Skip to main content
Category

Ethiopian Culture

Drink!

By Ethiopian Culture

Ethiopia is beginning to welcome a much greater number of tourists these days, all keen to appreciate the wonders of this characterful land. And one thing that they always ask is – what drinks are available? In this international world of ours, we are hardly going to surprise you if we say that certain bottled drinks are found very widely indeed. Coca-Cola and Pepsi battle it out for dominance, as in so many countries, but the orange drink Mirinda, 7-up,…

Read More
bible1.jpg

Earliest Christian book

By Ethiopian Culture

The world’s earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery. The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day. Beautifully illustrated, the colours are still vivid and thanks to the Ethiopian Heritage Fund have been conserved. Abba Garima arrived from Constantinople in 494 AD and legend has…

Read More
3594907786_72acab4c27.jpg

Lake Tana

By Ethiopian Culture

In the north of Ethiopia, high on the plateau at nearly 1800 metres above sea-level, lies the wondrous Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile, site of a number of ancient island monasteries and home to numerous varieties of exotic bird- and plant-life, as well as crocodiles and hippopotamuses in plenty. This huge lake, visible on all but the smallest maps of Africa, is about 85 kilometres long, from Bahir Dar, an attractive lakeside town on its southern shore, to…

Read More
map_of_ethiopia.gif

Ethiopia’s neighbours

By Ethiopian Culture

First of all, test yourself! Can you name the five countries that are the immediate neighbours of Ethiopia? And if you can do that, can you name them in order, starting with the most northerly and progressing in a clockwise direction? Well ….. were you right? The most northerly neighbour of Ethiopia is Eritrea. Eritrea was occupied by the Italians in the nineteenth century and became one of its colonies officially in 1890. After various changes, it became federated with…

Read More
web_sheba.jpg

Ethiopian New Year and Meskal

By Ethiopian Culture

Enkutatash is the first day of the New Year in Ethiopia. It occurs on 11th September according to the Gregorian calendar, which is 1st Meskerem on the Ethiopian calendar. Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days (6 days in leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between 11th…

Read More
Link Ethiopia