Abstract:
This thesis examines the impacts of Protestant Christianity on the traditional beliefs and cultural
practices of Wälaitta from, 1928-2000. The year 1928 is taken as a turning point in southern
Ethiopia in general and Wälaitta in particular. This is due to the arrival of the Sudan Interior
Mission (SIM) that laid the ground for religious development in the region. The SIM opened
schools and health centers in southern Ethiopia and used them as a springboard for the
expansion of Protestant Christianity in the region. In fact, the existing oppression and
exploitation by the gäbbar-näfţňňa system and the support that the state made to the church with
land grant; the excessive demands of the näfţňňa from the local people made Wälaitta people to
be receptive to the teachings of the missionaries.Since the conquest of Wälaitta, the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church and the policies of successive Ethiopian regimes had played their roles in the
weakening of the Wälaitta’s traditional beliefs and cultural practices. In addition to that, the use
of vernacular language, missionaries’ close relations with the local people by attending their
holidays and ceremonies and the provision of educational and medical services greatly helped
the expansion of Protestant Christianity in the region. During this time, the missionaries used
pioneer convertees in village evangelism. Gradually, but surely, Protestant Christianity played a
significant role in the weakening of the Wälaitta’s traditional beliefs and cultural practices.The
cultural practices such as gifaataa, circumcision, funeral and mourning, polygamous marriage,
hunting and beliefs on traditional religious specialists were highly weakened.Besides, more
considerably, it caused the abandonment of some social practices like geressa, zillassa, and the
dalla ceremony. In order to examine the impacts of ProtestantChristianity in the study area the
research used pertinent primary and secondary sources. Particularly, oral sources were
extensively used to analyze the far-reaching impacts of Protestant Christianity in Wälaitta. Oral
interviews were conducted using audio-recorder and meticulously used by cross-checking
against each other. Besides, the archives which are found at the local and national levels were
consulted and they were crosscheked with other sources and used by categorizing them into
different categories, classification, themes, sub-themes, etc. Finally, the data were interpreted,
described, and analyzed into coherent form.
