September 29 110 Cultural Artifact: Mesqel Isme le-Alem and MilTan

[Lidia Amanuel]

This past weekend we celebrated the feast of the Cross (Mesqel). I got to attend the celebrations at two different churches that weekend. This was good for me because the celebrations are uniform across Eritrean and Ethiopian Tewahdo Orthodox Churches. Thus it helped me really practice hearing the hymns and the poetry. Before attending, I worked on translating the two main hymns of the festival. I did so with the help of my clerical brothers (deacons). They are called the MilTan and Isme le-Alem. They are sung repeatedly during feast and are in Ge’ez. They are beautiful. This was my motivation in wanting to translating them. I also wanted to share them with others that don’t know the meaning but want to participate.

These are the finalized translations on them:

During the Damera | Bonfire Procession of the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross

1. Mesqel Isme Le-alem: 

መስቀል አብርሐ በከዋክብት አሠርገወ ሰማየ፤ እምኩሉሰ ፀሐየ አርአየ፡፡ 

Mesqel abriha be-kewakibt asergewe semaye; im-kuluse tsehaye araye.

The Cross shined within the stars and adorned the sky; it was shining brighter than the sun. 

2. Mesqel MilTan: 

ሃሌ ሉያ ይቤሎሙ ኢየሱስ፡ ለአይሁድ፡ እመኑ ብየ፡ ወእመኑ በአቡየ፡ ዮምሰ ለእሊአየ፡ አበርህ በመስቀልየ።

Halie luya, yibielomu Īyesus, le-ayhud, imenu Biye, we-imenu be-Abuye, yom’se le’ilī’aye, aberih be-Mesqeliye.

Hallelujah, Jesus says to the Jews, believe in Me, and believe in my Father, today I will shine My Cross on my people.

Another resource I used was other translated versions of these in the Liturgy books that we have but I found that they were confusing. Asking people that knew the context helped me to translate the real meaning. I will give an example of how the translations of the first hymn developed as I got new information:

1. The Cross shined with stars it adorned the sky; the sun shone on all.
2. The Cross shined and had the heavens, embroidered with stars of all the sun is seen. 
   1. This is the translation that is in the Liturgy powerpoint.
3. The cross was shown in structure of stars in sky and shined more than the sun.
   1. This is the translation that is in the Liturgy book.
4. The Cross shined with stars it adorned the sky; the sun [of righteousness who is Jesus Christ] shone the most.
5. The Cross shined within the stars and adorned the sky; it was shining brighter than the sun. 

It is interesting to see the different versions. It may be because of a lack of knowledge of Ge’ez and at the same time the religious context of the works. The fourth translation shows a possible lack of understanding between who the subject of the line is referring to. It also has to do with the word choice. For example, the choice between embroidered and adorned. These don’t make a huge impact on the whole meaning of line.

I am excited to continue translating with my language partner and create new phrases so that it will help me view them also from a writer's eye instead of just a reader's perspective.

Here is a picture of the clergy at a church in Houston singing these hymns.