Kemant
The Kemant (or Qimant , Amharic ክማንት / ቅማንት ) are a small ethnic group in Ethiopia which, despite their close historical and ethnic proximity, are not identical to the Beta Israel .
According to the 1994 census, the group has about 170,000 members. However, there are only 1,625 people who still speak the Qimant language. With most children learning Amharic today , the original language is threatened with extinction. Likewise, through conversion to Christianity, ties to traditional religions have decreased considerably. The converts see themselves as new amhars - and see this as a worthwhile goal.
The Kemant live along a line from Chilga to Karkar , northwest of Lake Tana . The remaining native speakers of the Qimant live near Aykel , about 64 km west of Gonder . They are mostly farmers.
religion
The Kemant religion is considered to be the union of elements of Judaism and ethnic religions . However, a sociolinguistic study published in 2003 concludes that the Kemant religion is on the verge of extinction as very few people cling to it. Accordingly, only one percent of the Kemant follow the traditional religion. The highest religious leader among the Kemant is the high priest or Wember , ( Amharic for "chair" or "chair"). Wember is highly respected and is seen as the head of all Kemant.
Faithful observance of the eleventh chapter of the book of Leviticus (see kosher ) is part of religious observance . As in Judaism, even pure animals can only be consumed if they have been slaughtered in accordance with the rules (see shafts ). Other customs include animal sacrifice and the care of sacred groves called degegna .
The Kemant worship takes place outdoors, often near a sacred tree (gole), with the participants wrapping themselves in different colored strips of fabric. This custom is evidently the imitation of a biblical tradition, see: Gen 21,33 EU and 2 Kings 23,7 EU . The Kemant celebrate the Sabbath , on which, among other things, it is forbidden to light a fire. It is unknown whether and to what extent other Sabbath commandments are obeyed as in Judaism.
The name for God is Yeadara , which is seen as omnipresent . The Kemant also worship angels . Jakaranti is the most respected , followed by Mezgani and Anzatatera . Other angels are Kiberwa , Aderaiki and Shemani .
history
In the absence of a recorded history, the origins of the Kemant are unknown. According to oral tradition, the founder of the Kemant was a man named Anayer . Anayer is considered the grandson of Canaan , son of Ham , son of Noah . After seven years of famine in his country, he is said to have settled in Ethiopia near Lake Tana. On his journey with his wife and children, he met the founder of Beta Israel, who was on the same path. According to Wember Muluna Marsha , they came from the same country they called Canaan. A marriage was planned between the two groups or their founders, but it never happened.
Endnotes
literature
- Frederic C. Gamst: The Quemant. A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York NY et al. 1969 ( Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology ).
- Graham Hancock : The Sign and The Seal. Touchstone Books, New York 1992, ISBN 0-671-86541-2 , pp. 241-249.
- Zelealem Leyew: Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Kemant (Qimant) Language of Ethiopia. (SILESR2002-031). SIL International, Dallas TX 2002, online version (PDF; 2.97 MB) .
- Zelealem Leyew: The Kemantney Language. A Sociolinguistic and Grammatical Study of Language Replacement. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-89645-067-0 ( Cushitic language studies 20).