Categories
Babylon

The True Origin of Santa Claus

DID YOU KNOW that the Ethiopian Orthodox Saint Abba Niqolawos, ቅዱስ ፡ ኒቆላዎስ ።, is the original character of what has been recently elaborated as “Santa Klaus” (Niklaus/Nicholas)?

He was an Oriental man from Mira, in the current Turkey, and his body rests in Bari, South Italy, in a place very near to the Ethiopian Church of that city. Abba Niqolawos is traditionally known in Bari as “The Black”, and depicted as a black man in traditional icons and statues. Surely, he wasn’t white and had nothing to do with Lapland, reindeers and white snow.

His life is commemorated in Ethiopia on 10th Tahsas (19th of December). He is recognized in the Ethiopian Synaxarium as a child prodigy, that was filled with deep righteousness and wisdom since his very first days of life, and also as a very powerful worker of miracles.

The idea of Santa Klaus bringing gifts at night is an elaboration of the orthodox tradition concerning his life. It is said, in fact, that during night he thrown 3 balls full of gold into the house of a poor father, so that he could give his daughters in matrimony and avoid to make them prostitutes for survival. The saint is still traditionally depicted with these 3 balls of gold, which in modern times were transformed into the “night gifts” of Santa Klaus. The Ethiopian Synaxarium also tell us that he was one of the 318 fathers of Nicea that fought against the heresy of Arius, so His Majesty spoke about him also, when He prayed:

“May God who helped the 318 Fathers of the council of Nicea enlighten and help us all.”

As they have done with Christ, the present day Santa (Satan) character is another example of white-washing colonial education, trying to adulterate the African spiritual roots, set a carnal culture of white supremacy and keep Africa and East under exploitation and denigration.

Categories
Babylon

“Free Palestine” JAH said

Ethiopian Imperial Government communique, 23 October 1973:

“Consistent with her stand on opposing territorial annexation, Ethiopia has done her best to effect the withdrawal of Israel from the territories of Egypt, Jordan and Syria which she occupied in 1967 (…) Because Israel has failed to withdraw from the occupied territories, Ethiopia has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Israel until such time that Israel withdraws from the occupied territories”.

The territories they still occupy today, against UNO resolutions and international law. An international mandate of arrest for genocide has been promulgated over the head of their ministers now. Every Rastaman got the responsibility to condemn these criminals and not to defend them or shun public exposition, as certain puppets among us are doing because of their own personal gain and profit.

FREE PALESTINE !!!

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

The Gospel Choir in Harlem (1954)

“Even this triumphant ticker-tape parade (in Manhattan), though, could not match the rapturous welcome given to the emperor by a jubilant crowd of African-Americans when he visited a Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem. The pastor of the church, Reverend Dr. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., greeted Haile Selassie ‘in the name of the 700,000 Afro-Americans of New York City, men and women of every faith, belief, and disbelief’. Powell extolled the emperor as ‘the symbol around which we place all our hopes, dreams, and prayers that one day the entire continent of Africa shall be as free as the country of Ethiopia.’ A 200-voice choir then sang the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s ‘Messiah’; the emperor was visibly moved when he heard the refrain ‘and he shall reign forever and ever’.”

(Taken from “King of Kings”, Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haus Publishing, 2015 p. 191)

Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ is a song from his work in english language, an “Oratorio” called “Messiah”, composed by him in 1741. In Harlem, they sang unto His Majesty the following verses:

“Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become
the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ,
and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
and Lord of lords,
and He shall reign,
and He shall reign for ever and ever,
for ever and ever,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And He shall reign for ever and ever, for ever and ever.
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Hans Wilhelm Lockot – German Scholar and Librarian – 1989

Testimony of the German scholar and librarian Hans Wilhelm Lockot, who for many years was head of the Ethiopian National Library, about His Majesty:
“As well as a vast quantity of administrative detail, he stored personal information about thousands of individuals away in his brain: he knew the names, faces, positions, functions, tribal connections and family relationships of officials, military officers or students. All of them he had personally appointed, promoted, transferred or dismissed, or he had supported their education; and reports on all of them had been submitted to him. It was said he never forgot any conversation he had ever had and indeed from his early youth he had been trained to store everything in his memory. He avoided leaving any written records of his actions and never took notes: only his final decisions went into the files. For the population it was a matter of course that the Elect of God should have supernatural qualities, but for officials it was deeply portentous, and it kept them constantly in a state of apprehension. Even when unexpected situations arose, the Emperor would be able quickly and effortlessly to recall accurate detail of events which had taken place many years before without consulting files or asking his aides.”
Taken from Hans Wilhelm Lockot, “The Mission. The Life, Reign and Character of Haile Selassie I”, London 1989, p.53
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Nelson Mandela, from his autobiography “The Long Walk to Freedom” – 1994

“Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history.” (…)

“Suddenly we heard the distant music of a lone bugle and then the strains of a brass band accompanied by the steady beating of African drums. As the music came closer, I could hear — and feel — the rumbling of hundreds of marching feet. From behind a building at the edge of the square, an officer appeared brandishing a gleaming sword; at his heels marched five hundred black soldiers in rows four across, each carrying a polished rifle against his uniformed shoulder. When the troops had marched directly in front of the grandstand, an order rang out in Amharic, and the five hundred soldiers halted as one man, spun around, and executed a precise salute to an elderly man in a dazzling uniform, His Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, the Lion of Judah.

Here, for the first time in my life, I was witnessing black soldiers commanded by black generals applauded by black leaders who were all guests of a black head of state. It was a heady moment. I only hoped it was a vision of what lay in the future for my own country.” (…)

“The conference was officially opened by our host, His Imperial Majesty, who was dressed in an elaborate brocaded army uniform. I was surprised by how small the emperor appeared, but his dignity and confidence made him seem like the African giant that he was. It was the first time I had witnessed a head of state go through the formalities of his office, and I was fascinated. He stood perfectly straight, and inclined his head only slightly to indicate that he was listening. Dignity was the hallmark of all his actions.”

Categories
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

The Cave of Treasures

“But when God made Adam go out of the Garden, He did not place him on the border of it northward, lest he should draw near to the sea of water, and he and Eve wash themselves in it, be cleansed from their sins, forget the transgression they had committed, and be no longer reminded of it in the thought of their punishment.

Then again, as to the southern side of the Garden, God was not pleased to let Adam dwell there; because, when the wind blew from the north, it would bring him, on that southern side, the delicious smell of the trees of the garden. Wherefore God did not put Adam there, lest he should smell the sweet smell of those trees, forget this transgression, and find consolation for what he had done, take delight in the smell of the trees, and not be cleansed from his transgression.

Again, also, because God is merciful and of great pity, and governs all things in a way He alone knows – He made our father Adam dwell in the western border of the Garden, because on that side the earth is very broad. And God commanded him to dwell there in a cave in a rock – the Cave of Treasures below the Garden.”

From the Ethiopic “Book of Adam and Eve”(Gedle Adam), Book I Chapter I, translation by Rev, S. C. Malan, London.

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

Cultural Sayings of His Majesty

“The other cultural sayings His Majesty often repeated were ‘Ke ras belay nefas’ (no one more important than yourself) or ‘Ha le fe semayu new’, which is an example of sem ena work (wax and gold). The denotative (or wax) translation of the saying “Ha le fe semayu new” is that the sky has passed by. The connotative (or gold) translation is that the character Ha ሀ (which appears first on the Ethiopic alphabet chart) is greater in value than the character Fe ፈ (which appears twenty-fifth) because of the order in which each character appears. The Ethiopic alphabet has thirty-three basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is pronounced in the syllable. Therefore, we are to conclude not only that Ha is more important than Fe but also that in life, we should see all things as related and relative. If you are last on the list, you might think that being first is greater. While your position in the alphabet (or life) is obviously relevant, it does not determine everything about you or how important or not important you are—most of life depends on how you perceive something and how much you allow it to impact you in positive or negative terms.”
(Taken from “It was Only Yesterday”, Hannah Mariam
Meherete-Selassie, 2018)
ከራስ ፡ በላይ ፡ ነፋስ ። (litt. “The wind is above the head/self”)
ሀለፈ ፡ ሰማዩ ። (litt. “The heaven has passed away”, but also “Ha is the heaven of Fe”)
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

M.Mansfield, Majority Leader of US Senate – 1963

Senate of U.S., Washington, 2nd of October 1963

“It is a great honour and privilege to welcome to the Senate an outstanding Head of State from the great continent of Africa. He governs a nation which is among the oldest, in a historic sense, in the world. It is also among the newest in its dynamic search for a more satisfying participation for all its people in the main-stream of progress in the second half of the 20th century.

The man whom I am to present to the Senate is the Emperor of an ancient land. He is also an exceptional international statesman whose constructive outlook has made a profound impression upon the contemporary councils of the world.

This man has been a living part of the great events of our times. He has experienced these events personally, and He has experienced them as the personification of a peaceful nation, determined to live its own life and to work out its own way of life. He and His nation were both caught up in the feaful tragedies, the high hopes, the illusions, and disillusions – in short, in the cataclysmic upheavals – of a globe in massive transition since the end of World War I. He has suffered much. He has risen above suffering with the wisdom which suffering alone brings; and he has triumphed, not in arrogance, not in vengeance, not in pride. His has been the enduring triumph of humility and a deep human understanding.

The Senate will remember his lonely appearance at the League of Nations in 1936. He spoke, then, from his heart, not only to save his people from invasion, but also to arrest the course of self-destruction upon which a smug, a glib, and an indifferent world was embarked. He was listened to, but He was not heeded. He was persuasive, but the nations of the world were not persuaded. And a few years later the smug, glib and indifferent world began to crumble about those who did not heed, who were not persuaded.

Once again, on Friday, our distinguished visitor will go to address the nations of the world, assembled in the 18th General Assembly of the United Nations. The times are different now; the faces are different; even the nations are different than they were when He appeared in Geneva almost 28 years ago. One would hope – and I am sure that it is a well-founded hope – that His words, enriched by these decades of tragedy and triumph and by profound personal experience, will find in that great assemblage of the world a deep response of heart and mind.”

Categories
Ethiopia - Land, People and Customs

14 Provinces of Imperial Ethiopia

Imperial Ethiopia was divided into 14 provinces on territorial and historic basis, not ethnic or racial as today.
The 14 provinces were:
Arsi አርሲ
Begemder በጌምድር
Gamo-Gofa ጋሞ ጎፋ
Gojjam ጎጃም
Harerge ሐረርጌ
Bale ባሌ
Illubabor ኢሉባቦር
Kaffa ካፋ
Shewa ሸዋ
Sidamo ሲዳሞ
Tigray ትግራይ
Wellega ወለጋ
Wello ወሎ
Ertra (Eritrea) ኤርትራ
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

The Testament of War (1935)

“In accordance with tradition, the emperor made his last will and testament before going to war. If he should die in battle, Haile Selassie instructed that the empress and his children should be taken to the British embassy, where they would seek asylum. The senior commanders and officers were to regroup in an unoccupied part of Ethiopia and choose a leader from among their number, who would assume overall command. The intention was that they should then continue their brave struggle. If Ethiopia should lose her independence, patriotic forces in the country should start a guerrilla war against the occupiers and do everything they could to ensure that the nation regained its sovereignty as quickly as possible. The whole world should be informed about the country’s fate and the crime of the Italian war of aggression. Haile Selassie’s will was entrusted to Etshege Basileos, the senior abbot of the monastery of Debre Libanos, for safe keeping.”
(Taken from “King of Kings”, Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haus Publishing, 2015 p. 116)