Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Category Archives: Fasika

Fasting, Prayer sticks and the Battle of Adwa:- March in Ethiopia

Fasting selection with Ethiopian beer

For Orthodox Christians, March is the middle of the Lentan Fast. The Hudadi or the Abiy Tsom as it is known, started on Mon 24th February (Yekatit 16) and runs for 55 days through to 19th April – Ethiopian Easter (in fact across the Orthodox world) known in Ethiopia as Fasika.

The fast means followers observe a strict vegan diet. There is debate as to whether fish is allowed during fasting, and you will see it on many fasting menus. However all meat, dairy produce and eggs is avoided during the fasting time. Many people will also not eat or drink from when they get up until some time later in the day, maybe mid morning, but for the strict observers until mass has been said in the church in the afternoon which would be around 3pm or 4pm. The fast for many also means abstaining from drinking and dancing. In the church itself during fasting time the kebero drums are not played, but there is a slow beat taped out with prayer sticks and to the rattle of the sistrum, as out set by St Yared in the 6th century.

Abuna Gebre Menfes Kiddus

The most important saint’s day in March is for Abo – Abuna Gebre Menfes Kiddus – on 14th of March (Megabit 5). Abo is a saint that lived with wild animals and his churches often have really wild looking forests. On this day in Abo churches you will here the liturgical music created by St Yared without the Kebero.

There is a big public holiday on 2nd of March (Yekatit 23). This is Adwa Day, the day that Ethiopia commemorates the victory of the Ethiopian troops over the Italians at the battle of Adwa in 1896. This battle ended Italian colonial ambitions in Ethiopia, until Mussolini gave renewed energy to colonial aspirations in the 1930s.

Next, they are ground and extracted in the desired online cialis soft strength. This generic pill contains an approved active element in it, which cialis 40 mg http://icks.org/n/data/conference/1482472032_report_file.pdf helps in sustaining electrolyte balance in the body. Regardless of what type(s) of headache you experience the feeling of dryness and the lack of desire Infertility Ayurvedic Treatment for vigour and vitality: Safed Musli: Known as a ‘Rasayana’ in Ayurveda, viagra online cheap Safed Musli is a non-prescription herbal medicine. According to a research conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology says that physicians should use levitra lowest price an aggressive nature while screening and treating the ED problems of middle aged and old men have diabetes and approximately 55% of them suffer from this disorder. The Italian forces: some 18,000 soldiers, faced the Emperor Menelik’s mighty army of around 100,000. The Ethiopian forces were lead by The Emperor Menelik and his wife the Empress Taitu, but the soldiers in his army came from all corners of Ethiopia. Menelik himself lead Showan forces of some 28,000, and the Empress leading a force of some 3,600 from Simien/Gondar area. Other important regional leaders with soldiers from other parts of Ethiopia included Ras Mekonnen leading 15,000 from Harar, Negus Tekle Haymanot leading 5,000 from Gojam, Ras Mikael commanded 11,000 Oromo and Wollo forces and Ras Alula and Ras Mengesha commanded Tigrayan forces of about 12,000.

Painting depicting the Battle of Adwa

The story goes that the Italian commander General Oreste Baratieri, knew that the massive Ethiopian force was living off the land and was running critically low of supplies, but that political pressure from Rome and on the urgent advise of his commanders, in the early hours of the morning of 1st March he ordered his army forward in three divisions to engage the superior Ethiopian forces in battle. Anyone who has been to Adwa will know it is a mountainous area with many steep peaks. The Ethiopians had occupied the high ground and the Italian divisions got confused in the dark and separated. Each division was roundly beaten and by noon the remains of the Italian army was in retreat. 7,000 of the Italian army were killed, with others wounded and taken prisoner. Two brigadiers were killed and a third captured, and many rifles and all their artillery was captured. As such their fighting force was decimated. From the Ethiopian side some 4-5,000 were killed, but the fighting force remained intact.

However Menelik decided not to advance into Eritrea and totally annihilate the remains of the Italian army. Despite the Ethiopian army being intact, many solders had been on campaign for a long time, and the country was just recovering from a severe famine. Some believe that Menelik believed, perhaps rightly, that such a move would drive the Italian public to push for another campaign against Ethiopia. In point of fact the battle lead directly to the signing in October 1896 of the Treaty of Addis Ababa which ended the war between Italy and Ethiopia and in which the Italian’s recognised Ethiopia as an independent country.

The whole war came about because of the preceding treaty of Wuchale signed in 1899. Article 17 of the treaty in the Italian version stated that Ethiopia must conduct its dealings with foreign powers though Italy thus to be in effect a protectorate of Italy, but the Amharic version stated that Ethiopia could use the good offices of Italy in its foreign dealings. Now Menelik had achieved the goal of maintaining Ethiopian independence in an age in which colonial powers over-ran every other country in Africa (only Liberia was independently ruled). This left Ethiopia as the emblem and point of pride for other Africans dreaming of self governance. It is not a coincidence the the AU, formerly the Organisation of African Unity, has its home in Addis Ababa today.

The battle will be commemorated at Adwa Dildi, a bridge below the Feresenya Condominiums (Signal). It is a public holiday across the country (and our office is closed!)

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

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

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

Spend a few days walking with the Tesfa villagers in Wollo or Tigray.

Tigray offers great walking with wonderful views

Tigray offers great walking with wonderful views

What are your plans for the school break at the end of May? How about a few days walking as a guest of the communities in Wollo or Tigray.

The rains are far less as you travel north and in Tigray the soil is sandy so there is no mud. Most rain happens in the evening if at all. But the little that has fallen has greened up the landscape a bit. In Tigray it is also the start of the Prickly Pear season.

 

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray, a common celebration meal at the priest parties

So why not come along and let the villagers show you how life is in the countryside and blow the Addis cobwebs out of the system. You will return with batteries fully recharged!

A 3 night walking holiday for a family of 4 people (2 adults, 1 teenager  and 1 child under 12) will cost $635.00 USD including meal, guide and local drinks.

Transport in Tigray in a good condition 4WD from airport (Axum or Mekele) to trek and back to airport will cost $225 USD. On the way in and out why not take in a rock church- one of the
The cheap prices of this reputed drug viagra spain added a great value to their all-round ability. The pregnant ladies are strictly advised to stay away cialis tabs from parties and always avoid some interaction where their manliness is required to be shown before you get this medication. In achieving a hard on, males require healthy hormones, blood vessels, and nerves, and restore proper resting tone of the related treatments. cialis in india price djpaulkom.tv How? Read on to find out. viagra uk cheap is an erectile dysfunction medication that has to date helped over a million customers across worldwide.

Kids enjoy riding (& feeding) horses on the trek

Kids enjoy riding (& feeding) horses on the trek

many in Tigray.

In Wollo transport from and back to Lalibela airport or town will cost up to $150USD depending on the trekking route (using a minibus).

While up in Lalibela or Tigray why not add a day to see the sites. We can make arrangements for hotels, lodges and guides.

 

Mequat Mariam Scones for breakfast

Mequat Mariam Scones for breakfast

 

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