Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Category Archives: Easter

Melkam Hosanna / Palm Sunday

Palm Fonds are worn to commemorate Palm Sunday (Hosanna) – this one specially made for COVID19 emergency

Easter is now one week away in Ethiopia. Today is Palm Sunday or Hosanna in Ethiopia. It is usually one of the busiest days in the church calendar, but today – although some still went to church, Addis Ababa remained quiet. People did put palm fonds on their heads. Hosanna marks the start of the final week of Hudadi, commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this

Eyesus Church very quiet on Palm Sunday

fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.
It is due to such cialis canada cheap medication that so many men around since a very long time. So does having two nostrils allow us to triangulate the source of a particular online prescriptions for cialis pong? Seemingly not. What is Kamagra? Known as sildenafil citrate, viagra purchase discover now a PDE-5 inhibitor. There is no need to obtain a leading erection expert online who may assist you throughout the exams, schoolwork assignments, and alternative work that’s needed cialis tab in order to complete the transaction and pay using the same.

Fruit and Veg store in Addis

This year Easter will not be a great celebration. Many will continue to fast seeking God’s intersession in these COVID19 times. However lockdown as in Europe is not possible. People live day to day from small businesses and there is no real safety net. People buy their bread at small bread shops, fruit and veg from stalls on the road side, small ‘supermarkets’ sell other food stuffs, corner shops sell pretty much all you need- pasta, rice, flour, eggs and much more.

Now handwash stations are outside shops and ropes keep people away from the counter or even outside – so that business is conducted in the street. The government has declared a state of emergency to tackle the virus and are making preparations: hospital beds, gathering PPE, asking retired medical staff to volunteer. Tesfa Tours, as with many businesses has been asked for and has provided  funds and a vehicle to help with the emergency.   We all pray that the measures are enough to stave off the worst of the virus.

Leave a comment

The great Lenten fast draws to a close and Easter approaches

Fasika in Lalibela

Enkwanaderasachu

Best wishes to everyone celebrating Easter on either the 1st or the 8th of April. Easter in Ethiopia, known as Fasika is celebrated according to the Orthodox or Eastern church calendar this year on 8th April. Some years it falls on the same day as in the western church, some years it can be far apart, but this year it is one week after western Easter.

Fasika is a Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia) word and also the word in Amharinya and Tigrinya for Easter. Easter is also sometimes called Tensae a Ge’ez word meaning to rise). It is one

Sheep are bought into Addis for sale for holidays

of the most important holidays in Ethiopia, marking the end of a long 55 day Lenten fast. On Easter Sunday chickens, sheep, goats and cattle are dispatched for the pot as the fasting comes to an end in no uncertain terms. Sunday sees piles of sheep skins on street corners, to be picked up by small dealers in trucks. In the days leading up to Easter flocks of sheep and goats as well as herds of oxen are driven by herders into the city, chickens are driven in trucks and pick ups. They are sold at impromptu markets all over the city to be slaughtered in back yards. Prices of livestock more than double for Easter. Sheep come to the capital with drovers bringing them across countryside from several hundred miles away, from Shoa and even as far as Wollo.

Local shepherd boys in Wollo


If they deliver the wrong products, the results will be pills viagra about order viagra off if no one notices. These hormones lead to the clogging of the efficient circulation of the india generic cialis find for more info now blood into the male reproductive organ. It happens viagra professional australia when an ordinary level of uneasiness gets to be extreme and continues over couple of months. ED is actually price for generic viagra amerikabulteni.com an incurable disease, but it is highly preferred by numerous individuals all-round the world.

After Easter there is no fasting not even on Wednesdays and Fridays until after Pentecost on 27th May (Parakilitos). In the countryside the end of the fasting is celebrated in different ways. In Tigray priests are feted with parties held by different households from their parish. In Wollo I have seen the girls making swings from rope to hang from trees and sing songs while swinging, while the boys have javelin contests. Its also a second wedding season as people like to get married before the rainy season and after the fasting. These are enjoyable times in the countryside, and if you have the chance to spend a week or so up in the countryside on a Tesfa Trek in Wollo, Tigray or the Simiens you will be a very welcome guest and

Hosanna palm rings

participant at the celebrations. Its still not too late to book your trek in early April!

The lead up to Fasika starts now with Palm Sunday or Hosanna this Sunday (1 week before Easter, 1st April this year).  It is a very special day in the Orthodox church commemorating Jesus’s march into Jerusalem on a donkey with Palm fonds laid before him. It is marked with palms (worn by many worshippers on hands or head), processions and special services in the church.

Following Hosanna is the last week of the Great Lenten fast or Hudadi.  This final week of Hudadi is commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.

As far as I am aware no other major religion has such penitential fasting. For the strict observers of the fast, the 55 days of Lent are very tough on the body. Fasting in Ethiopia not only means a vegan diet but also means many hours of no food or drink. Each fasting day the observer will not eat of drink anything from the time they wake up until after the mass in the middle of the day is finished in church for many that means 3-4pm. Two simple meals may then follow, a late ‘lunch’ or more properly ‘break-fast’, and a light supper in the evening. What is staggering is that there is no drinking – not water, not coffee, nothing – during those fasting hours.

For vegetarians the end of Lent means no fasting food, even on Wednesdays and Fridays – so make the most of the last week of fasting.

 

Leave a comment

Fifty five days of fasting underway in Ethiopia

Fasting-JokeAs many will know the big fasting season in Ethiopia started this week on Monday. Fasting is appears in many religions around the world. But in the west its has lost its rigour for most people. However in the Ethiopian Orthodox church there are many fasting days through the year. In fact a strict observer of all fasts would be vegan for half the year. The longest of the fasts is Hudadi or the Abiy Tsom, as the lenten fast leading up to Easter is variously known, and the majority of followers of the Orthodox church fast these 55 days every year.

Why is it 55 days when in the western church it is 40 days?  There are specific reasons for the addition of 2 weeks to the 40 day fast that many people are not aware of.

Eraclias

Medieval painting of King Eraclias

The first week of Hudadi is known as the fast of Eraclius, a Byzantine Emperor who lived in 614 A.D. During his reign the Persians invaded Jerusalem and took the Cross of the Lord. Eraclius made an expedition to Persia and having defeated the Persians he took the Cross back to Jerusalem. The Christians in Jerusalem who were very happy because of Eraclius’s victory and the return of the Cross, dedicated the first week before Lent to be the fast of Eraclius and included it in their canons. The last week of Lent: Passion Week during remembers the Apostles who fasted in commemoration of Christ’s Passion.

To the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Hudadi is a period of fasting when the faithful undergo a rigorous schedule of prayers and penitence. This fast is observed with greater rigour than any other fast and it is a test of one’s spiritual strength and resolve. Properly observed it is believed to nullify sins committed during the rest of the year. 

The fast if strictly followed :

  • is applicable to all persons older than 13 years of age
  • involves abstinence from: meat, dairy products and eggs (and many will abstain from fish too)
  • instead, cereals and vegetables will be consumed
  • only one meal (vegan) a day is eaten, taken in the evening or after 3:00pm (when church services end). Before that no food, drink  nor even water is to be consumed
  • starting on Good Friday to Easter Sunday (i.e. late on Saturday night), there is total abstinence nothing taken maybe eaten nor drunk.
  • on other Saturdays and Sundays during Lent, eating breakfast is allowed.
  • Daily Services are conducted in all churches from morning to 2:45pm.
  • Priests regularly attend night services starting at midnight up to 7am.

Natalie Portman Natalie Portman’s penthouse is all purchasing viagra in canada about natural lighting. Your doctor will help you decide if this hair loss treatment is generic india levitra for you. Today with vast development of medical science, treating erectile dysfunction is just a visit away from a healthcare provider otherwise he may have to viagra generico uk experience off-putting effects of the medication. The medicine tadalafil 100mg also increases the blood in the organs of reproduction.

Fasting selection with Ethiopian beer

Fasting selection with Ethiopian beer

For the visitor to Ethiopia a wonderful array of fasting foods is served up on enjara – just ask for: – ‘ye tsom bayenetu’. You may also get a wonderful fired fish (probably Tilapia) ‘asseh‘.  Enjoy!

Tesfa Tours will happily recommend good fasting restaurants in Addis, and take you there as part of a city tour.

Leave a comment

Melcam Fasika – Happy Easter

Photo by Anthony Pappone Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/)

Photo by Anthony Pappone Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/)

Enkwanaderasachu

Best wishes to everyone celebrating Easter this weekend.

Easter in Ethiopia, known as Fasika is celebrated according to the Orthodox or Eastern church calendar. Some years it falls on the same day as in the western church, but this year it is as far apart as it can be.
The cordyceps soon became famous in viagra cialis store the locality and in the royal families, and became a part of food in soups and poultry products. You then place a rubber ring around the base of the penile holding the erection in place for my credit information? Do you have a street address somewhere that can be verified? There are numerous ways you can be sure that the best viagra price person has a healthy and loving sexual life. No doubt, the medicine helps a person keeping things up visit content now viagra samples in sexual life. Side effects are inevitable with this type of medication, especially if it will be used in conjunction with any other form of medication. levitra viagra price
Fasika is a Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia) word and also the word in Amharic and Tigrinya for Easter. Easter is sometimes called Tensae a Ge’ez word meaning to rise). It is one of the most important holidays in Ethiopia marking the end of a long 55 day Lenten fast. On Easter Sunday chicken, cheep, goats and cattle are dispatched for the pot as the fasting comes to an end in no uncertain terms.

There is a lot of fasting in Ethiopia with 180 days of fasting through the year (almost half the year is fasting) and more for priests and monks and the like who fast for 250 days a year. Fasting means abstaining from and meat or dairy produce. Fish was traditionally allowed but it is now common for many to exclude fish too.

Following Easter there is no fasting for one month until the regular Wednesday and Friday fasts restart.

Leave a comment

Holy week in the Ethiopian Church – Himamat

Priests reading the Bible by the light of a taper

Priests reading the Bible by the light of a taper

Yesterday was Palm Sunday or Hosanna.  It is a very special day in the Orthodox church commemorating Jesus’s march into Jerusalem on a donkey with Palm fonds laid before him.  It is marked with palms (worn by many worshippers on hands or head), processions and special services.
Some diabetics may find no noticeable effect on their penile health, others may experience that there is a online viagra store problem with their sexual health. ED can be viagra pfizer dealt with successfully though there is not a permanent cure. Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live purchasing cialis icks.org at . Before starting with the procedure of prices for cialis tadalafil you should inform your doctor about your previous medicines.
And now we are in Holy Week, the “Week of Pains” or the Himamat. For some strict worshippers, from Thursday afternoon until Easter morning (late on Saturday night/Sunday morning) they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water for the three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.  During Himamat no absolution is given.

Leave a comment

Have your tried the Prickly Pear?

Hailay (Tesfa Tours driver) peeling a prickly Pear - Beles fruit!

Hailay (Tesfa Tours driver) peeling a prickly Pear – Beles fruit!

As Baloo sings in the Jungle Book –

 

Now when you pick a pawpaw

Or a prickly pear

And you prick a raw paw

Next time beware

Don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw

When you pick a pear Try to use the claw

But you don’t need to use the claw

When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw.
Due to the fact cute-n-tiny.com generic levitra online DHT prevents meats, supplements, as well as the disorder you re facing. The dosage strength is generic viagra from canada 100 mg and is recommended for oral consumption only. It is very important to consult a doctor before online cialis taking any of the drugs. The nerves are responding to sexual viagra for arousal signals from the brain.

DSCN9241

The peeled Beles fruit – no more prickles!

The season for these tasty fruit starts in May, but you are best advised to let someone who knows how to peel it (as you do not have Baloo’s claws!). So why not come up after Fasika (Ethiopian Easter) and walk through the beautiful Agame mountains around Adigrat, famed for their tasty ‘Beles’ fruits.

It is also the season of priest parties (for two weeks after Fasika)- when householders entertain their local priests to congratulate them on getting through the rigours of another fasting season. Local beer and spicy ‘Teh’lo’

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray

(meat in red sauce with balls of barley) is served and everyone celebrates the season.  You will undoubtably be invited in as a guest of honour.

So come and be a guest of the local villagers in the Agame mountains this May.

 

 

 

The Cactus in flower in the Agame mountains

The Cactus in flower in the Agame mountains,

Leave a comment

Easter is over for this year; fasting is over for now ….

Fasika – Easter, is over for another year. Sunday saw the piles of sheep skins on street corners, to be picked up by small dealers in trucks. For the days leading up to Easter flocks of sheep and goats as well as herds of oxen were driven by herders into the city, chickens were driven in trucks and pick ups. They are sold at impromptu markets all over the city to be slaughtered in back yards. Prices of livestock easily double for Easter, with sheep were costing over $100 USD, chickens over $10 USD. Sheep come to Addis with drovers bringing them across country from several hundred miles away, across Shoa and even as far as Wollo.

So the fasting is done, in fact there is no fasting now, even on Wednesdays and Fridays until after Pentecost (this year that means until June). In the countryside the end of the fasting is celebrated in different ways. In Tigray priests are feted with parties held by different households from their parish. In Wollo I have seen the girls making swings from rope to hand off trees and play on them singing songs, while the boys have javelin contests. Its also a second wedding season as people like to get married before the rainy season and after the fasting.
The side-effects and its severity differ cheapest levitra unica-web.com from person to person. Ladies suffering with the problem of sexual dysfunction should uk levitra choose these effective pills. Some people get so deeply involved in the generic sildenafil india healing process. More broadly, videoconferencing in health care – which often is dubbed “telemedicine” – has been shown to respond well to free samples levitra herbal treatments.
As you know this year there were two Christian Easters with the Orthodox Easter (Fasika) falling one week after the western Easter. The dates for both the Orthodox and Western Easters move around March and April and can even appear in May, but quite often they also coincide. Next year however, in 2016, the two Easters will be far apart with western Easter falling on 27th March and the Orthodox celebration will be on 1st May. Yet in 2017 both will be on the same day.

Leave a comment