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Hammer women wear their hair in dense ringlets smeared with mud and clarified butter and topped off with head-dress featuring oblongs aluminum and beaten tin plates. Hamer, Geleb, Bume, and Karo, men form a ridge of plaited hair and clay to hold their feathered headwear in place. Many of the men are further decorated with tribal cicatrizing scars which contain a number of specific symbolic messages, such as their standing in the community as young warriors or wise elders. |
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The Surma and Karo are experts at body painting. They express their artistic impulses by drawing intricate designs on their own bodies. The purpose of the body decoration is either to attract the other sex or in case of the Surma, for ceremonies, especially the stick fighting ‘Donga’. The Surma women wear impressive big lip plates where the size is related to wealth. |
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Konso people have practiced terracing and intensive agriculture in their steep land for centuries. They trade with neighboring Borena for salt or cowries shells. The Konso peoples speak eastern Cushitic language and are agriculturalists and weavers. These pagan society pays respect to departed parents by crafting wooden totems that symbolize the heroic deeds of the departed. |
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The Coffee ceremony is one of the most recognizable Ethiopian cultures. Coffee is offered when visiting friends, during festivities, or as a daily staple of life. If coffee is politely declined then most likely tea (shai) will be served.
Brewing
The coffee is brewed by first roasting the green coffee beans over hot coals in a brazier. Once the beans are roasted each participant is given an opportunity to sample the aromatic smoke by wafting it towards them. This is followed by the grinding of the beans, traditionally in a wooden mortar and pestle. The coffee grounds are then put into a special vessel and boiled. The boiling pot (Jebena) is usually made of pottery and has a spherical base, a neck and pouring spout and a handle where the neck connects with the base. When the coffee boils up through the neck it is poured in and out of another container to cool it, and then is put back into the boiling pot until it happens again. To pour the coffee from the boiling pot, a filter made from horsehair or other material is placed in the spout of the boiling pot to prevent the grounds from escaping.
Serving
The host pours the coffee for all participants by moving the tilted boiling pot over a tray with small, handle less cups without stop until each cup is full. Some of the coffee will inevitably miss the cup but this is done to prevent the coffee grounds from contaminating the brew. One extra cup is poured each time. The grounds are brewed three times: the first round of coffee is called Awel in Tigrigna, the second kale'i and the third Bereka ('to be blessed'). The coffee ceremony may also include burning of various traditional incense such as frankincense or gum Arabic. |
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The cuisine of Ethiopia is one of the world's best kept secrets. Ethiopian food is a spicy mix of vegetable and lentil stews and slow simmered meats. This country in East Africa has been called the "Land of Bread and Honey."
Ethiopia, once known as Abyssinia, is a place of high plateaus and low-lying plains. The northern high country is populated mainly by Christians, while the plains are home to Muslims and animists. Dietary restrictions in religions have given rise to a wide variety of both meat and vegetarian dishes. While most Ethiopian cuisine is indigenous, certain ingredients such as red chilies, ginger, and spices have enriched its flavors. Grains like millet, sorghum, wheat and ancient Teff form the basic bread stuffs of the diet. Most farming in Ethiopia is subsistence, so the vegetables and animals are often grown and raised at home. The ancient practice of beekeeping produces exquisite honey. It is fermented to make Tej, a honey wine.
Essential components of Ethiopian cooking are Injera, bread, Berbere (a spicy red pepper) and niter kibbeh, a spice-infused clarified butter. Most foods have a stewy consistency. Alicha indicates a mild stew. Wats are stews with the spicy flavor of Berberé. |
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Traditional dress, though often now supplanted by Western attire, may still be seen throughout much of the countryside. National dress is usually worn for festivals, when streets and meeting-places are transformed into a sea of white as finely woven cotton dresses, wraps decorated with coloured woven borders, and suits are donned. A distinctive style of dress is found among the Oromo horsemen of the central highlands, who, on ceremonial days such as Maskal, attire themselves in lions' manes or baboon-skin headdresses and, carrying hippo-hide spears and shields, ride down to the main city squares to participate in the parades. Ethiopians are justifiably proud of the range of their traditional costumes. The most obvious identification of the different groups is in the jewellery, the hair styles and the embroidery of the dresses. The women of Amhara and Tigray wear dozens of plaits (sheruba), tightly braided to the head and billowing out at the shoulders. The women of Harar part their hair in the middle and make a bun behind each ear. Hamer, Geleb, Bume and Karo men form a ridge of plaited hair and clay to hold their feathered headwear in place. Arsi women have fringes and short, bobbed hair. Bale girls have the same, but cover it with a black headcloth, while young children often have their heads shaved. |
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Traditional musical instruments in widespread use include the Massinko, a one-stringed violin played with a bow; the kirar, a six-stringed lyre, played with the fingers or a plectrum; the Washint, a simple flute; and three types of drum - the Negarit (kettledrum), played with sticks, the Kebero, played with the hands, and the atamo, tapped with the fingers or palm. Other instruments include the Begena, a huge, multi-stringed lyre often referred to as the Harp of David; the Tsinatseil, or Sistrum, which is used in church music; the Meleket, a long trumpet without fingerholes, and the Embilta, a large, simple, one-note flute used on ceremonial occasions. Though often simply made, the Massinko can, in the hands of an expert musician, produces a wide variety of melodies. It is often played by wandering minstrels,particularly near eating houses, where the musicians entertain the diners. The rousing rhythms of the Negarit were used in times gone by to accompany important proclamations, and chiefs on the march would be preceded by as many as 30 men, each beating a Negarit carried on a donkey. The tiny atamo is most frequently played at weddings and festivals, setting the rhythmic beat of folk songs and dances. |
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