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Popular Local Customs | Miscellaneous Local Customs Tips | All Tips (73)
The Ethiopian flag was first adopted in 1897, a year after Ethiopia had bravely defended itself from advances by Italy at the Battle of Adwa. It has always had the same 3 colours that have been adopted by other African countries upon independence that the tricolours have become known as the ‘pan-African colours’. It is a true testament to the only African country that was never colonised by a European country.
The current flag consists of 3 equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays radiating upon light blue disk
There is a healthy debate as to what the colours represent, but they are generally regarded as:
GREEN The land and it’s bounty
YELLOW Peace and harmony between the many tribes of Ethiopia
RED Blood shed by patriots defending the country
THE STAR The bright future of Ethiopia and echoes of King Solomon
YELLOW RAYS They are the same length and represent equality no matter your race, religion or tribe Leave a Comment |
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ETHIOPIA HAS ITS OWN TIME! If you are just visiting for a short period of time, you need to specify that you mean FARANJI (foreigner) TIME or you may get some real confusion. Ethiopian time is 6 hours different from Faranji Time. So midnight or noon is 6 o’clock to local folks. It’s easy once you think about it. Just add (or subtract) 6 hours. First though, know the local time. Ethiopia has a single time zone: UTC/GMT +3 hours. UTC is Coordinated Universal Time, GMT is Greenwich (England) Mean Time. The UK is one hour ahead of UTC during summer. There is no daylight saving time in Ethiopia in 2007. Leave a Comment |
Marley has always been a leader whose eyes were put more in Africa than in America. Going back to the roots was always one of his goals. He travelled to Ethiopia (a dream for him) several times, participated in a concert in Harare to celebrate Zimbabwe's Independence and has many LPs with the 'Babylonian' theme (Exodus, Bus to Babylonia...).
Babylonia was the land where Judes were kept as prisioners before returning to the promise land. Black slaves were brought to America (their Babylonia) and want to return to their promise land (Ethiopia).
When, in 1930, Haile Selassie (see tip above) was made Emperor of Ethiopia and proclaimed Negusa Negast (King of Kings), Jamaica's slum-dwellers and rural poor, for whom Marcus Garvey had been something of a gallant oracle, regarded this event as the fulfillment of a prophecy of deliverance.
Indeed, Ethiopia had symbolized all of Africa for the slave-descended Jamaicans since as far back as 1784, when American Baptist minister George Liele founded the Ethiopian Baptist Church on the island. Selassie, they knew, claimed to be directly descended from King Solomon, so they reasoned that he must be the long-awaited savior of the planet's far-flung African peoples. Leave a Comment |
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The Imperial Flag of Ethiopia is the National Tri-color, Green, Yellow, and Red horizontal stripes of equal size. At the center is a Gold Lion marching east carrying a cross and wearing the Imperial Ethiopian crown. This is the Lion of Judah symbol, which symbolizes the Emperor of Ethiopia. In the aftermath of the revolution of 1974, the Provisional Military Administrative Council(PMAC) or Derg, removed the crown and replace the cross with a spear, calling this emblem the 'Lion of Ethiopia'. With the formal abolishment of the Monarchy a few months later, the lion was completely removed from the flag, and the Derg emblem began to be displayed in the middle of the flag as a government banner. Upon the proclamaiton of the Peoples Republic in 1985, a new official coat of arms was placed at the center of the flag, and upon the fall of the communist regime and the proclamation of the new Federal Republic, yet another coat of arms has replace the Lion at the center of the flag. Leave a Comment |
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What have Rastafarians to do with such as a remote country as this? Haile Selassie (born RAS TAFARI) was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 through the seventies. People who believe that Selassie is divine or of divine nature are called Rastafarians. There are many different sects of Rastas as well as individual believers all over the globe. They all believe different things. There is no unified rasta 'church' or set of beliefs. So there is no set doctrine of what rastas believe.
Some wear uncombed dreadlocks, some trim their hair. Some smoke marijuana, some don't. Some are strict vegetarian, some eat meat, most don't eat pork. Most believe it important to repatriate to Mother Africa (most of them from Jamaica, as Bob Marley).
If you are really interested, there is village near Addis Ababa, named Shashamene, where there is an active community of Rastafarians, and you can feel the "mystic in the air". Leave a Comment |
Please feel free to add this to your "Custom Travel Guide" and print it off before you go! This is a photo of a MEN's Toilet/Bathroom. Leave a Comment |
Please feel free to add this to your "Custom Travel Guide" and print it off before you go! This is a photo of a Women's Toilet/Bathroom. Leave a Comment |
Pronounce it however you want, its Home Brew! Unlike Tej, this can be brewed in the home in about 4 days. It tastes like a very weak ale but can still pack a punch of up to 6%! A lot of families have this on hand to serve with a meal when you visit their home. It is brewed (fermented more like) from locally grown grains and flavoured with an indigenous plant called gesho. Supposedly gesho is good for you. Isn’t all beer? Enjoy. The taste is exceptionally mild. Leave a Comment |
Yes, banks here accept them! American Dollars are the preferred currency for American Express Travellers Cheques. Some banks in Addis Ababa actually sell them too. British Pounds sometimes get a much worse rate. Standard fees are what the banks describe as 0.5% but actually come out at 1.5%. Banks in the historical towns (Gonder, Axum, etc.) may charge 2.5%. There are no banks in Lalibela, but several hotels will encash them for you.
PLEASE NOTE: ALMOST ALL FOREX POSITIONS IN BANKS CLOSE BETWEEN 12PM-1PM FOR LUNCH EVERY WEEK DAY. Leave a Comment |
Before you can enter an Orthodox Christian Church anywhere in Ethiopia you have to remove your shoes. And any hats as well. I would suggest that you wear socks, especially in older churches and the rock hewn churches of Lalibela. Your feet are going to get dirty, even if they do have carpets down! Unfortunately in Lalibela you are expected to pay the ‘Shoe Minder’ to watch your shoes so they won’t be stolen. They won’t anyway and thankfully this ridiculous way of fleecing the tourists is not repeated anywhere else in Ethiopia. Just say you don’t have any money when asked. You already have your shoes back on when they try it!
Why do you have to remove your shoes? According to Exodus 3:5 in the Bible, God instructed Moses to remove his shoes while he stood on Mt. Sinai because it was Holy Ground.
“And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground.” Leave a Comment |
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on July 9, 2008
on September 4, 2006
