Five YouTube Videos Of The Wara Bethel Conferences Of The Apostolic Church Of Ethiopia

Apostolic Church, Mar 24, 2022

ለወንድሞች እና እህቶችም ሼር በማድረግ የበረከቱ ተካፋይ እናደርጋቸው
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Google translate from Amharic to English "Let's share the blessings to our brothers and sisters"

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update - March 27, 2024

This pancocojams post presents information about the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE) and its annual Wara Bethel Conference.

This post also showcases five YouTube videos of Wara Bethel Conferences.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the producers and publishers of these videos on YouTube and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who ae quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF ETHIOPIA AND ITS WARA BETHEL CONFERENCES
Source #1
From https://acieth.org/about/establishment/
..."Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE) is member of Jesus’ church, established by him on the day of Pentecost, and is currently operating throughout the whole world beginning from Ethiopia. Its faith and doctrine is also not of a recent origin to Ethiopia. As it is written in the book of Acts chapter 8, an Ethiopian eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, heard the message of the gospel preached by the Apostles from the evangelist Phillip and was baptized in Jesus name as was practiced on the day of Pentecost.

This gospel of salvation preached by the twelve apostles was fallen on the ground in the land of Ethiopia for the last many centuries, until it was revealed with the mercy of the Lord and taken up again, beginning from about the second half of the 20th century.

Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE) was legally registered by the government of Ethiopia and started operation beginning from the year 1968 G.C. Its HQ is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and has got thousands of local churches, distributed all over the country and thousands of ministers serving in those churches. Its ministry is not only limited within Ethiopia; rather, it involves in evangelizing the whole world to the extent that the Lord Jesus opens the door and also in the edification of saints.

ACE’s Constituency is in millions and growing by 40 – 50 thousand every year. While most of the members are in Ethiopia, the number of saints is growing in Africa, North America, Asia and other parts of the world as well. Its international ministry is also spreading in almost all continents, viz. Africa, North America, Canada, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Australia.

The ACE’s fundamental doctrine is rooted and anchored firmly with the first New Testament Church that was born on the day of Pentecost. It preaches and practices the same message of repentance, baptism in Jesus name for the remission of sins and the infilling of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:37-38)."...
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Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecostalism_in_Ethiopia for general information about Pentecostalism in Ethiopia. That Wikipedia page mentions that the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE) is one of the three largest Pentecostal denominations in Ethiopia.

Also, click https://classroom.synonym.com/the-difference-between-pentecostal-apostolic-12084936.h
for information about the differences between being Pentecostal and Apostolic. Here's the first paragraph from that page:
"Pentecostalism is a Christian movement that began in the early part of the 20th century. The core  doctrine that distinguishes Pentecostals is their belief in the restoration of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in tongues. The Apostolic movement is an offshoot of the Pentecostal movement that began in 1913 when doctrinal disputes, which initially arose at a camp meeting revival service, split the fledgling movement"….

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Source #2
From https://www.privateguide.com/en/0584f80/tours/n_1095/
..."Tour description

The International Apostolic Church organizes annual spiritual festival at Wara-Sidama, Ethiopia. Wara is a rolling plain land in Sidama, During March more than 500,000 peoples gather from all over the country to attend the spiritual Wara festival."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These YouTube videos are presented in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only

These videos are given without any editorial descriptions or editorial comments 

SHOWCASE VIDEO #1
This video is embedded at the top of this post.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Wara Bethel Conference 2020 G C – Apostolic Church of Ethiopia 

Apostolic, Dec 14, 2020

ለመላው የኢትዮጵያ የሐዋርያዊት ቤተ ክርቲያን አባላት

የኢትዮጵያ ሐዋርያዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያ Web site ለእንተርኔት ተጠቃሚዎች ሁሉ በተመቻቸና እጅግ ደስ በሚያሰኝ መልክ ተዘጋጅቶላችሁ ቀርቦአል አሁኑኑ ይጎብኙ!!! https://acieth.org/
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Amharic to English

For all Ethiopian Apostolic Church members

The Ethiopian Apostolic Church Web site has been prepared for all Internet users in a convenient and pleasant way. Visit it now!!!

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - የኢትዮጵያ ሐዋርያዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን ዋራ ቤቴል 2014 / Wara Bethel Apostolic Church Of Ethiopia 2022

አንድ ጌታ ONE LORD, Mar 20, 2022  #apostolicchurchofethiopia #apostolic #wara

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 - Wara 2020, beautiful first day of conferences

Viajando y Mas con Miguel, Mar 13, 2020 

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 -33rd wara bethel conference ||apostolic Church of Ethiopia || 33ኛ ዋራ ቤቴል ኮንፈረንስ || coming soon .... 

#EYA TUBE, Mar 1, 2024  #sibket #apostolic #wara

#wara #apostolic #song #gospel #worship #apostolic church of Ethiopia #wara #wara #song #mezmur#sibket

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Examples Of Face Paint And/Or Body Scarification In Various Southern Ethiopian Ethnic Groups

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a video of a tour of various ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia's Omo Valley. The tour was conducted by a "country caravan" that included a truck with a piano.

This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series about traditional and contemporary tattoos and scarification, and traditional and contemporary African face and body painting. As such, I've included some time notations about certain portions of this video.

WARNING*: Some topless women are shown in some portions of this video. Also, a portion of this video shows women being whipped during a ritual ceremony and a naked man jumping the bulls as part of a ritual ceremony.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

Thanks to all those who are featured in this post and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/ritual-scarification-temporary-face.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "Ritual Scarification & Temporary Face Painting Among The Hamar People Of Ethiopia".

DISCLAIMER:
This post isn't meant to represent all of the different types of face painting or body painting that is worn by people in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. Nor does this post imply that people from these ethnic groups always wear face or body paint.

The video's narration is in French. Since I only speak English I have no idea what was said and whether it was culturally appropriate.

*One reason why I include WARNING notices in this and other pancocojams posts is to alert adults in public or private schools or other institutions who might want to use this post as supplemental educational material, but are prohibited from or reluctant to use material that contains content that is considered problematic for children and youth in their particular culture/s.

Use pancocojams' internal search engine or click the "traditional and contemporary African face and body painting" tag below to find other pancocojams post on this subject.

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INFORMATION ABOUT ETHNIC GROUPS WHO RESIDE IN ETHIOPIA'S OMO VALLEY
From https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/travel/omo-valley-ethiopia-eco-tourism.html
Up Close With the Tribes of Ethiopia’s Imperiled Omo Valley

Both dams and overtourism threaten the Omo Valley. But a sustainable
travel initiative offers an intimate experience with local peoples.

By ANDREW McCARTHY OCT. 30, 2017

This southwestern corner of Ethiopia is home to seven primary tribes who coexist with varying degrees of peace. The land is largely dry savanna, with the Omo River cutting a nearly 475-mile-long swath down to Lake Turkana on the Kenya border. The discovery of human remains dating back nearly 2.5 million years prompted Unesco to dub the Lower Valley a World Heritage site in 1980.

Continue reading the main story
But today the Omo is a region on the precipice. The Ethiopian government has recently completed the third of five proposed dams upriver. The dams threaten to alter the lives of the communities that have inhabited this valley for millennium and depend on the river’s moods for survival"...
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This article provides commentary about the following ethnic groups:
Hamar
Karo
Nyangatom
Daasanach
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This article also includes a photo with this caption:
"Scarification — small, raised scars created by rubbing charcoal in deliberately administered cuts, causing the skin to welt in intricate patterns — is common among tribes in the Omo Valley, including the Daasanach (a tribesman is pictured here)." Credit Andy Haslam for The New York Times

One of the commenters wrote "I hope the photographer paid his dues to the people photographed for this article, most villagers expect some 'tip' for taking a picture."

Here are two comments from that article's discussion thread:
Maja Wichhart Donzo Boulder, CO November 4, 2017
"Your account of your time spent in Ethiopia is so beautifully done. However, I can't help but feel bitter after reading it. It seems like the Omo are being left behind, praying for the river to rise and their crops to prosper. It makes me sad to think that all they can do is pray when there are intrusive dams upstream that are destroying their livelihood."

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Gigi San Luis Obispo November 2, 2017
"The nearest outpost of civilization, the town of Jinka, is currently a 2-3 day drive from Addis. There, some local tribespeople, esp Aari, have integrated into the larger community. But thanks to Chinese development, an airport and giant sugar factory are going up and will ensure more ferengi s ( foreigners) coming to this beautiful but remote region. Will see how many of these folks go into the tribal lands, and if or how their cultures will change in response. Don't miss the South Omo museum in Jinka or the videos of the tribal rituals. Hard to watch through the lens of the West and hard -fought women's rights."

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From https://www.roughguides.com/article/ethiopia-omo-valley/ 17 striking portraits of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley tribes
20 May 2016; Updated 24 May 2016

Tim Draper
"Renowned the world over for its decorated tribes, the Omo Valley is a stop on many a tourist route in Ethiopia. But visits to the area can cross ethical boundaries, and few tourists are allowed the pleasure of a genuine experience with local people. Here, Rough Guides photographer Tim Draper tells us about his experience photographing some of southern Ethiopia’s most fascinating tribes.

As a travel photographer I desperately wanted to capture creative and authentic portraits in the Omo Valley, whilst hoping to avoid the negative experiences told in tourists tales of ‘zoo-like’ excursions.

After spending almost a week researching tour companies in Addis I carefully chose my driver, and together we planned our trip around the Omo villages.

We stayed overnight in most villages, camping or sleeping in huts. It was a good way to get to know the tribes, spending long afternoons with them while tourists came and went, barely getting out of their vehicles before they were whisked away.

If you don’t want a zoo-like experience in Omo, you’d do well to keep your camera in your pocket for a little while longer, try to connect with the people on a deeper level than that of a fifteen-minute whistle-stop photo opportunity.

I took my pictures methodically and slowly, with good humour and in a relaxed atmosphere. After all, good travel portraits – like good travel experiences – require time, care and trust.
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The first photograph in this article is a closeup of two children from the Arbore ethnic group with red paint with white dots around their eyes.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: ETHIOPIE Au coeur de la Vallée de l'Omo



Jean Pierre Tixier, Published on Jul 29, 2016

Découverte et Rencontre des ethnies du sud de l’Éthiopie, dans la vallée de l'Omo, avec Marc VELLA et son piano accompagné de la "caravane amoureuse". Un voyage hors du temps qui a permis d'échanger et de partager des moments inoubliables avec ces populations combien attachantes que sont les Hamer, les Mursi, les Karo, les Dorzé, les Konso
....
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Google translation from French to English:
Discovery and meeting of the ethnic groups of southern Ethiopia, in the Omo Valley, with Marc VELLA and his piano accompanied by the "caravane amoureuse". A trip out of time which allowed to exchange and share unforgettable moments with these endearing populations that are Hamer, Mursi, Karo, Dorzé, Konso ....

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Here are my notes about this video, with special attention to scenes of face painting and/or scarification:

13:24 people wearing face and chest paint (Karo ethnic group?)

12:08-13:01 children and adults wearing white face paint. I’m not sure which ethnic group this is

13:42 -14-19 - people with dots on their face

14:40-15:50 WARNING topless women

18:11-18:29 women being whipped before the ritual bull jumping ceremony

18:58 – Hamer men with facial paint

19:23 one Hamer man with facial paint standing in a row of men

WARNING: 19:31 to 19:47 man naked jumping the bulls

22:31 woman with face paint also with large lip plate [The Mursi ethnic group]

22:47 back of lip plate has painted geometric designs ; some people shown with white paint on their face and chest

23:19 woman with black face paint

24:56 woman with white face paint

25:14 young girl with white face paint around her eyes

25:42 -26-08 topless women moving in a counterclockwise circle and then standing talking some with face paint and some with scarification on their upper arms

33:34 young boy with faded paint on his forehead and around his face

35:50 Designs on this woman’s scarf are very similar to some facial designs

42:01 scene of Marc Vella playing piano surrounded by various Black people most of whom are wearing white paint on their faces and chest

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