The Welqayt (Question)

Part deux

Snapshot of the area from Mereja forum.

Editorial Note:

This is part two of a two part series which is the translated scholarship of Italian fascist colonial era scholar John Ellero with regard to my maternal grandfather’s homeland of Welqayt. Welqayt is currently de jure Western Tigray, because of the 30 year plus machinations of TPLF, and de facto Northern Amhara. Here is PART ONE, in case you missed it last month

Theoretically, the clergy was under the leeqe kahnat of Dembeeya, who had three agents (nay leeqe kahnat inderasé) in Zua, Acuorchl, and Kefta, and also appointed a meree-geta (choirmaster) in each church’s clergy, overseeing the gebez (groundskeeper; usually a lay economo) and all priests. But this was purely nominal, far from reality. In practice, each church was independent, a miniature republic, closely tied to the village of which it was a "great part."

The clergy, as noted, is ignorant. Detailed information about manuscripts preserved in the churches reveals the usual limited Abyssinian ecclesiastical repertoire, with one apparent novelty: a Melkee’a Gebre-Nazrawee. The church of Caca boasts the region’s only Fitha Nagast (Justice of Kings; church canonical law book); the Inda Maryam of Dongorsciaca (Zua), founded during Be’ide-Maryam’s time and receiving its tabot from Gundet, possesses a modest illustrated Te’amire Maryam (Miracles of Mary).

The Inda Maryam of Kuleeta is the only church with some historical record: a bronze bell, donated by Gate Commander Surahé-Kristos to the convent of Keedane-Mihret, once located atop Amba Felasa at the border between Kulita and Birtukan, and later brought to Inda Maryam. The bell bears the inscription: “This bell was donated by Gate Commander Surahé-Kristos to Keedane-Mihret for the salvation of body and soul. Do not forget me in reciting the Pater Noster (Our Father; Lord’s Prayer) seven times a day. And, like me, do not forget my father Gate Commander Ayne-Igzee and my mother Welete-Geeyorgees”; five of the thirty negareet drums that Gate Commander Meharu Welde-Silasé took from Gate Commander Tesema Sahlu in the clash at Adee Rezene during Emperor Theodore’s reign; a small chest of antiquated European design, placed in a window recess, containing the bones of Gate Commander Werqneh Maru, a Welqayt leader killed at Seleste Kudo (Mezega) by Tigriña chiefs who, having allied, rebelled against him after the death of Emperor Yohanis IV at Metema, where Werqneh had fought alongside the king of kings; a wooden hand cross of uncommon craftsmanship and unknown origin.

There are very few convents; monasticism did not take root in the region, both due to its continuous upheavals and because it was overshadowed by the influential monasticism of nearby Waldba. With the convents (gedam) of Casa Eeyesus and Inda Maryam of Debra Seena gone, only Inda Abune Gebre-Nazrawee, Debre Silasé of Lalikena, Inda Yohanis Welde-Negwedgwad, and Tselolo remain. The least impoverished, the second, houses only four monks.

The convents had fiefs (gult) and sometimes collected a deelal, a market tax. The church of Wef-Argif and a few others were considered government property and subsidized by it. Most survived on monetary or in-kind offerings, fixed annually by a council of shimagilé (elders) based on harvests, or enjoyed the cefan zore. This involved assigning fields, usually near the church, to the church, which the villagers cultivated, giving the clergy the hamso (one-fifth) or seeso (one-third) of the harvest; additionally, the church received the ke’asrat, a tenth of the harvest that would otherwise go to the government.

The oldest convent was that of Abune Gebre-Nazrawee, now in complete ruin, though still considered the nese gedam of Welqayt. According to tradition, during Emperor Widem-Asfere’s time, eight disciples of Abune Ewostatéwos arrived from Tselemt in Skeerila: Tomas, Fiqtor, Fré-Kahn, Sibhat Le’Ab, Gebre-Kristos, Fiqre-Dingl, Tirseete-Weld, and Gebre-Nazrawee. During their journey, they stopped where the smoke from the incense of the censer, entrusted to Gebre-Nazrawee, settled. Thus, they paused at Mikrem Gobai (Tselolo), Taico (Skeerila), where they founded the Inda Keedane-Mihret, of which only scant ruins remain, at Qwelqwala Geeyorgees, and finally at Kebai, which the incense smoke seemed to favor. They stayed there for many years, hiding in the forest for fear of persecution; then Abune Gebre-Nazrawee was left alone. He spent 175 years there in prayer. He foretold his death, exclaiming one day, “Today the man who will kill me is conceived,” and months later, “Today the man destined to kill me is born.” Over time, a Felasha named Zéna from Tselolo, venturing to Addi Chebbai for hunting, found the monk engrossed in reading psalms. When asked who he was, the monk responded by asking if Zéna wished to be baptized. Astonished, Zéna returned to his village to consult his father, who harshly reproached him for not killing the infidel. Zéna returned to Adee Kebai, found the monk still in prayer, and prepared to strike him with his saber, but the monk asked him to wait until the prayer was finished. Zéna waited, but afterward, he struggled in vain to strike the saint, succeeding only when the monk, smiling, blessed the weapon. The severed head rolled into a ravine; from one nostril flowed milk, from the other honey, and where the teeth fell, a vine sprouted. However, because Zéna had killed a cat in the meantime, the dead monk’s nostrils emitted water instead of milk and honey, and the spring, considered holy (may debr), still exists. The martyr’s companions were in Tigray: they miraculously received news of his death and, flying through the air, came to bury him. During the mass, they realized they had forgotten the grapes needed for the Eucharist; they went to May Debr, where they found grapes that had miraculously sprouted and ripened out of season. On the site of the martyrdom, where a church dedicated to the saint likely already stood, Emperor Sertse-Dingl founded the convent in his honor; as a votive offering for a victory, he donated his golden crown, while the queen gave her golden armlets (albo). From the gold were made goblets, spoons, and plates to bind a gospel, objects that later migrated beyond the Tekezé. According to tradition, Emperor Sertse-Dingl granted the Inda Abune Gebre-Nazrawee as cefan zore seven qebelé or villages in the Mezega of Welqayt (Gerat Felasee, May Mattéwos, May Kuruf, Weyzeré, Mihtsab Songuollo, Ficia Guree, May Maya), seven villages on the plateau (Makram Gobai, Taiko, Qwelqwala, Geeyorgees, Adee Kebai, Qusqwam Maryam, Caca Maryam), one in Tselolo whose name is forgotten, seven in Tselemt and Semén (May Berhé, Woikal, Angare, Berage, Lwaré Maryam, Fisiha-Tsyon, Bereke-Tsyon), and three in Tigray (Adee Begenai, Zéna-Code, Adee Eeyesus). Additionally, the convent collected the ke’asrat on the crops of all the mezega of Welqayt and on the then-abundant products of hunting, such as the left tusk of the elephant and the lion’s hide. After all this splendor, today the convent has no monks, while the church is staffed by four priests and three deacons, with a qése gebez. Visitors are shown a cross that sheds tears at the approach of calamitous events and another, once belonging to Abune Fré-Kahn, that, when immersed in water, either heals the sick immediately or leaves them without hope of recovery.

Another notable convent was in Mekerat (Akwerq), called Inda Maryam of Debra Seena; its fief was the nearby, still-existing village of Adee Gult. Founded by Emperor Eeyasu II, it flourished briefly, was destroyed by Gate Commander Teferee of Semén during the time of Emperor Yohanis IV, rebuilt by Emperor Minileek II, and ruined again in 1939. Its bitter disputes with secular authority seem to be referenced in a legend where a leader, trying to impose his will on the monks in a religious matter, was devoured by a swarm of bees unleashed from the ground.