A Robe of Meaning and Miracles

Ethno-philology of an Islamic Ethiopian Amharic Ajami Hagiographic Poem

Lecture by Professor Eloi Ficquet, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

The presentation reports on a long series of ethnographic observations with descendants of an Ethiopian Sufi saint, the Hajj Husayn of Baja (ca. 1870-1942), whose thaumaturgical faculties continue to be transmitted by several vectors (tomb, spring of living water, ritual objects, panegyric texts, photographic portrait), which are the subject of weekly ceremonies. Special attention will be placed on the edition of a hagiographic text on the life and miracles of the saint, in Amharic, composed in Arabic Ajami script. The written text will be compared to its recitation in a ceremonial setting, as well as to the oral account of the saint's life.

For further information, please contact Alessandro Gori