BY MULUGETA GUDETA
Celebrating the historic Battle of Adwa this month, it might be relevant to shed some light on one of the historic events that made Ethiopia a unique if not a great African country. Winning a war may not make a country unique or great. Many countries have won many wars without claiming the coveted mantle of greatness.
Yet the Battle of Adwa was no ordinary battle because its repercussions were far reaching and its impact go well beyond Ethiopia and Africa. Some writers and scholars characterize the historic Battle of Adwa and the Ethiopian victory as the most important victory for the entire black people of the world against European white supremacist ideology.
It may be relevant here to point at some of the unique characteristics of the battle as it was fought, according to historical references, not only with guns, bullets and cannons but also with the soul and body of Ethiopians of all walks of life.
Some scholars describing the battle’s operation theatres at Adwa, often point out at the cultural aspects of it, in which religion, music and war songs known as (shilela and fukera) played a vital mobilizing role.
The fighters were accompanied by priests carrying the tabost or replicas of the Arch of the Covenant. Saint George was apparently the saint whose presence at the battle field facilitated the victory of Ethiopian fighters, according to oral accounts that are confirmed by eyewitness versions.
No wonder that Menelik’s statue now stands in front of Saint George church up in Piazza in Addis Ababa. Empress Taitu, Menelik’s able and energetic consort and was present at the battle, was said to have been praying to Saint Mary to help Ethiopia win the war.
The operational theatre at the foot of the hills that surrounded Adwa was often described as a place where faith and culture mingled in a vast human canvass where those fighters who could not carry arms for one reason or another contributed a great deal to the effort by putting their skills and cultural identities in the service of the victory during the decisive battle.
People from almost all ethnic communities around the country were said to have taken part in the war efforts bringing with them their cultural identities in ways that promoted national cohesion, a collective passion that went into making the war an all-Ethiopian effort and an all-Ethiopian victory.
That is apparently why all the songs and dances in memory of the battle and its victory are nowadays accompanied with tributes to the generals and commanders and the ordinary fighters that came from all corners of Ethiopia. This is no doubt a point that makes the Battle of Adwa and its victory a unique phenomenon not only in Africa but also in the entire world.
In the war accounts of European countries, there are rare mention of faith and culture playing such a central role by creating cohesion and shaping the outcome of any conflict.
Less so in African history, with the exception of the war of the black people of South Africa against the Boer colonialists in which the weapons as well as the collective identity of the black fighters were shaped like the Battle of Adwa as an anti-colonialist war for the preservation of not only their freedom but also their collective identities and cultures. So, culture in the African context, was always part and parcel of the historic fights for freedom and independence.
In a recent article posted on social media, it was mentioned that among the factors that make Ethiopia unique in Africa is its being a landlocked country.
Geography cannot be a defining feature of a nation while the people are the true movers and shakers of history with their cultures as important factors that shape their perceptions in times of war and peace.
Whether the Battle of Adwa was fought on a mountain or a valley, it was inevitable for Ethiopians to emerge victorious simply because they were united culturally, psychologically and in other ways that promoted their collective cause.
Speaking of battles, there is a small and rather funny story circulating among the public and the veterans of the 1953 Korean war. According to the story, Ethiopian soldiers tricked their enemies into thinking that they were “cannibals’ by sitting on the dead bodies of soldiers and eating raw meat, cutting the chunks with their knives.
It was said that the enemy fled in panic and horror seeing such an unusual scene taking place in front of them thereby facilitating the advance of allied troops.
Fact or fiction, this episode showed that Ethiopian soldiers used the culture of eating raw meat, which is popular in Ethiopia since times immemorial down to this day, to win a psychological advantage over their enemy.
Many people suspect that this story might have contributed to the image of Ethiopian soldiers being fierce fighters who often choose death over surrender to the enemy. This has also become part of the national psyche as we often hear many people boasting about it.
Of course, there are many things that make Ethiopia a unique country in Africa and the world. The fact that religious tolerance has been practiced for many centuries and allowed many faiths to live together since the 7th century after Islam was introduced by fugitives of the faith from the Arabian Peninsula and took refuge in Ethiopia where they have built the historic al Negashi mosque that is now an important tourist attraction.
Since then, Christianity which was established earlier in the 4th century, survived in harmony with Islam. The coexistence of faiths is an old Ethiopian cultural characteristic that is perhaps unique in the entire world although it has been abused from time to time by the acts of a few misguided elements on all sides of the religious divide. Where else in the world, except in Ethiopia do Muslims take active part in religious celebrations of their Christian brothers and sisters?
The fact that coffee originated in Ethiopia, and not Yemen as some detractors of the truth sometimes maintain. The birthplace of coffee has been contested throughout history. At one moment there was a mistaken belief that Brazil was the first country to cultivate coffees imply because it was, and still is, the biggest producer and exporter of the beans.
The myth that coffee originated in Yemen can only be a myth or a deliberate attempt to rob Ethiopia of one of its international brand that is closer to being a national identity. The established fact is that coffee originated in Ethiopia and crossed he Red Sea to reach Yemen a long time after it was produced and consumed here.
We can perhaps add by saying that teff, the grain unique to Ethiopia and recently recognized as one of the healthiest superfoods in the world, makes the country a unique place where a grain unknown in other parts of the world is a staple food for tens of millions of people.
The grain is now cultivated in the United States and many other places and if one day the US becomes the biggest producer or exporter of teff, it will not change the fact that the grain is unique to our country.
Ethiopia is unique also in the realm of sports and in long-distance race in particular because it has produced unique athletes that made a big name for their country. We can also say that Ethiopia is the only place in the world where an athlete won the marathon at the Olympics by running barefoot. This has not happened in any other country, not in the US, China or Japan.
What makes long distance race an Ethiopian specialty is neither technology or economic development but the natural endowment of the athletes themselves who often receive scant assistance from any quarter but perform well I many competitions.
This is also the reason why sports tourism is slowly becoming and Ethiopian specialty and the outside world is eager to know and learn from the “secret” of Ethiopian athletic prowess.
Ethiopia is also unique in the varieties of its fauna and flora. Of course there ae many countries in the world who are uniquely endowed in these areas. However, the fauna and flora in most countries can be found elsewhere while Ethiopia can legitimately boast of its unique hoe-grown animals and plants that give her a unique place as a country richly endowed by nature to be a place that attracts the admiration as well as the envy of many other countries.
This aspect of Ethiopia’s uniqueness is relatively well-known around the world and hardly needs further popularization. If there is anything Ethiopians might be blamed for in this connection, it may be their passivity or lack of passion in the midst of such natural riches that could be put in the service of making the country a better place. Even a great place to live in for her sons and daughters.
This is in fact the main challenge that Ethiopians have not yet lived up to and need not waste time to mobilize and claim what is theirs by nature. Beauty might be in the eyes of the beholder. Yet the beauty of Ethiopia’s uniqueness and diversity is not only in the eyes of its beholders but also in the eyes of its admirers, near and far.
The Ethiopian Herald February 13 / 2021
