The Sunday Mail
IBO FOROMA
TODAY is the Earth day (birthday) of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Menen Asfaw I, wife and consort to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I.
The Godly couple married in a beautiful church ceremony on July 30 1911 in the Province of Harar when the Emperor was still Dejazmatch or Govenor of Harar.
Empress Menen was born on April 3 1891 (25 Meggabit 1883) in the Egua village of the Ambassel region of the Wollo Province. She was baptised WoleteGiorgis in the Saint DelbaGiorgis Church.
Woizero (Princess) Wolete Giorgis was the granddaughter of Negus (King) Mikael of the Wollo Province. Her father was Jantirar Asfaw and her mother was Woizero Sehin, daughter of Negus Mikael (Micha-el).
In character, Empress Menen was known to be kind; polite, soft spoken, very generous, compassionate and devoutly God fearing. She had the people at heart and was well versed in her native language Amharic.
As a young girl, although education was dominated and only reserved for boys, Woizero Menen managed to acquire various academic qualifications including home economics. As Empress, she established childcare centres, handicraft schools and of course, the Itegue (Empress) Menen School for Girls, the first of its kind to offer education to young women of Ethiopia.
During the Italian invasion of 1936-1941, she assumed the administrative responsibility of Ethiopia while the Emperor was on the battlefield. The day before She received the Divine Coronation on the same day as the Emperor, She joined HIM in a night of fasting and constant prayer until the early morning hours as they prepared to take on the mantles such as: “Elect of God”, “Rose of Sharon”, “Bright and Morning Star”, and “Light of the World.”
She is known to have been devout to the traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, including honouring of holy feasts such as Easter and Sabbath Days. These traditions include much fasting and prayer, and strict observance of church rules and regulations.
Ethiopians referred to Itegue Menen as a “God fearing Empress” who was always praying to God. She was actively involved in humanitarian work and always mindful of the poor, sick and homeless. She built many churches with proceeds from her own account and gave away large parcels of her personal estate land.
She visited the Holy Land (Israel) four times and built a church and monastery on the banks of the Jordan River. In January 1945 she inaugurated the New Trinity Church and held a ceremony for patriots.
In February 1945, Her Divine Majesty visited the Empress Menen Handicraft School which was progressing and fruitful and a new annex was constructed for a further 300 girls as it was noted that women were enjoying lesser opportunities than males.
During March 1948 the St Mary Church at Sebeta was completed and inaugurated by Empress Menen. She again gave her estate and residence area for priests and deacons in the St Mary Church.
In September 1948, Emperor Haile Selassie gave instruction to the people that Ethiopians should wear cultural dress so that the coming generations would follow this as an example. Her Imperial Majesty, Itegue Menen took the initiative to wear cultural dress for the first time in that New Year.
Indeed Empress Menen unveiled innumerable cornerstone deeds of splendour and a lot of conscious women and men draw uncompromising inspiration from her eternal life the whole world over. Another reason Rastafarians obsess over Her Divine Majesty is re-establishing the influence and impact of Goddess back in position.
In general, the concept of Goddess has since drastically faded especially from ‘mainstream’ praise and worship. A great many actually consider it an abomination to evenly perceive God as of having a wife, Goddess. Questions such as related to mating are inconceivable and hell-fire blasphemy.
As usual, we need not forget that a lot of what we hold today was intentionally twisted for us to be moulded only into their desired shape and form.
The Jesus and Mary narrative, directly derived from Isis and Heru (Horus), reveals the pivotal roles of God and Goddess in action.
It is no coincidence that Heru rhymes with Jeru-salem. Salem means peace, and Heru was already the Prince of Peace long before the same title was once again awarded Jesus. Given this jig saw, Count C F Volney in his book “Ruins of Empire” wrote: “All religions originated in Africa.”
Professor Breasted, famous Egyptologist, also maintains that, “the Ethiopians were the first to give religious thought and aspiration to the world,” from the publication, “What They Never Told You” by Indus Khamit Kush.
According to Professor George Granville Monah James in the classic Stolen Legacy, “Statues of the Goddess Isis with the child Horus in her arms were common in Egypt, and were exported to all neighbouring and remote countries, where they are still to be found with new names attached to them — Christian in Europe, Bhuddist in Turkestan and Taoist in China and Japan.”
William Macquitty makes a related point concerning the universal worship of Isis: “It was, incidentally, from Alexandria that Horus and Isis entered the legend that surrounded Buddha in Gandharain Northern India and thence travelled to China, where the goddesses Isis resembled the Chinese Queen of Heaven, Kwan-yin, who, like Isis, was also Queen of the Seas. In Japan she was called Kwannon,” (Island of Isis published in New York by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976).
“The term Greek philosophy, to begin with is a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in existence. The ancient Egyptians had developed a very complex religious system, called the Mysteries, which was also the first system of salvation.
“As such, it regarded the human body as a prison house of the soul, which could be liberated from its bodily impediments, through the disciplines of the Arts and Sciences, and advanced from the level of mortal to that of a God. This was the notion of the summumbonum or greatest good, to which all men must aspire, and it also became the basis of all ethical concepts.”
Feedback: [email protected] or WhatsApp +263771648498/+263717232566
