Gafat people

Gafat was just within the kingdom of Damot to the north upper Gibe River and bordered directly on southern bank of the Blue Nile.[1] Like near by Damot, Gafat is reported in the Gedle Yared to have come under Zagwe rule in the 12th century and Tekle Haymanot accomplished his mission as well.[2] Gafat on both side of the Nile appeared to have kept them in great numbers. In the reign of Yesëhaq (1412-1417), a number of Gafat community such Malogwe, Abdary, and Harbäwäš south of the Nile paid tribute in the cattle.[3]

The arrival of Oromo between the upper Gibe and the Blue Nile probably pushed the people of Gafat in to south Gojam in between 1574 and 1606.[4] Encyclopaedia Aethiopica states Gafat who on the left side of Blue Nile escaped Oromo by crossing Blue Nile and settling there. James Bruce, in his travels, described their cattle from Oromo raids in the Bêrr Valley of Gojam and numerous beautiful cattle of the Gafat who were settled in the plains of Aĉäfär up to foothills of the Säkäla mountains.[5]

It's not abundantly clear how and when the Gafat were converted to Christianity. However, by the time the ancient time laws were reformed, the Gafat society in pârâbe and Sârâbe appears to have become Christian. Alëqa Täkla-Iyyäsus Waq Jira, the author of the Gojam chronicle, whom he considered the early inhabitation and direct ancestors Gojame were the Gafat. According to päräbe and särabe laws a recognition of the important of the crafts in the life of society is further indicated by the imposition of what must have been a crippling penalty on those who use pejorative terms in reference to crafts man and artisans(CLGP28). The practice of shunning, crafts man and artisans by highland agrarian communities who specialized in such profession consider as Buda. Less affected by cohabitation, intermarriage, religious, coercion, and assimilation.[6] The Buda belief suggest that the Buda are the symbolic expression of the latent consequences of unmediated equal status relation between man and woman.[7]