Cross bar

Pillars

String

Sound Box

Buzzer

- Begena is made from wood and cow hide and the strings are made of cow guts. - The strings are attached to a leather (buzzer) found on the sound box to make the buzzer. The strings are also attached to the cross bar which allows for the composer to tune the instrument. Within the church the cross bar is a representation of God, because it above all the other parts of the instrument just as God. - There are also pillars on both sides of the instrument which is associated with the Old and New testaments as well as the angle Michael and Gabriele. - The sound box, where the sound comes out of is seen to represent the Holy Virgin Mary while the sound that comes out of it is associated with the word of God, the word that came out of the Holy Virgin Mary. - The Begena also has 10 strings (no more or no less) in representation of the 10 commandments. Begena/Harp Biblical Foundation - Begena dates back 7,000 years to the days of Jubal. - “Jubal is the father of those who play the Begena/ Harp”. Genesis 4:21 - When the Israelites came out of Egypt and were in the wilderness and they had the Arch of the Convenient, the Levites (high priests) used to play the Harp in front of the Arc of the Convenient to praise God. o “Then said to the chief of the Levites, ‘Establish your brethren to be the singers with musical instruments – stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals – to sing invitingly in a voice of joyfulness unto His heave”. 1 Chronicle 15:16-21 - We also find another example in o “And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David…”. 2 Chronicle 29:25-27 - Although it was around for a while King David was the one to make the Harp known to many. King David is known for his talent in playing the Harp, in is hymns and psalms. o “Praise the Lord with the Harp, make melody to him with the instrument of ten strings”. Psalms 33:2 - The Harp is a powerful instrument o King Saul was in distress and going through a difficult time, his servant told him to call upon King David, so he can play for you the ten – (Harp). That’s the only way for you to get rid of the distress. “Now let your servants speak before you and let them seek for our lord a man who knows how to play the harp. And it will come to pass when the evil spirit is upon you, he will play his harp, and it will be good for you and give you rest”. 1 Samuel 16:16 - The harp is not an instrument only played by humanity; it is also played by the angles in the heavens when they are singing to the Lord. o “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the of the saints”. Revelation 5:8 Crossbar

Strings

Pillar

Hollowed out Wood made to be circular, cover with cow or sheep hide.

- The similar to the Harp in its making. It has a crossbar, pillar, and a sound box. The Krar unlike the Harp only has five or strings. - When the Krar has five strings it resembles the five pillars of the Orthodox Tewahedo church. - When the Krar has six strings it resembles the six constitution of the Gospel, which the question that Jesus Christ is going to ask each and every one of us.

o “For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me”. Matthew 25:41-43

Krar/Lyre Biblical Foundation - “…that in what hour you hear the sound of the trumpet, the pipe, the harp, the four-stringed instrument, the psaltery, the symphony, and every kind of music, you shall fall down and worship…”. Daniel 3:5

Represents the Cross

Bow Masinko Biblical Foundation - “Praise him with the Masinko and with the harp as well”. Psalms 150:4

Single - Isaiah the prophet commanding his String people, the unrighteous people to pick up the and start praising the Lord. You have forgotten what it means to praise the Lord. o “Take a harp, wander about the city, you forgotten…”. Isaiah 23:16

Sound box

- Masinko is similar to the Cello, in that it is played with a bow. The Masinko is made of sheep skin,

wood, and horse-hair.

- The Masinko is a single string instrument made of horsehair. - Like the Harp the sound box resembles St. Mary, and the sound that comes out of it which resembles

the word of God. - The string represents one faith. - The wood that cross on the top of the instruments is a representation of the Cross. - The Masinko string needs to be rubbed with Myrrh (እጣን) in order for it to make a sound. The instrument will not make a sound without the Myrrh. - When Myrrh is applied to Masinko it gives a beautiful sound. The reason why we praise the holy Virgin Mary is because she applied it to herself and accepted the responsibility to give birth to Jesus Christ, and when she applied the Myrrh (sent of life) it gave a beautiful sound; the word of God.

Larger side of the Kebero

String/ rope made of animal hide.

Red Cloth

Smaller side of Kebero

- The Kebero/Timbrel has two sides, that differ in size. The two sides of the Kebero can be a representation of the old and new testament. The larger side shows the divinity of our Lord. The smaller side shows the humanity that he incarnated. The divinity is big and abstract, and the small side, he took something small, humanity in comparison to the large divinity. He took two parts and made it one. - The weaving that we see that ties the two sides of the Kebero together is in resembles to the lashing that Jesus Christ suffered. - The Red cloth represents the blood of Jesus Christ. We have seen other colored cloths on the Kebero but the biblical canon states that it has to have the red cloth because o It represents the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ and that’s the way we received salvation. o It also represents the time where he was standing in front of the roman empire, who were mocking

Kebero Biblicalhim Foundation and that he was a king. To mock him they placed a red robe on him. - We find the Israelites using the Kebreo to worship and get across the river of Jordan after gaining freedom. “Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrel…”. Exodus 15:20 - “Rejoice in God our helper; rejoice greatly in the living God. Take up a psalm and sound a timbrel. A pleasant psaltery with a harp…”. Psalms 81:2 - “And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on him”. Matthew 27:28

- The Cymbals dates back to the Levites/the priests of the old testaments o “And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David…”. 2 Chronicles 29:25 - “Praise him with resounding cymbals; praise him with triumphant cymbals”. Psalms 150:5 - The metal pieces in the middle can be five or six, similar to the 5 or 6 strings we see on the Krar. - The five metal pieces represent the five pillars of the church and if there are six metal pieces it represents the sixth constitution of the Gospel - The clashing of the metal pieces that we hear is a resembles to the word of God. - The two metal rods we see in the middle represent the ladder that Jacob saw. o “Now Jacob went out from the well of Oath and went toward Haran… Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angles of God were ascending and descending on it….” Genesis 28:10-12

- The Mekwamya represents the holy cross, it represents crucifixion because he was crucified on a wooden

object. This will always remind us what Jesus Christ did for us to gain salvation, to remember his sacrifice

and what he did for us. To remember what he did for us to give us the liberation that we have from the devil, from the chains of the devil, and from death itself.

- We find Jacob praising God, he put his staff on the ground and he bowed down to the staff. Hebrews 11:25 - During Liturgy we hold on to the staff for strength. We remember while holding the cross that the

cross is our strength, our power.

- During hymns we use the Mekwamya to remind us of the suffering that Jesus Christ went through as he was carrying the cross.

- The staff of Moses represents the cross as well. Moses using his staff separated the red sea; Jesus Christ using the Staff separated the sea of darkness and allowed us to walk straight into his kingdom.

- The Washent has four or five holes. The Orthodox mezumur revolve around what is known as the pentatonic scale, it has five notes. - The four holes can represent the four gospels of the new testament. Four Gospels include, Matthew, Luke, John and Mark. - The five notes, or the pentatonic scale represents the five pillars of the church. - “To you it is commanded, O peoples and tribes and languages. That in what hour you hear the sound of the trumpet, the pipe, thee harp, the four-stringed instrument, the psaltery, the symphony, and every kind of music, you shall fall down and worship… ”. Daniels 3:5

These two are fairly rare but are become slightly more common in Ethiopia nowadays. Negarit is a large drum played with the sticks as you see in the image below.

Meleket is a large trumpet used in making announcements.

- All the instruments that we see within the church have biblical origins, and also find the people who played the instruments within the .

Why do we not use the modern day instruments within our church? - A group of choir members of youth that wanted to bring in worldly instruments that we have today. This was taking a lot of people out of the church that were being pulled towards the wrong teaching. After many disagreements the Holy Synod declared the instruments that are allowed within the church. - Although other Orthodox church (non-Ethiopian) use more of the worldly instruments the Ethiopian Orthodox church does not because we abide by the set of rules that the Holy Synod has given to us. - All of our instrument is found within our bible, if we incorporate the worldly instruments then we will not have any examples to tie them to within our bible. - Even the Coptic church, which is the example used for implementing the modern instruments, when it comes to actual worship, they only use what is written down in the bible. The reason to why they have modern instruments is because some people tried to infiltrate the church and the Coptic church almost lost their ways, but they were able to keep the core values.

“Praise God in His saints; Praise Him in the firmament of his power; Praise Him for his mighty acts; Praise Him according to the abundance of his greatness. Praise Him with the sound of a trumpet; Praise Him with the harp and lyre; Praise Him with timbrel and dance; Praise Him with strings and ; Praise Him with resounding cymbals Praise Him with triumphant cymbals; Let everything that breathes praise the Lord”. Psalm 150