10 Quirky and Fascinating Facts About Ethiopian Society That Might Surprise You

### **10 Quirky and Fascinating Facts About Ethiopian Society That Might Surprise You**

Ethiopia is a giant in the Horn of Africa, a country with a history as rich and complex as the Great Rift Valley that disfigures its landscape. It is the land of ancient kingdoms, rock-cut churches, and the home of coffee. But under these well-known facts lies a society with peculiar traditions, its own concept of time, and rules of society which may seem exquisitely bizarre and enigmatic to the rest of the world. To be familiar with Ethiopia is to enter a different rhythm of life, one from its own calendar, its own time, and its own set and established traditions. The following are ten facts that give an insight into the fascinating and unique core of Ethiopian society.

**1. A Country Living in 2016: The Ethiopian Calendar**

While the rest of the world moves into the 21st century, Ethiopia peacefully remains within 2016. This is not a figure of speech of being in arrears, but a reality due to the Ge'ez calendar. Derived from the ancient Coptic Church, this calendar is some 7 to 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar, caused by varying computations of the Annunciation date and influence of the Roman Church.

The oddity is not so much the year, but the very fabric of time. The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months: 12 months with 30 days each, and a 13th month, Pagumē, with 5 days (or 6 in leap years). This generates the familiar national motto of tourism, "Ethiopia: 13 Months of Sunshine." Using this calendar leads to the Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash, occurring on September 11th (or September 12th in a leap year in the Gregorian calendar). This double chronology is a stunning metaphor for Ethiopia's cultural autonomy and its resistance to completing cultural globalization.

**2. Telling Time by the Sun: The 12-Hour Clock**

If the calendar wasn't confusing enough, Ethiopia also employs a special 12-hour clock system based on the sun. The day starts not at midnight, but at sunrise, which is around 6:00 AM Gregorian time. So what the rest of the world refers to as 7:00 AM is morning 1:00 in Ethiopia.

This means that when an Ethiopian guest invites you to meet for coffee at "10 o'clock," you must ask completely whether they mean 10:00 AM (4:00 AM their sunrise clock) or 4:00 PM Gregorian time. The "first hour" of the day is our 7:00 AM. This solar clock creates a deeply intuitive connection with time, in which the numbers directly point to the number of daylight hours passed. To outsiders, it is an endless source of confusion, but to Ethiopians, it is a rational and natural system, one which keeps life in harmony with the rhythm of the sun.

**3. The "Coffee Ceremony": A Spiritual and Social Ritual**

Drink coffee anywhere else and it's a caffeine jolt. In its country of origin, Ethiopia, coffee is the centerpiece of a revered, social, and time-consuming ritual that lasts over an hour. The ceremony is always performed by a woman and is an expression of friendship, respect, and solidarity.

The ceremony is enchanting. The green coffee beans are washed first and then roasted fresh in a pan over hot coals. The roaster holds the aromatic, pungent smoke to the guests, who are to inhale deeply as a blessing. The beans are also ground with a mortar and pestle and brewed with a humble black clay pot called a *jebena*. The coffee is poured into very small cups in three rounds: *awel*, *kale'i*, and *bereka* (the first, second, and blessing). Each round is weaker than the previous one, and to leave before the third round is a huge insult. The peculiarity lies in the ceremony's deliberate slowness and profound symbolism—it is a contemplative pause at noon, a time for conversation and interaction that one cannot give up.

**4. A Land of Script and Sabbath: The Ge'ez Script and Universal Fasting**

Ethiopia is one of the very few African countries with its own native alphabet, the Ge'ez script, or *fidel*. Based on 33 basic characters, each with 7 different forms for various vowel sounds, it produces a writing system that appears exquisitely alien to readers familiar with the Latin alphabet. This script is a potent sign of a literate and old civilization.

This is combined with the peculiar (to outsiders) pervasiveness of fasting. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church observes over 200 fasting days during the year. Throughout all these days, the believers fast on everything including animal products—meat, dairy products, and eggs. This means that in a very Christian nation, vegan food is the norm for most of the year, not an alternative culture. Restaurants and home kitchens nationwide embrace readily a vegetarian diet, with *shiro* (spiced chickpea flour soup) and lentil dishes becoming the norm. This creates a unique food culture firmly established in religion.

**5. The "Gursha": The Highest Expression of Friendship and Love**

Dining in Ethiopia is a communal affair, with food shared from one large platter, often topped with *injera*, a sourdough flatbread. The most intimate and strange practice in this meal is the *gursha*. A *gursha* is the act of hand-feeding a person a mouthful of food.

The person doing the feeding will take a perfect mouthful of *injera* and stew (*wot*), and slowly push it into the mouth of the person they're eating with. This is not practiced on children or the ill, but between equals as an expression of profound intimacy, respect, and social familiarity. The bigger the *gursha*, the greater the love or respect being shared. To refuse a *gursha* is a serious transgression. For strangers to it, it may be a startling experience, but it is characteristically the Ethiopian ethic of community over individualism.

**6. A Rock-Hewn Civilization: The Churches of Lalibela**

It is simple enough to build a church; it is quite another matter to dig one, as a whole, out of one block of solid rock. There are eleven such monolithic churches in the town of Lalibela, constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries. They are not built from the foundation but hollowed out, with architects and laborers digging deep trenches into red volcanic tuff, then excavating painstakingly the inside to form windows, doors, columns, and intricate passageways.

The enormity and grand ambition of this project is strange and wonderful. Most famous, Bet Giyorgis (St. George's) is a perfect 15-meter-high cross-shaped structure, situated in a deep trench. The churches are not burial relics; they are functioning houses of worship, with priests and pilgrims on a daily basis putting them to use. They are a "New Jerusalem" and testament to a culture that demonstrated its piety through monumental, back-breaking architecture.

**7. The "Ferenj" Phenomenon and Excessive Curiosity**

The Amharic word "*ferenj*" (foreigner) is a neuter noun, but the social phenomenon it represents can be overbearing. In much of Ethiopia, especially outside of Addis Ababa, a foreigner could attract a group of onlookers, particularly children. They may trail behind you, shout out "*ferenj!*" with a mix of excitement and curiosity, and request to touch your skin or hair.

This is not typically hostile; it is one of enormous curiosity in a country which, while it does have its history, was never fully colonized and has experienced less persistent contact with outsiders than any other nation. This unmediated, uncomplicated interest can disturb tourists who are used to invisibility, but it also testifies to a society that is hospitable and deeply networked with the world directly present.

**8. The Oromo "Gadaa" System: An Indigenous Democratic Model**

While many cultures recognize ancient Greece as a fount of democracy, there is a very good indigenous democratic model in Ethiopia that has been practiced by the Oromo for centuries. The *Gadaa* system is a highly developed social, political, and economic system that has been utilized for centuries. It is based on an eight-year cycling of power transmission.

Men are divided into generation sets (*luba*) that assume leadership for a fixed eight-year term after which they hand over power harmoniously to the next set. This prevented autocratic rulers from arising and ensured rotation of power. The uniqueness and brilliance of *Gadaa* lies in its pre-modern but highly sophisticated concept of harmonious transfer of power and equal administration, a system so robust that it was listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

**9. The "Buna Tetu" and Women's Power**

The coffee ceremony is an arena of women's social power, but there is still another conspicuous institution named the *Edir* or *Idir*. They are funeral associations that are based in villages and are an important social safety net. Members pay small monthly dues, and when a death occurs in the family, the association provides financial support, organizational assistance, and counseling.

Women's organizational strength and capacity are typically exerted through these groups. Women's *Idirs* are particularly powerful, serving as a mechanism for mutual aid ranging from funerals to business and community politics. In a society in which formal banking and insurance are unaffordable for all but the best-off, these spontaneously formed groups are a strange and creative exercise in bottom-up social invention and women's solidarity.

**10. The "Meskel" Festival: Finding the True Cross with Fire**

The *Meskel* festival commemorating finding the True Cross by Queen Helena (Eleni) in the 4th century is a UNSECO-recognized event that is attended by a drama which seems to be from a mythical period. The central ritual is that of burning a huge, taper-shaped bonfire called a *Demera* in the town squares across the country.

There are thousands of people gathered, chanting and dancing in a circle around the pyre, the apex of which is topped with a cross. Priests in gleaming robes lead the procession. The uniqueness lies in the sheer primeval power of the occasion—the combination of intense Christian piety with the primal force of a great, public fire. The fall of the *Demera* in one direction is even said to foretell the future. It is a dense, smoky, and unforgettable display of an old yet vividly living religion.

Overall, Ethiopian culture is a dense tapestry composed of threads of unbroken history, deep faith, and unique cultural consciousness. These ten facts—from living in another millennium to feeding friends by hand and governing in cycles of generations—aren't merely curiosities. They are the keys needed to open a nation that steps exuberantly and gracefully to the beat of its own drum, a rhythm fashioned by the sun, the seasons, and the heart of its people.