Ethiopian Prayer Scrolls (2): A Close-up of SJU Ms. Or. E 12

In this post I bring you an example of one entire prayer/magic scroll from the Saint John's Special Collections. My selection is simply based upon the fact that I have titles for the different sections of the scroll, along with some earlier cataloger's provision of line numbers to help those who are able (and might wish) to read the original text.

I can never look upon (or hold) our library's magic scrolls without seeing in my mind Jacques Mercier's description of the ritual in which the scrolls are produced (Ethiopian Magic Scrolls, 1979, pp.15-16):

"At the end of the consultation, the dabtara may say to the sick woman, 'Your sterility comes from aynä tela (eye of shadow) and from mägana (spirits) who have closed up your womb. You must sacrifice a black sheep, wash yourself in its blood and chyme, and bring me its skin.'" ... "The animal is generally sacrificed on the sick person's land, in a place behind the house where a pit has been dug. The dabtara then has the sheep carried three times in a circle, moving to the right, around the sick person, and then he slits its throat. The blood is collected in a hollow gourd (the sick person must not taste it or the spirit will not leave), along with the chyme. ... Then he washes the person with the contents of the gourd while saying prayers. The evil spirits, attracted by the drink, are drawn off by the liquid as it drains into the pit." [parts of it are eaten by the sick person or relatives] "The scraps and bones will be buried in the pit so that animals will not be able to touch them. The skin will be used for one or more scrolls."

Mercier provides much more detail in his monograph on the significance and origin of the scrolls. Since I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the core of Mercier's description above, I must assume that the scrolls that I am handling were prepared in a similar manner, as part of a ritual and not in a workshop preparing manuscripts. I must admit to being a little squeamish at the image!

Ms. Or. E 12

Description: Parchment; 222.5 x 11 cm; 13-18 characters to a line; 355 lines; 19th century; Copied for (Wayzaro) Walatta Giyorgis Gubelē.

 Note that the rubrics (red text) in the photos indicate the start of a new prayer or legend.


Lines 1-71: The Legend of Suseneyos and Werzeleyā. A prayer against Werzeleyā, the evil spirit which kills suckling children.

Lines 72-113: Prayer against the evil spirit called šolalāy

 

Lines 114-138: Two prayers against evil spirits which cause eye disease and headache.



(Note the stitching to connect two strips of parchment.)

 

Lines 139-165: Prayer against evil spirits which cause 'āyna Telā and 'āyna warq









Lines 166-187: Prayer against pain caused by others [eda sab']

Lines 188-208: Prayer against evil spirits which cause 'āyna telā and 'āyna warq.





Lines 209-223: Prayer against all diseases.




Lines 223-233: Prayer against terror [dengāzē].

Lines 234-243: Greeting to breath of the Trinity.


 Lines 244-254: Prayer against dysentery/diarrhea and epidemic [taqmāt wa-tasebo].


Lines 254-308: Prayer for drowning and binding demons [Mastem wamā'esara aganent].

(and another stitch to connect two strips of parchment)

Lines 309-340: Prayer for the protection of the soul. The main body of the prayer is the asmāt of the Archangel Michael found in his dersān.




Lines 341-355: Prayer for self-protection.

An angel (?) with a big head and two wings, but with no trunk.

Ethiopian Prayer Scrolls (1): Angels and Demons? (or just faces?)

HMML Wenner Ms. 2

 _______________________________________________

HMML Williams Ms. 2

Ethiopica at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) is home to one of the largest Ethiopian manuscript collections in the Midwestern United States.  However, the means by which this collection has grown is rather different from most.  HMML started working with the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) in Ethiopia in 1973. Through many difficult years of conflict and famine in East Africa, HMML attempted to keep the microfilming of Ethiopian manuscripts on track, and in recent years it has returned to digitize (or to collaborate in digitizing) even more manuscripts.

At this time HMML has about 8000 manuscripts on microfilm, and many more digitally photographed.  Of course, this has led to a need for cataloging, which has been ably provided over the past 40 years by William Macomber and Getatchew Haile.  As a result of their professional work, HMML came to be known as an important center for Ethiopian manuscript studies.


Today, in addition to the microfilms and digital copies, HMML has about 50 Ethiopian manuscripts in its own collections.  Most, if not all, of these manuscripts came to HMML as gifts, starting in the 1970's.  I hope over time to provide a brief general introduction to several of these manuscripts (since I do not read Ge'ez or Amharic, I can only provide very general comments!).  Of these manuscripts, the majority are what we traditionally think of as books--codices, albeit ones with handwritten parchment leaves, not printed pages on paper.  About 20 of these manuscripts are actually rolls, often called magic scrolls or prayer scrolls. They are prepared in a special healing ritual by a dabtara (or debtera), an "itinerant religious figure among ... the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches." (Wikipedia)  I hope in a future blog post to provide a little context to this ritual.

For two earlier posts on Ethiopian topics, go to: 

http://booksfromthehmmlbasement.blogspot.com/2012/03/global-ethiopia-and-rare-books.html
and
http://booksfromthehmmlbasement.blogspot.com/2012/01/aside-my-apologies-for-photographs-in.html

 

Angels looking out at us

The Encyclopaedia Aethiopica (Wiesbaden, 2003- ) describes these scrolls as "Christian written amulets ... made up of crude parchment or leather (up to three strips usually sewn together with thongs of the same material) ..." whose "protective effect is realized by the mere possession of them, not by reading." Due to their constant use, scrolls generally do not get to be very old, and often date only to the 19th or 20th centuries.

Unrolling one of these bundles exposes a whole new world, radically different from that around us in North America.  Along with their unusual format, the scrolls are especially noteworthy for their decoration, which usually includes a picture of a protective angel--usually Michael or Gabriel--or demons, or faces within frames, or events from Ethiopian legend.  Here is a small gallery of angels from the HMML collections. Note that some of the manuscripts below have been donated to HMML within the past year, and are essentially still uncataloged.

HMML Olson Ms. 2

HMML Henze Scroll no. 2

HMML Henze Scroll no. 1

HMML Olson Ms. 3

HMML Olson Ms. 3: two angels pulling back a curtain to unveil a Cross.

HMML Olson Ms. 3

HMML O'Donnell Ms. 1

SJU Ms. Or. E 4 (Saint John's Special Collections): 19/20th century

SJU Ms. Or. E 9 (Saint John's Special Collections): 19th century

SJU Ms. Or. E 8 (Saint John's Special Collections): a somewhat "early" angel, from the late 18th century.

Cutting Your Prophets in Half: The Passion of Jesus and its Violent Parallels in Late Medieval Manuscript Illustration

Other than my tortured English in the flyer below, I hope that my presentation will be cogent! (or is that "coherent?").

I'll be speaking mostly on the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, but with reference to other traditions based on picture cycles--the Bible Moralisee, the Biblia Pauperum, and the Concordantia Caritatis.

I hope others might find this of interest!

Peace!

The Rising Dead (in time for Halloween)

From the Bethune Book of Hours (15th century).

It's that time of year again, when ghouls and ghosts, vampires and zombies, and many other kinds of all-around evil-doers flood our streets in search of a sweet treat or two. While I can understand the desire to gather up candy, the national focus on embodying the gruesome and gory in our youngest and most innocent comes as a bit of a surprise to this graying dad. So I looked back at some of our Library's oldest books--mostly from the fifteenth century--to find images of the walking dead in a somewhat more positive light.

And yes, there is something positive about the walking (or this case, "rising") dead.

Bethune Book of Hours. Note how Jesus' face has been rubbed off--perhaps by an overly zealous owner?
The large initial "D" opens Psalm 6 (see below for text).

In our collections, most images of the dead rising are to be found in Books of Hours, prayer books for lay people that were most popular from the late 14th to early 16th centuries. The prayers are set out for different points in the day, and these are demarcated by miniatures depicting (most commonly) the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity of Jesus, and other scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus. There may also be pictures of the evangelists or King David, as well as a funeral scene (for the Office of the Dead).

In some Books of Hours there are also depictions of the Last Judgment, with Jesus enthroned in the sky, surrounded by angels. The primary moment in the year to remember this is at the feast of Christ the King, which comes at the end of November (or occasionally in very early December) and marks the end of one liturgical year, so that the next year may start with Advent.

Halloween, the eve of the feast of All Saints, comes just a few weeks before this celebration of the "end of time."  As the name indicates, the feast of All Saints is time set aside to remember all those who have been designated as especially good examples of being a follower of Jesus.

When it became clear that there are more good people who have died beyond the official saints, the Catholic church decided to make the following day, November 2, the feast of All Souls--meaning we should remember and pray for everyone who has died.

Thus, Halloween and the two days following it are intended to be a very positive time in the calendar--not a time of people in hockey masks carrying chainsaws, but a time that we remember those who have gone before us, shaped us, and left us with both the hopes and the despairs of today.

Gavin Ms. 2, a Book of Hours.

Gavin Ms. 2, detail.

When one looks at the dead rising in these pictures, one does not find the gruesome images of anger, but rather hopeful expressions (for the most part), and sometimes even the assistance of angels! These miniatures do not portray a terrible end, but a hopeful one. Sometimes, to add to this sense of hope, there appear the Virgin Mary and the evangelist John to help intercede for the sinful risers.

These are not the images of Hellmouth (which are also pretty common), which show the damned being dragged off by devils. There the ending has already been determined and the sight is (in a word) not pretty--that is perhaps worthy of another blog post on another occasion!

However, I will grant you, the Psalm chosen to accompany the miniature (Psalm 6 (7)) does echo the sound of fear in the voice of the speaker, but ultimately the hope is that God will listen and "rescue my soul."

Gavin Ms. 2.

The Latin text facing the miniature is from Psalm 6:2-6

"O Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor upbraid me in thy wrath. Have mercy on me O Lord, for I am weak; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled, and my soul is troubled exceedingly; but thou, O Lord, how long ...?

Return, O Lord, rescue my soul, save me for thy mercy's sake, because there is none in death who remembers thee: who is there that praises thee in the abode of the dead?" (from the Douay translation)









Sometimes the rising is not shown at the Last Judgment, but at the climax of the Passion, with the rending of the temple curtain:

"And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they came into the holy city, and appeared to many." (Matthew 27:51-53)

For an example of this, see: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/292874781988848223/

Prayers being offered on All Souls' Day from a book printed in the 15th century.
The dead are rising in the background.

The Day of the Dead -- A Fabulous Alternative

A very different view of what to remember in late October and early November comes in a children's song for the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by singer/composer Tish Hinojosa:

"The moon is full of something on the rise
The other world is opening its eyes
Out in the graveyard
We will sing a stance
Even the dead are rising up to dance

Love songs and flowers and papers, bright colors
Smells of the food that we bring
There we remember the saints and the sinners
This night with them we will sing."

From Hasta Los Muertos Salen a Bailar / Even the Dead Rise Up to Dance by Tish Hinojosa, from her wonderful children's album Cada Niño/Every Child. Most of the song is in Spanish--only part of the English is given here. The lyrics are available on the singer's website.

Wow! What a powerfully positive message--we are called to remember our grandparents, our aunts and uncles, and all of the people who have formed us.  In fact, the cemetery is not a place of fear, but a place to have a picnic where we can have our loved ones with us! In this way, Halloween is not a time of "fright" and gore, but a time of hope and promise.

It is this need to remember that comes through for me during the three days from October 31 to November 2 every year.

Fortunately, our child is going out as a Cheerios box this year. 

No ghouls or zombies, thank you.

Kacmarcik Book of Hours

Several more scenes of the dead rising from their tombs can be found at:
http://www.pinterest.com/matthewheintzel/halloween-revisited-the-dead-shall-rise-again-in-m/

God's books in extraordinary variety ...

Many years ago I lived in a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, where the local Catholic Church (St. Thomas the Apostle) embraced diversity through its motto: "God's people in extraordinary variety." I have always loved that phrase, so I am borrowing/adapting it today to introduce a recent presentation I made at the annual meeting of the Medieval Association of the Midwest ("MAM").  MAM met (and was warmly received) at Indiana State University, in Terre Haute, Indiana. The conference gave me an opportunity to describe some of the actual manuscripts that are held at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Since HMML is largely know for its digital and microfilm collections, this was a chance to share our own materials with others--albeit through digital means!

Reproduced below are the slightly edited slides from my presentation. It is quite possible that I have unintentionally inverted some of the non-European language manuscript images, so I ask that any one with knowledge of these languages to contact me with corrections!! Feel free to click on a slide to see it enlarged.

Peace,

Matt Heintzelman

Ground-Breaking and "Ground-Re-Breaking"

HMML on October 2, 2013

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library ("HMML") is physically housed in the Bush Center which is undergoing a little reconstructive surgery over the next week or so, as we repair a few leaky spots in the concrete.  However, we are open for business as usual!

This event, however, brought back images of an earlier groundbreaking, in 1975, when the Library first became an separate location of its own.  Below is an account of the first groundbreaking, on April 8, 1975, as reported in the ANNALS OF MMML (vol. V, no. 3).  The MMML (or Monastic Manuscript Microfilm Library) was re-dubbed the "Hill Monastic Manuscript Library" in 1976 and then the "Hill Museum & Manuscript Library" in 2004.

Happy reading!

April 8, 1975 (All quotes below are from the ANNALS of MMML):

"The GROUNDBREAKING ceremony for the new MMML building takes place today. Guests of honor at the luncheon which preceded the ceremony include the R. Reverend JOHN EIDENSCHINK, O.S.B., Abbot of St. John’s Abbey and Chancellor of St. John’s University, the Very Reverend MICHAEL BLECKER, O.S.B., President of St. John’s University, the Reverend OLIVER KAPSNER, O.S.B., Director Emeritus of MMML’s Field Operations, Dr. A. A. HECKMAN, Past President of the Hill Family Foundation, now known as the Northwest Area Foundation, and Mr. JOHN TAYLOR, Executive Director of the Northwest Area Foundation. The honored guests and the professional, secretarial and clerical staff members are welcomed by Dr. JULIAN G. PLANTE, Director of the Monastic Manuscript Microfilm Library. "

Fr. Michael Blecker, OSB, and Dr. Julian Plante dig the first soil on the place that will become HMML.

"In brief remarks after the luncheon, Dr. Plante and Abbot John recall the assistance of many persons in the early days of the project which made possible the success of MMML and pays tribute in particular to Father Oliver’s perseverance in the face of initial difficulties and to Abbot Baldwin Dworschak’s valuable assistance in securing the good will and cooperation of many Austrian abbeys. Father Michael speaks in recognition of the accomplishments of MMML and thanks Dr. Julian Plante for his efforts and leadership which have created a world-renowned research center at St. John’s University. Father Oliver recalls that the groundbreaking ceremony is taking place one day before the tenth anniversary of MMML’s beginning its microfilming project in Austria. "

"After the luncheon, the guests go to the site of the new building, which had earlier been cleared of its cover of snow by a university bulldozer. At the site, the Reverend ROLAND BEHRENDT, O.S.B., reads as a lesson the passage in praise of monastic scribes taken from An Introduction to Divine and Human Readings by Cassiodorus Senator. Abbot John reads the following prayer composed for this occasion:

God, our Father,

you have blessed men and women
with the desire to discover, to create, to think, speak and write 

and to hand on their precious heritage through word and symbol
from one generation to the next.

We thank you for this gift.

Today, as we begin to build a place of shelter and study
for a fragile part of our inheritance,
we ask you to look with kindness on our benefactors,
and on those who have planned and designed the building that will stand here.

Protect those who will labor in its construction;
enrich those who will work and study within its walls
so that in all things you may be glorified.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. AMEN. "

Dr. Julian Plante joking with John Taylor from the Northwest Area Foundation.

"Father Michael and Dr. Plante turn the first clods of earth and pass the shovels to Dr. Heckman, Father Oliver, Mr. Taylor and to Father JAMES TINGERTHAL, O.S.B., and Mr. ORLAND JELLUM, of the Physical Plant department of the University."

 The sentiments of the prayer above are well worth remembering as we approach HMML's fiftieth anniversary of its preservation work:

"Protect those who will labor in its construction;
enrich those who will work and study within its walls
so that in all things you may be glorified."

Amen to that.

Peace.