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{{Short description|Itinerant intellectual religious figure in the
{{Oriental Orthodox sidebar|expanded=practices}}
A '''debtera''' (or '''dabtara''';<ref name="Finneran">[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30035127?uid=3739896&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21100952249093 Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working, by Niall Finneran, Folklore 114 (2003):427-433]</ref> [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]]/[[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]]/[[Amharic language|Amharic]]: ደብተራ (''Däbtära)''; plural, Ge'ez\Tigrinya: ''debterat'', Amharic: ''debtrawoch'' <ref>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</ref>) is an [[wikt:itinerant|itinerant]] religious figure in the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]es,<ref name="crc">[http://www.crcstudio.org/eritrean/Pages/glossary.php?s=glossary#DEBTERA Glossary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121094442/http://www.crcstudio.org/eritrean/Pages/glossary.php?s=glossary#DEBTERA |date=2018-11-21 }}, Eritrean Print and Oral Culture, hosted on Canada Research Chair Humanities Computing Studio.</ref> and the [[Beta Israel]],<ref name="Greenfield">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)</ref> who sings [[hymns]] and dances for churchgoers, and who performs [[exorcism]]s and [[white magic]] to aid the congregation.<ref name="Finneran" /><ref name="Mirecki">[https://books.google.com/books?id=xMDHgzjSU_MC
== Official education and duties ==
[[File:Yared.jpg|thumb|left|200px|According to Christian tradition, the debtera's music was developed by [[Yared]], a saint.<ref name="Munro-Hay p52-53">{{cite book|last=Munro-Hay|first=Stuart|authorlink=Stuart Munro-Hay|title=Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWNTfztz5KoC&pg=PA53|year=2002|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-744-4|page=53}}</ref>]]
[[File:Ethiopian Painting 2005 SeanMcClean.JPG|thumb|left|250px|A painting of performing debteras
Debteras are usually chosen from families of other debteras, and are trained from childhood<ref name="Kaufman">{{cite book|last1=Kaufman Shelemay|first1=Kay|authorlink1=Kay Kaufman Shelemay|last2=Jeffery|first2=Peter|authorlink2=Peter Jeffery|title=Ethiopian Christian liturgical chant: an anthology: Part 2: Performance Practice; The Liturgical Portions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFkFYKGv4XUC&pg=PA3|year=1993|publisher=A-R Editions, Inc.|isbn=978-0-89579-294-5|pages=3–6}}</ref> as [[scribe]]s<ref name="Glazier124" /> (learning [[Geʽez]]<ref name="Geleta" /><ref name="Kaufman" />) and as [[cantor (Christianity)|cantors]]. They are often taught [[traditional medicine]] and lay [[Ritual|rite]]s as well.<ref name="Molvaer">{{cite book|last=Molvaer|first=Reidulf Knut|authorlink=Reidulf Knut Molvaer|title=Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6dW0EPJiVAC&pg=PA34|year=1995|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03662-7|pages=34, 44, 50, 67, 70, 111, 142, and 259}}</ref> While studying, they often live by [[begging]], [[retail]]ing, or practicing traditional medicine.<ref name="Kaufman" /> The main purpose for their studies, however, is written and oral lore pertaining to religious functions, and the test for graduation is memorizing the [[psalter]]. Before services, they bathe and don white clothing, turbans,<ref name="Kaufman" /> and a loose striped over-garment called a ''shamma''. Debteras carry prayer sticks to the service, where they sing, dance, and play drums and [[sistrum|sistra]] outside the church or the [[synagogue]] during religious services.<ref name="Munro-Hay p52-53" />
Priests (Beta Israel equivalent ''Kahens'') and ''debteras'' are two separate professions,<ref name="Munro-Hay p47">{{cite book|last=Munro-Hay|first=Stuart|authorlink=Stuart Munro-Hay|title=Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWNTfztz5KoC&pg=PA47|year=2002|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-744-4|page=47}}</ref> though it is possible to pursue both roles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crummey|first=Donald|title=Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Di0w6h0qHGMC&pg=PA174|year=2000|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-02482-5|page=174}}</ref> The [[Orthodox Tewahedo]] churches see the division between a priest and a debtera as following the model used by the ancient Israelites.<ref>{{cite book|last=Milkias|first=Paulos|title=Ethiopia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iu9mnXhvSswC&pg=PA175|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-258-6|page=175}}</ref>
=== Debteras in the
During Lenten services, ''debteras'' tap prayer sticks to keep the rhythm. The Ethiopian Church condones the performances of ''debteras'', citing the story in [[2 Kings]] of [[David]] dancing at the temple and {{Bibleverse||Psalm|47:1|KJV}} ("[[Psalm 47|O clap your hands]]") for Biblical examples. These performances also feature symbols connected to the [[Passion of Jesus]]: the sistrum's swaying and the beating of the drums represent Christ's swaying while enduring beatings, and the tapping of the prayer sticks represent the [[flagellation of Christ]].<ref name="Munro-Hay p47" />
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Debteras participate in liturgy as singers and musicians and, outside the Church religio-magical healers by performing as herbalists, astrologers, fortune-tellers etc. Some Ethiopian authors consider these healers as ‘spiritual healers’ whereas, they are purely religio-magical healers.<ref name="Janetius, S.T 2016">Janetius, S.T. Abyssinia in the New Millennium (Revised Edition), 2016. {{ISBN|9783659710629}}</ref> Some duties taken on by Debteras are not sanctioned by the Ethiopian Church. Many debteras distribute contraceptive herbs to women and perform magic meant to perform contraceptive functions, in contradiction to the Ethiopian Church's modern official stances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica|authorlink=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica|title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4WUdKWGcYsC&pg=PA4|year=2003|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05607-6|page=4}}</ref> Some are also reputed to study [[black magic]] invoking [[demon]]s alongside their more benevolent official learning.<ref name="Molvaer" />
Some Debteras traditionally manufacture [[apotropaic magic|apotropaic amulets]] meant to protect the wearer from evil spirits.<ref name="Turner" /> These amulets are often made of silver and are noted for their use against the [[evil eye]] or [[buda (folklore)|buda]] and against [[zār]] spirits. They may also study a variety of anti-magic invocations, [[prayer]]s, and exorcisms. These exorcisms may include prayers, blessing of [[holy water]] (which the possessed person drinks), burning of roots, and incantations from a ''Magic Star Book''.<ref name="Geleta" /> Some amulets may take the form of small scrolls kept in pouches or similar containers, made from the skin of a sacrificed goat or lamb whose blood is used to ritually purify the intended owner.<ref>[http://www.medievalportland.pdx.edu/?q=ethiopian-magic-scroll Description of Ethiopian Magic Scroll] at [[Portland State University]]'s [http://www.medievalportland.pdx.edu/ Medieval Portland site].</ref> Some practice (or rather circumvent) [[astrology]], by giving unlucky people new stars by changing their names. This may be considered "cheating" by the locals, however. Some Debteras have also been noted to use jimsonweed ([[Datura stramonium]]) to cause hallucinations.<ref name="Molvaer" />
A debtera may charge a fee for his charms, exorcisms, and astrological practices, but not liturgical activities.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lulat|first=Y. G-M|title=A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present: A Critical Synthesis: A Critical Synthesis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J00xEkY-vTEC&pg=PA56|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-06866-9|page=56}}</ref>
Not all of the Debteras duties and cures are [[supernatural]]. Debteras place [[scarecrow]]s in farm fields to protect them and shave heads to prevent [[head louse]] outbreaks.<ref name="Finneran" /> Before the [[
Major theological difference in the healing practices of priests or kahens and debteras is that for the priests/kahens, sin versus virtue or evil spirits versus God is the basis for any sickness and healing. Therefore, they prescribe prayer, [[holy water]], [[baptism]], fasting, and penance as a remedy. For the debteras it is evil spirit versus human beings; almost all the sickness are possession of evil spirits or caused by evil spirits, therefore, prayer and holy water become the integral part of any ritualistic religious healing ceremony. Besides these, ''kitab'' or amulets are also prepared and give by them to be worn to ward away the evil spirits and the ''buda''{{clarify|date=August 2020}}.
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[[Category:Beta Israel]]
[[Category:Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]
[[Category:Exorcists]]
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