church on sunday
Door: AnnainAfrica
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anna
04 Maart 2012 | Ethiopië, Addis Abeba
Today I feel like writing a little again. It is Sunday afternoon and I got up very early this morning, something I usually don’t doe, as most of you know. That’s because Moges wanted me to come to the church with him. “Going to church” here is something quite different than what we are used to in Europe. Yesterday, I had to buy a “gabi”, a long white shawl. And luckily I have brought a long skirt from Holland. I had that skirt for 7 years without ever using it (Hoe of you has ever seen me with a long skirt?) and after one month here I was already wondering if it was really necessary to bring it.
But Moges thought it was impossible to go to church without a long skirt or dress. So I got up at 6:30, I put the skirt on top of my trousers (it is quite cold here in the mornings) and Moges trapped the Gabi over my head and shoulders forming something like a cross in front of my chest. He also was wearing a gabi (both men and women use them). And we went off for church.
Moges thought we could better stay outside the fence of the courtyard, because once you enter it, he told me, you have to stay until the end o the service and I wanted to get back to the hospital for the ward round. Even outside the fence there is one side for women and the other for men. So, I went to the women’s side. When people arrive to church, they make 3 crosses in front of their head and chest and kneel down 3 times, and then they alternately kiss the entrance gate and press their forehead against it. Also 3 times. Then, they enter. Women go to their side and men to theirs. Even kids that can barely walk already wear a tiny gabi, their mothers tie up the end in the neck so that it can’t fall of. And they already do all the crossing, kneeling and kisses the gate. It was really sweet. The preacher is at least 200 meters away and his praying, chanting and preaching is transmitted to speakers. Many of the liturgical chants sound a bit like the ones of a Muezzin of a mosque. The churches a usually consisting of 2 round galleries and nobody enters it during the service. After 1,5 hours of praying, chanting and preaching we went back to the hospital. Usually the service starts somewhere around 6 in the morning and is until 10 or 10:30. So I only witnessed part of it, did not see a single preacher and was standing all the time at the gate of the church, together with the menstruating women. Many people bring little booklets with biblical pictures and prayers in it. They quietly recite them all the time and also kiss the pictures and press them against their foreheads.
All this is very important for the people here. I imagine, that if because the lives here are so hard, people much more need to seek a sense in their lives. Still, for me as a protestant believer it is strange to see all the ceremonial behavior and almost automatically made cross signs. Do people keep realizing what they are doing and why? Also I have been told that many of the chants and prayers are in Ge’ez, the former language of this region. So people do not understand the things being sung. But on the other hand they might just have a much stronger faith without trying to explain everything rationally, like we always want to do.
When I was talking to the senior midwife about his master study one of those days, he told me about studying and praying. I asked: “ So you pray to pass the exams?” His answer “ No Anna, praying is not effective!” But he says that some additional prayer after studying could do some good. We will see, next week he is having exams again :).
Also, nobody here would ask you if you have a religion/believe. They will ask which religion you have. People here cannot imagine that that a person does not believe at all.
… And now I had to interrupt the writing: because it is raining!!!! Yippee! It was so try and dusty lately and the vetch growing on my way to the hospital was getting brownish. Never thought I could be so happy with some rain! So I went outside to get soaked by the rain :)
I am curious how my way to the hospital will be this evening… if the path is muddy or not. That I can tell the next time.
Big hug for all of you,
Anna
But Moges thought it was impossible to go to church without a long skirt or dress. So I got up at 6:30, I put the skirt on top of my trousers (it is quite cold here in the mornings) and Moges trapped the Gabi over my head and shoulders forming something like a cross in front of my chest. He also was wearing a gabi (both men and women use them). And we went off for church.
Moges thought we could better stay outside the fence of the courtyard, because once you enter it, he told me, you have to stay until the end o the service and I wanted to get back to the hospital for the ward round. Even outside the fence there is one side for women and the other for men. So, I went to the women’s side. When people arrive to church, they make 3 crosses in front of their head and chest and kneel down 3 times, and then they alternately kiss the entrance gate and press their forehead against it. Also 3 times. Then, they enter. Women go to their side and men to theirs. Even kids that can barely walk already wear a tiny gabi, their mothers tie up the end in the neck so that it can’t fall of. And they already do all the crossing, kneeling and kisses the gate. It was really sweet. The preacher is at least 200 meters away and his praying, chanting and preaching is transmitted to speakers. Many of the liturgical chants sound a bit like the ones of a Muezzin of a mosque. The churches a usually consisting of 2 round galleries and nobody enters it during the service. After 1,5 hours of praying, chanting and preaching we went back to the hospital. Usually the service starts somewhere around 6 in the morning and is until 10 or 10:30. So I only witnessed part of it, did not see a single preacher and was standing all the time at the gate of the church, together with the menstruating women. Many people bring little booklets with biblical pictures and prayers in it. They quietly recite them all the time and also kiss the pictures and press them against their foreheads.
All this is very important for the people here. I imagine, that if because the lives here are so hard, people much more need to seek a sense in their lives. Still, for me as a protestant believer it is strange to see all the ceremonial behavior and almost automatically made cross signs. Do people keep realizing what they are doing and why? Also I have been told that many of the chants and prayers are in Ge’ez, the former language of this region. So people do not understand the things being sung. But on the other hand they might just have a much stronger faith without trying to explain everything rationally, like we always want to do.
When I was talking to the senior midwife about his master study one of those days, he told me about studying and praying. I asked: “ So you pray to pass the exams?” His answer “ No Anna, praying is not effective!” But he says that some additional prayer after studying could do some good. We will see, next week he is having exams again :).
Also, nobody here would ask you if you have a religion/believe. They will ask which religion you have. People here cannot imagine that that a person does not believe at all.
… And now I had to interrupt the writing: because it is raining!!!! Yippee! It was so try and dusty lately and the vetch growing on my way to the hospital was getting brownish. Never thought I could be so happy with some rain! So I went outside to get soaked by the rain :)
I am curious how my way to the hospital will be this evening… if the path is muddy or not. That I can tell the next time.
Big hug for all of you,
Anna
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06 Maart 2012 - 16:35
Ineke Sturm:
Mooi verslag Anna! Je ziet er schitterend uit in je"almost a real Ethiopian woman" uitrusting! Heb je al iets van Erik gehoord?
Groetjes van de Sturmen -
20 Maart 2012 - 23:36
Maarten:
The little booklets with biblical pictures is basically very similar to the leaded lights (glas-in-lood) windows in the Catholic Church. These are in fact comparable to comic books and tell the stories of the past to people who couldn't read or understand Latin.
I must say that the triple movements of making a cross, kissing the church etc. reminds me of the buddhism religion where you do such a movement (well, not a cross) also three times!
PS. Sorry voor de late reactie :-) Maar geweldig om je verslagen te lezen! Echt een andere wereld he?
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