not a legitimate manifestation of Christian power but was an instrument of power wielded by Muslims. One dynasty that laid claim to the Solomonic heritage, as well as being a mainly Christian polity in its hierarchical structure, was Shoa.  Shoa, an alternate spelling is Shewa, free of the rampant civil strife sweeping the rest of Ethiopia, was able to create a largely coherent bureaucracy that was characterised by a heterogeneous coexistence among the varying ethnic and religious groups. The unification of Shoa was solidified under a Christian dynastic monarchy, which waged wars of hegemony till the end of the 18th century. In the reign of Sahle Sellassie (1813-1847) an Amhara Negus, he had many children, one of them being Haile Melekot, the father of Menellek II. When his father was murdered, Sahle Sellassie seized the throne although he had older male siblings. Sahle moved swiftly to consolidate power with the help of his mother’s kinsmen. He marched from the monastery at Sehla Dingay, where he was enrolled as a student, to his father’s capital at Qundi and claimed the succession; he was proclaimed Ras of Showa. Some of his male siblings reached Qundi at a later date and were promptly imprisoned.

Shortly after his proclamation as Ras, he proclaimed himself Negus of Shewa. In 1829, Shewa was hit with a debilitating famine; shortly thereafter, a cholera epidemic struck, killing two-thirds of the stricken. Again, misfortune struck when one of the Negus’ generals rebelled, Medoko, several of the elite Matchlockmen (infantry with guns) deserted with him and they joined with the Oromo. Together, they burned Angolalla and waged battles against Shewa. When Sahle Sellassie was able to put down the rebellion (1835), another catastrophe struck. Shewa was afflicted by a drought which decimated crops and livestock, bringing famine to the province. Sahle Sellassie responded to the famine by opening up the royal storehouses to the people. This act greatly enhanced his status with many viewing him as a wise, loving, and generous king.  Sahle Sellassie was a great reformer. Some of his notable reforms are as follows: he limited executions to murder, treason, and sacrilege; executions required the consent of the Negus. He further ceased the practices (torture) of his predecessors, such as brandings with hot irons, executions, and severance of limbs of accused persons and criminals. Many death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment or property forfeiture. Blood money was paid to a murder victim’s relatives, instead of handing them over to the relatives of the victim’s family (an ancient tradition in Ethiopia still practised at the time). He instituted tax reforms and greatly increased the store of firearms available to the state at the time.

He signed friendship treaties with both France and England and even encouraged foreigners to settle in Shoa. In the following, I will highlight Ethiopian Orthodoxy, Ethiopian history, iconography, music, art, and culture. Ethiopian artists have produced an enormous amount of work, particularly the artwork of the Tewahedo Church, murals, manuscripts, ceremonial furniture, including their unique crosses and panel paintings on wood. Ethiopian iconography depicts a wide variety of sacred imagery used for a variety of reasons, both devotional and apotropaic objects (amulets), i.e. having the power to ward off evil or bad luck. The national dress of Ethiopia is the Shamma, a rectangular shawl of three feet in width, handwoven from cotton. Men wear jodhpurs, which fit tightly from the knee to the ankles. Women wear blouses with full skirts of ankle length.

Men and women wrap barnos around their shoulders (especially in the highlands) when the weather cools or is breezy. The national dish of Ethiopia is called injera, a locally made sour, fermented flatbread with a spongelike texture, and wat ot zegeni, which is a type of curried stew made of beef, mutton or chicken. Hard-boiled eggs are added and are seasoned in the Ethiopian manner with red pepper (berbere) and other spices. It is at times served with tedj, a honey mead fermented

drink, or tall an Ethiopian beer. Names and naming ceremonies in Ethiopia, like most Middle Eastern and African countries, are of paramount importance. Asfa Wossen Asserate, the great-grandson of Haile Sellassie, wrote in his book; ‘King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Sellassie’, the following: ‘Ethiopian naming conventions have no concept of the division into Christian name and surname that is usual in Europe. People have a single given name. This is often followed by the father’s name, thus Tafari Makonnen is Tafari, the son of Makonnen. If a child dies, and another is born, the newborn child’s name oftentimes is Kassa, meaning restitution. Common male names are Hagos (joy), Desta (pleasure), Tesfaye (my hope). Some common names for females in Ethiopia are Ababa (flower), Zewditu (crown), Terunesh (you are pure), and a host of others, but these are commonly recognisable even in this work since the famous Etege Zewditu Menellek’s daughter’s name is one of the most common female names in Ethiopia. Common Christian or baptismal male names are names compounded with, for instance, Gebre (servant of), an example is Gebre Yesus (servant of Jesus), Walda (son of), Haile (power of), and Habte (gift of). Well-known female baptismal names are, often compounded with the following Amete (maid of), like Amete Maryam, maid of Mary, or Walatta (daughter of), for example, Walatta Sion (daughter of Zion).