The Source of the Blue Nile

Water Rituals and Traditions in the Lake Tana Region
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4438-4601-1
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 170 Seiten

Ethiopia has a rich and fascinating cultural heritage structured around water. The River Nile has been seen by many as the most important river in the world, and the secrets of the sources of the Nile and their mysteries have, from the dawn of civilization, attracted philosophers, emperors and explorers searching for answers. The source of the Blue Nile, Gish Abay, is believed to be the outlet of the biblical river Gihon, flowing directly from Paradise, linking this world with Heaven. The holiness of Abay (the Blue Nile) and its source in particular still has an important role in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In the Lake Tana region, there are also numerous other myths, traditions and rituals concerning the river. Several of the island monasteries are incredibly holy, and indigenous practices and sacrifices to the river are still conducted. The most important celebration in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the Timkat festival, which is an annual commemoration of the importance of baptism.

Despite the importance of the River Nile from antiquity to present-day practices and beliefs in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, very little research has been conducted on the cultural and religious aspects of the Blue Nile in general and its source, Gish Abay, and Lake Tana in Ethiopia in particular. This book combines historic sources and new empirical ethnography, presenting parts of this cultural heritage and the traditions of water along the Blue Nile.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Oestigaard, Terje

Firew, Gedef Abawa

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden

Über Autor(innen)

Terje Oestigaard, Dr Art, is a Research Fellow with the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden. His recent books include Water, Christianity and the Rise of Capitalism (2013) and Horus’ Eye and Osiris’ Efflux: The Egyptian Civilisation of Inundation ca. 3000–2000 BCE (2011). He is the co-editor (with Terje Tvedt) of A History of Water, Series I, Volume 3: The World of Water (2006) and A History of Water, Series II, Volume 1: Ideas of Water from Ancient Societies to the Modern World (2010). His current projects include rainfed agriculture in Tanzania in the face of modernization and globalization, and the source of the White Nile in Uganda.

Gedef Abawa Firew, MPhil, is a Lecturer in the History Department at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, and a PhD student in archaeology at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, Norway. His main field of interest is agriculture and aquatic adaptation in Ethiopia in general and in the Lake Tana region in particular. He is also currently conducting ethnographic research about rituals and indigenous practices among the Woyto.