Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London / [compiled] by Stefan Strelcyn.

  • Stefan Strelcyn
Date:
[1972]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London / [compiled] by Stefan Strelcyn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/34 (page 53)
    yagarba dawe fgcO « £<B s XVII, 46 £ haemorrhoids cf. Strelcyn, Medecine, i, p. 137, n. 6; TT 364 ft (Medecine, 270 ft). zar »ic « II, 8; V, 6; XI, 4; XII, 1; XV, 1. A spirit not considered as a demon, cf. Worrell, in, 128 ; Strelcyn, Prieres, 334 ; Kodinson, 9 et passim, see index, 194. For more details see the following selective bibliography: Enrico Cerulli, article ' zar ' in Encyclopaedia of Islam, first ed.; Griaule, LR, 129-35 ; M. Leiris, c Le taureau de Seyfou Tchenger (Zar)', Minotaure, No. 2, 1933, 75-82 : idem, cLe culte des zars a Gondar, l^thiopie septentrio- nale ', Aethiopica, n, 3, 1934, 96-103, n, 4, 1934, 125-56; idem, ' Un rite medico-magique ethiopien: le jet de danqara', Aethiopica, in, 2, 1935, 61-74 ; M. Griaule, c De quelques regies de nourriture concernant les genies zar ', Aethiopica, m, 3, 1935, 124-6; M. Leiris, ' La croyance aux genies Zar en Ethiopie du Nord', Journal de Psychologie Normale et Patho- logique, xxxv, 1-2, 1938, 107-25; idem, UAfrique fantome, Paris, Galli- mard, 1934; second ed., 1951; idem, i Le culte du Zar a Gondar, Ethiopie du Nord. Notes pour deux conferences prononcees a, FlScole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes' (mimeographed, Paris, 1955); idem, La possession et les aspects thedtraux chez les jfithiopiens de Gondar, Paris, Plon, 1958; Simon D. Messing, ' Group therapy and social status in the zar cult in Ethiopia ', in M. K. Opler (ed.), Culture and mental health, New York, Macmillan, 1959, 319-32 ; Rodinson, 9 ft (see index, 194). It would be of a certain interest to add to the dossier of the Ethiopian zar the following note (Trzos, ' List12): ' Evil [s?'c]-Hunting spirit that lives in forests and attacks people who appeal to him. This zar is most of the time attracted by females of beauty and good-smell as well as good-singing voice. Once this spirit dwells in a person, the sufferer has to observe certain formalities—what to dress, what kind of animal to kill and when to sacrifice them as well as how to hold the ceremony. Failure to observe these formali- ties results in severe punishment which goes to the extent of eating fire .... In rare cases, the patient suffers from depression and light-phobia. Mind you, if the ceremony is properly observed, the person who is possessed by zar has the power to prophesy and curse the enemy of those who bring gifts to the house. The zar incognito refers to the person as My horse . In some provinces, this zar is referred to as adokebere [see above, the explana- tion of KBT, 633, for tdgridd\'. See also Rodinson, ch. ii (c Sorcellerie, demons et possession a Gondar '), esp. pp. 61-71. Prescriptions against zar are found in TT, MS C, ch. 12, 54-65, and MS D, ch. 114, see indexes in Strelcyn, Medecine, I, 762-3 and 774-5. zar wdllag HC * aMJ£ « V, 6 [or yazar wdllag\. wdlag means the mulatto, cf. Guidi, col. 359; Baeteman, col. 745. zar wdllag is a mongrel of a zar and a demon, cf. Leiris, ' Le culte du Zar a Gondar ', 1955, 3. A special chapter is dedicated to the zar wdllag in MS D of TT (ch. 115), see index in Strelcyn, Medecine, i, 774-5.