AY Honors/African Lore/Answer Key
Amhara (አማራ) is an ethnicity of people in the central highlands of Ethiopia, numbering about 15 million, making up between 20 and 25% of the country's population (estimates differ). They speak Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and dominate the countries political and economic life.
Agriculture
About 90% of the Amhara are rural and make their living through farming, mostly in the Ethiopian highlands. Prior to the 1974 revolution, absentee landlords maintained strict control over their sharecropping tenants, often allowing them to accumulate cripling debts. After 1974 the landlords were replaced by local government officials, who play a similar role. Barley, corn, milet, wheat and teff along with beans, peppers and other vegetables are the most important crops, in the highlands one crop per year in normal, while in the lowlands two is possible.
Religion
Their predominant religion has for centuries been Christianity, with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church playing a central role in the culture of the country and of the Amharic ethnic group. The church maintains close links with the Egyptian Coptic Church. Easter and Epiphany are the most important celebrations, marked with services, feasting and dancing. Marriages are often arranged, with men marrying in their late teens or early twenties, and women as young as fourteen. Civil marriages are common, although some marry in churches. After a church wedding, divorce is not considered possible. Each family hosts a separate wedding feast after the wedding. Upon childbirth, a priest will visit the family to bless it and / or circumcise it if it is a boy. The mother and child remain in the house for fourty days after childbirth, before going to the church for baptism (see also churching).
Art
Amharic art is typified by religious paintings, one of the most notable features of which are large eyes of the subjects, who are usually biblical figures.
History
Historians generally consider the Amhara to have been Ethiopia's ruling elite for centuries, represented by the line of emperors ending in Haile Selassie. Commentator Marcos Lemma disputes the accuracy of such a statement, arguing that other ethnic groups have always been active in the country's politics. One possible source of confusion for this stems from the mislabeling of Amharic speakers as "Amhara," and the fact that many people from other ethnic groups have Amharic names.
External links
- Lemma, Marcos (MD, PhD). Template:Web reference
