Awra Amba RJ 300612 EN - Contacter un comité local d'Attac

4. Social organisation
twelve small individual rooms, which are maintained by the community. In 2005 four to six elderly
lived here (At05/57); in 2010 eight of these rooms were used by people between the ages of 75 and
90, two of them being outsiders to the community. The community no longer took old people from
outside due to lack of means (Jo10b/6). The situation has not changed in 2012 (Crespo, 20112).
Picture 13: Bedrooms for elderly, in 2010.
4.6. Funeral ceremonies
In most Ethiopian societies, funeral ceremonies (as weddings) give the opportunity relatives coming
sometimes from far away to gather, to share their experiences and to build some common (Yi07/52).
In the Amhara region, the family and the close relatives of a deceased orthodox person are many
crying and wailing in the house of the deceased; when the keening rises to its peak, some beat their
bodies and throw themselves into the ground around the bed of the deceased. In parallel, the body of
the deceased is prepared to make easier the new existence of the soul and its journey to another
world. Wailing continues and gets louder in the church. After the burial, the family, the friends and
neighbours can stay several days with the close relatives of the deceased, in a tent beside the house,
women crying and wailing intensively. On the third day, before sunrise, family members and
relatives go to the churchyard, offering food and drink and keening. The participation to these
ceremonies is a sign of respect towards the deceased: to fail to attend the ceremonies without
important reasons, it is placing himself outside the community, and being possibly ex-communicated
or sanctioned by the community. To cry and to wail show the attachment to the deceased. Some ones
can cut short the hair, wear black clothes, women can remove their ornaments, not apply butter or oil
on their hair during the whole period of bereavement (At05/67-68).
The Muslim communities close to Awra Amba perform very similar ceremonies, the main difference
being that women do not take part in burial; otherwise they would become sterile. Wailing is
moreover less bitter than among the Orthodox, and occurs only on three occasions: when the soul is
separated from the body, when the corpse is taken out of the house for burial, and when the body is
buried. Orthodox priests advice for that matter these same restrictions of wailing, which must not be
"exaggerated".
For every case, a funeral attending by many people is regarded as the most respectable ceremony
(At05/68-69).
The behaviour within the Awra Amba community is completely different. Following the death of a
community member, only a 'reasonable' number of people attend the funerals (Question 30 in
Annex). The number varies according to the age of the deceased person: if it is a child, they are
around three or four people; if it is an adult, around six or seven people. The rest of the people
remain at home until the people attending the burial are back (Yi07/51). According to Zumra quoted
59 / 85