The Amhara people of Ethiopia are one of the most intriguing and culturally rich groups in Africa. The Amhara have a long and storied history that is deeply intertwined with the history of Ethiopia itself. Accounting for 25 percent of the country’s population, the Amhara people are the most populous in the nation. They predominantly speak Amharic, a Semitic language that's both the official language of Ethiopia and their mother tongue.
The Amhara are one of the two largest ethnolinguistic groups in Ethiopia (the other group being the Oromo). As descendants of a southward movement of ancient Semitic conquerors who mingled with indigenous Cushitic peoples, they inhabit much of the central and western parts of present-day Ethiopia. They are believed to have been one of the earliest groups to inhabit the Ethiopian highlands.
Historically, the Amhara held significant political position in the Ethiopian Empire. All except one of the country’s emperors from 1270 to 1974 were Amhara; this dominance created competitive quarrels between the Amhara and their northern neighbours, the Tigray, and other Ethiopian ethnic groups, such as the Oromo. Amharic was the official language of Ethiopia until the 1990s, and it remains important.
The Amhara people were confined to Ethiopia's central highland plateau for over 2,000 years but have since expanded throughout the country. Most Amhara practice Christianity, though beliefs are different from those of Christians in Western countries. Modern Amhara face many of the same troubles as other Ethiopians, including revolutions, droughts, disease, and overpopulated cities.
With about twenty to thirty million people, the Amhara are among the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Although Amhara communities may be found all over the country, their population is clustered mainly in the highlands in the central and northwestern areas of Ethiopia. This region is naturally protected by mountains and gorges, keeping the Amhara physically safe from invaders and culturally insulated from many outside influences. Its soils are rich, and its climate is conducive to agriculture, giving modern Amhara the same livelihood as their ancient ancestors.
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The Amhara, along with the Tigray peoples, are the principal adherents of this church, an ancient religion that took root in the Aksum Empire in the 4th-5th century and affirmed a miaphysite doctrine. For centuries, the predominant religion of the Amhara has been Christianity, with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church playing a central role in the culture of the country. Religion plays a significant role in Amhara life, with the majority being Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. This has profoundly influenced their art, architecture, and literature.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church maintains close links with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) began in the 4th century AD. Easter and Epiphany are the most important celebrations, marked with services, feasting and dancing.
The Amhara are primarily agriculturists, producing corn (maize), wheat, barley, sorghum, and teff (Eragrostis tef), a cereal grass that is grown for its grain and is a staple of the region. Although Amhara people may hold many jobs, from shopkeepers to soldiers, most Amhara industry is still based on agriculture. Families often work together on their farms.
Men generally perform the main farming tasks, such as plowing the fields and cutting crops. Women handle an array of challenging secondary chores, including keeping their homes stocked with water and preparing and serving food and drinks. Children, too, are occupied with farm and family tasks, including gathering cow manure to be burned as fuel. Amhara families often travel together to town squares on a regular basis to buy, sell, and trade goods.
Amhara cuisine consists of various vegetable or spicy meat side dishes and entrées, usually a wat, or thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread made of teff flour in the shape of pancakes usually of about 30 to 45 cm in diameter. When eating traditional injera dishes in groups, it's normally it eaten from a mesob (shared food basket), with each person breaking off pieces of injera flatbread using only the right hand, from the side nearest them and dipping it into stew in the center of the basket.
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Ethiopia is a Buna (coffee) exporter, but also has a very large domestic consumer base. During social gatherings Amharas drink Buna in a unique and traditional way known as a coffee ceremony. First the coffee is roasted, then ground and placed in a Jebena (coffee pot) with boiling water. The ceremony is typically performed by the woman of the household, or the female host and is considered an honor. Amhara women dress up for the occasion in a kemis, a traditional dress. Tej, a honey wine, fermented with gesho leaves and twigs, often enjoyed during celebrations.
Traditionally, Amhara social structure was dominated by strong personalized ties between patrons and clients, superiors and inferiors. Generally, a man’s importance was in direct proportion to the amount of land he owned. A man of wealth who owned no land, such as a merchant, had little influence. Under the imperial system, land was granted to titled nobles in return for military service to the emperor. The land was farmed by tenant clients. Even in family life all privilege and authority devolved from the patriarch.
Families are very important to Amhara culture, both for cultural and economic reasons. Large families can cooperate on extensive work tasks, with every member having a specific chore. The Amhara culture is patriarchal, meaning males have the most power. Men generally perform most tasks away from the homestead and earn the main wages for the family. The Amhara have many practices and beliefs about social standing and different formalities to show respect to others, inside and outside the family unit.
Marriage Traditions
The Amhara people practice three types of marriage: kal kidan, qurban, and damoz. Descent is reckoned patrilineally, and married couples usually reside near the husband’s home.
- Kal kidan (also called serat or semanya [“eighty”]) is marriage by civil contract. It is by far the most common form, though a great percentage of such unions end in divorce. First marriages of the kal kidan or qurban types are normally arranged by the parents.
- Qurban marriages are performed in church and are regarded as sacred; they cannot be dissolved, even after the death of one partner, except in extraordinary circumstances. Because of these restrictions, it is the least common form of marital union; most couples choosing to celebrate the rite are already long married under kal kidan and have children. Qurban also is the only type of wedlock into which Ethiopian Orthodox priests may enter.
- The third type of marriage-that with the lowest status-is damoz, an arrangement by which the woman is paid to be a temporary wife, most often for a period of one or two months. While the woman in a damoz relationship receives no claim to the estate of her transient husband, children born under such unions are considered legitimate.
Marriages are often arranged, with men marrying in their late teens or early twenties. Traditionally, girls were married as young as 14, but in the 20th century, the minimum age was raised to 18, and this was enforced by the Imperial government.
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Upon childbirth, a priest will visit the family to bless the infant. The mother and child remain in the house for 40 days after birth for physical and emotional strength.
Amhara Art and Music
Amhara art is typified by religious paintings. One of the notable features of these is the large eyes of the subjects, who are usually biblical figures. It is usually oil on canvas or hide, some surviving from the Middle Ages. The Amhara art includes weaved products embellished with embroidery. Works in gold and silver exist in the form of filigree jewelry and religious emblems.
The Amhara ethnic group was the most influential in the development of traditional Ethiopian Orthodox iconography from the 13th century on. Ethiopian Orthodox iconography can be categorized into multiple historical periods such as Medieval, "Low", and "High Gondarine," with the oldest datable church frescos being found in Lasta of the northeastern Amhara region and Gondar serving as the center of painting for the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands. Indeed, there is an influx of Ethiopian Orthodox art dating to the early Solomonic period and first couple centuries following the founding of the Ethiopian Empire.
Surviving Amharic literary works dates back to the 14th century, when songs and poems were composed. In the 17th century Amharic became the first African language to be translated into Latin when Ethiopian priest and lexicographer Abba Gorgoryos (1595-1658) in 1652 AD made a European voyage to Thuringia in Germany.
From the 1950s onward foreign influence i.e. The political turmoil during the Derg regime (1974-1991) led to censorship of music; night life came to a standstill through government imposed curfews and the curbing of musical performances. Notable Ethiopian musicians were jailed including those of Amhara descent such as Ayalew Mesfin and Telela Kebede.
A revival of Qene; Amharic poetic songs which uses double entendre known as sam-enna warq (wax and gold) was used for subversive dialogue and resistance to state censorship. Amharic songs of resistance against the autocratic EPRDF regime led by the TPLF (1991-2018) continued; with prevailing themes being rampant corruption, economic favoritism, excessive emphasis on ethnic identity and its ability to undermine national unity. In June 2022 Teddy Afro bashed Abiy Ahmed and his regime in a critical new song (Na'et), following the Gimbi massacre.
The Amhara and other Ethiopians face many troubles in the modern world. Political instability, including deadly revolutions in the twentieth century, cost many lives and brought social turmoil. Serious droughts caused farmers to leave their agricultural homelands and crowd into cities. There, overpopulation has led to rampant crime, disease, and other problems. Another concern among the Amhara is reconciling their patriarchal traditions with modern concepts of gender equality.
In the 2020s, Ethiopia is plagued by regional conflicts and ethnic tensions, which have greatly affected the Amhara people, who continue to experience conflict with the government. Ahmed won reelection in 2021, although the election was marred by controversy. Regional conflicts, human rights concerns, and ethnic tensions continued to define Ethiopia in the twenty-first century, greatly affecting the Amhara people.
Map of Ethiopia showing the regions where Amhara people live.
Amhara People in Ethiopia
Ethiopian Orthodox Cross Pendant.
