Culture of Ethiopia

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The culture of Ethiopia is very multi-faceted. Among many traditions, respect (especially of one's elders) is very important. In Ethiopian culture it is customary to rise up out of one's seat or give up one's bed for an older friend or family member, even if they may be just a year older.

Contents 1 Music 2 Clothing 3 Cuisine 4 Sports 5 Media 6 Language 7 Religion 8 Holidays 9 Notes 10 Further reading

[edit] Music

Main article: Music of Ethiopia

[edit] Clothing

Traditional clothes in Ethiopia are made from traditional cloth called yahager lebs (clothes of the countryside), which is made of cotton woven together in long strips. These strips are then sewn together. Sometimes shiny threads are woven into the fabric for an elegant effect (see photo) . It takes about two to three weeks to make enough cloth for a dress. The bottom of the shirt may be ornated by patterns.

Men wear pants and a knee-long shirt with a white collar, and a sweater. Men as well as women wear shawls, the neTela (see photo).The shawls are worn in a different style for different occassions. When going to church women, cover their hair with them and pull the upper ends of the shawl up thier shoulders reproducing a cross (meskelya) with the edge of the shiny threads at the edge. On funerals the shawlis worn with the edge decorated with shiny threads at the bottom (madegdeg). Women's dresses are called habesha qemis. The dresses are usually white with some color on the bottom. Bracelets and necklaces from silver and gold are worn on arms and feet to complete the look. A variety of designer dinner dresses with a traditional fabric and a modern style are now worn by some ladies in the cities. These traditional clothes are still worn on a day-to-day-basis in the country-side. In cities and towns, western clothes are popular; however, on special occasions, such as New Year, Christmas or weddings, traditional clothes are worn by some.¹

Often, a woman will cover her head with a shash, a cloth that is tied at the neck. Shama and kuta, gauze-like white fabrics, are also often used.² This is common among both Muslim and Christian women. Among the latter, elderly women will wear a shash on a day-to-day basis, while other women only wear a shash while attending church.

[edit] Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Ethiopia

Ethiopian cuisine consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes and entrees, often prepared as a wat or thick stew. One or more servings of wat are placed upon a piece of injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the entrees and side dishes. Traditional Ethiopian food does not use any pork or seafood (aside from fish), as most Ethiopians have historically adhered to Islam, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, or Judaism, all of which prohibit eating pork. Additionally, throughout a given year, Orthodox Christians observe numerous fasts (such as Lent), during which food is prepared without any meat or dairy products.

[edit] Sports

Ethiopia's most popular sport is Athletics, in which they win many medals for in the Olympic Games. Soccer, despite lack of success by the national team, is loved by significanat part of the population.They are also good at cross country

[edit] Media

Radio and television are under the control of the Ethiopian government. There are nine radio broadcast stations, eight AM and one shortwave, licensed to operate. The major radio broadcasting stations (all AM) are Radio Ethiopia, Radio Torch (pirate), Radio Voice of One Free Ethiopia, and the Voice of the Revolution of Tigray. The single television broadcast network is Ethiopian Television. In keeping with government policy, radio broadcasts occur in a variety of languages. Print media, because of high poverty levels, low literacy rates, and poor distribution outside of the capital, serve only a small portion of the population. Major daily newspapers include Addis Zemen, the Daily Monitor, and the Ethiopian Herald.

[edit] Language

Main article: Languages of Ethiopia

The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic, a Semitic language which is spoken by about 27 million people (2.7 million expatriate). Amharic is written with the Ge'ez script, with derives its name from the ancient Semitic language of the same name. The Ge'ez language is extinct but is still in use by the Beta Israel Jewish community and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The second largest language in Ethiopia is the Oromo language, a Cushitic language spoken by about 30% of the population.

[edit] Religion

Main articles: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Islam in Ethiopia

See also: Beta Israel and P'ent'ay

[edit] Holidays

Date	English name	Local name	Remarks
January 7	Orthodox Christmas Day	Genna or Lidet
January 10	Feast of the Sacrifice	'Id al-Adha	varies; this date is for 2006
January 19	Feast of Epiphany	Timket
March 2	Adwa Day	Ye'adowa Bä'al
April 11	Birthday of The Prophet Muhammad	Mawlid an-Nabi	varies; this date is for 2006
April 21	Orthodox Good Friday	Siqlet (Crucifixion)	varies; this date is for 2006
April 23	Orthodox Easter	Fasika	varies; this date is for 2006
April 24	Easter Monday (public holiday)		varies; this date is for 2006
May 1	International Workers' Day
May 5	Patriots' Day	Arbegnoch Qen
May 28	National Day		Downfall of Derg Regime
August 18		Buhe
September 11	Ethiopian New Year	Inqut'at'ash
September 27	Finding of the True Cross	Meskel
October 24	End of the holy month of Ramadan	'Id al-Fitr	varies; this date is for 2006

See also: Ethiopian calendar

[edit] Notes

Note 1: Senayit Girma (2002). Ethiopians Are Proud of Their Traditional Clothes. Silver International Newspaper, Volume 16, Number 3. Silver Spring: Montgomery Blair High School. Retrieved on July 14, 2005.
Note 2: Dera Fitsum Medhane. "Clothing in Ethiopia." Accessed on July 14, 2005.
Note 3: Tezeta "Articles, papers, photos, music -- Ethiopian culture". Accessed on Nov 21, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

• Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture. Chicago: University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-226-47563-8