IN ABYSSINIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 10

IN ABYSSINIA

“BONDAGE TO FEAR.” MISSIONARY’S EXPERIENCES. “The Abyssinians live so much of their lives in bondage to fear-fear of such things as spirits, sickness, death, the evil eye, and birds,” said Miss Freda Horn, the New Zealand missionary, who has returned to Palmerston North from Abyssinia, when interviewed by a “Standard” reporter to-day. “Although the Cristane tribe, in the province of Gurnge, where 1 carried out my work, are nominally Christians, the fact is that their real religion is a worship of Satan and evil spirits. “And,” the missionary added, “strange things do happen in Abyssinia. One superstition is that if a particular bird flies over a house 9r some person, a certain sickness will result. There have been cases of children not being able to lift their heads, and parents have attributed this to the bird flying over them.” Miss Horn said that men had died supposedly as a result of a witch doctor’s curse. The missionaries had found it best to listen to the people and let them tell them of these things and then they could diagnose and sort out the grains of truth. Miss Horn said that, when she left Abyssinia about six weeks ago. railway lines were still being attacked by stray bandits. On October 10 she’ had gone to the station to join a train, and taken her bag and baggage, but the train had not arrived owing to an attack. The train she had travelled by later had been lit only by a soldier’s small lantern, as it was - not thought wise to use lights because of the fear of attracting bandits. The Italians had really captured only a small portion of Abyssinia, and the submission of the people was outward, and not inward. . STATUS OF WOMEN. Speaking of the tribe among whom she worked, and who live barely 100 miles south-west from Addis Ababa, Miss Horn said that the men did most of the field work, sowing, ploughing, and reaping, and the women did the weeding, preparing of food and drinks, and most of the marketing. The women lived a fairly healthy and open-air life. In the tribe referred to tile women could inherit land and own cattle, and were therefore not treated quite so much as slaves as in any other tribe. A woman who did not bear children and had no sons was simply not wanted and, when older, women had a hard time. Girls in the tribe were married at the age of 13 or 14 years, and there was as much ceremony attached to the betrothal as to the wedding. When a young man was getting towards marriageable age, his father, ' uncle, or some older man in the family, visited the parents of the proposed bride, who was quite often a girl the man had never seen. Inquiries were usually made from neighbours as to whether tiie girl was lazy or would make a good wife. The girl had no say in the matter and was simply like goods to be bought or sold. If the position was satisfactory, a present of butter was brought to the girl’s people, and the parents of both parties had a meal together; but the bridegroom was not present. Fourteen or 15 dollars (about £1) were usually : paid for the girl, and as it took about six days to earn one dollar the cost was quite high. The bridegroom also had to provide a new dress for the girl and a shamma (sheet which is wound round the shoulders). The most popular time for weddings was the Sunday after New Year, and as soon ns the date had been decided the girl’s fingernails were cut quite a long way down, sometimes to the quick. Two days before the wedding the bride had to fast, and drink kosso (native purge). Consequently, when the bridegroom conveyed her by mule to her new home she was practically unconscious. The young wife, in strict cases, was not allowed to go out or mix with others for six months after her marriage. The women did the spinning, said Miss Horn, and the men the weaving, but a peculiar fact was that the men did all the sewing of garments. In Miss Horn’s tribe the women usually wore white material —full, wide, and long—drawn in at the waist with a girdle. Many of them were beautiful. THE MISSION WORK. Speaking of the work of the Sudan Interior Mission, Miss Horn said there were 15 mission stations in Abyssinia, and the missionaries were working with nine different languages. The Bible had already been translated "into two languages, and the mission had translated the Gospel into three others. The alphabet contained 30 letters, with seven different forms of each. New Zealand missionaries at proseirt in Addis Ababa, concluded Miss Horn, were Mr and Mrs C. H. Barton (Auckland), Miss M. A. (Daisy) McMillan (Dunedin), Mrs Myrtle Mitchell (Invercargill), Mrs G. H. Cain (Auckland), anil Miss Ethel K.' Templeton (Otago Central).