Debtera

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A debtera (or dabtara;[1] Ge'ez/Tigrinya/Amharic: ደብተራ (Däbtära); plural, Ge'ez\Tigrinya: debterat, Amharic: debtrawoch [2]) is an itinerant religious figure in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches,[3] and the Beta Israel,[4] who sings hymns and dances for churchgoers, and who performs exorcisms and white magic to aid the congregation.[1][5][6] A debtera will claim an ecclesiastical identity[7] and behave as in minor orders.[8] They may in fact be officially ordained as deacons,[1] or may act outside the Church hierarchy.[9] They are usually feared by the local population.[5][1]

  1. ^ a b c d Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working, by Niall Finneran, Folklore 114 (2003):427-433
  2. ^ Wolf Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Geʻez (Classical Ethiopic): Geʻez-English, English-Geʻez, with an index of the Semitic roots, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1987, ISBN 9783447025928, p. 122
  3. ^ Glossary Archived 2018-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, Eritrean Print and Oral Culture, hosted on Canada Research Chair Humanities Computing Studio.
  4. ^ Isaac Greenfield, "The Debtera and the education among Ethiopian Jewry until the arrival of Dr. Faitlovitch" in Menachem Waldman (ed.), Studies in the History of Ethiopian Jews, Habermann Institute of Literary Research, 2011, pp. 109-135 (Hebrew)
  5. ^ a b Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, Part 4 edited by Paul Allan Mirecki, Marvin W. Meyer, Published by BRILL, 2002, p.170
  6. ^ Turner, John W. "Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: Faith and practices". A Country Study: Ethiopia (Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, eds.) Library of Congress Federal Research Division (1991), public domain
  7. ^ Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions By Stephen D. Glazier, published by Taylor & Francis, 16 Jan 2001, p.134
  8. ^ Case Study: Demonization and the Practice of Exorcism in Ethiopian Churches by Amsalu Tadesse Geleta. The Lausanne Movement, Nairobi 2000.
  9. ^ Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions By Stephen D. Glazier, published by Taylor & Francis, 16 Jan 2001, p.124