The Parchment Makers

Raymond Silverman, Professor Emeritus of History of Art, Professor Emeritus of Afroamerican and African Studies, asked me to share this beautiful video with you on the creation of brana (manuscripts) in contemporary Ethiopia. As the subtitle says, it is an ancient art, but one not lost to the ash heap of history, rather it is a living, breathing art in no less a city than the namesake of this blog! Aksum. There are also some good folks doing this work in the capital city Adees Abeba. I have one manuscript of my own, a family heirloom psalter of a couple hundred (if not a few hundred) years, that was willed to me by my paternal grandmother in 2019. If I learn qum tsihuf (standing writing; the traditional method of transcription) it would be my honor to one day recreate it by hand. In the mean time, I better digitize it for you dear reader and watcher. Keep me and the parchment makers in your holy prayers. Free subscribers help amplify by liking and sharing. Paid subscribers keep ARB’s incandescent lights on, for the price of one cup of buna a month. በእንተ : ስማ : ለማርያም This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe