Culture of the Month : Ethiopia (September 2007)
Every month, our Cultural Awareness prefects - Menen Hailu and Eva Oppong - will bring to this page information and interesting facts about a particular culture.
 
Ethiopian Millenium
With celebrations such as the Jewish New Year and the first day of Ramadan (13th), there is much culture to be enjoyed in September. However, Culture of the Month is highlighting a celebration which is probably unknown to many people.
At 12.00 am on September 12th Ethiopia entered the year 2000 with joyous celebrations around the country. As an Ethiopian who has lived most of my life in England, I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t travel to the East-African country to join in the festivities. However, there was a concert held in Trafalgar Square on September 11th inviting people to come and listen to Ethiopian music.
Ethiopia is one of the few countries which don’t follow the normal Gregorian calendar (which GB uses). Instead, they use the Julian calendar which is roughly 7 years behind the Western world. Also, the Ethiopian year is comprised of 13 months instead of twelve. As you all know, the normal months in a year contain a mixture of 28-31 days while Ethiopian months all contain 30 days. The 31st day is moved to an extra month in which there are only 5/6 days depending on whether it is a leap year.
- The Black Eyed Peas held a concert in a new hall built for the millennium.
Ethiopia is a country with many fascinating attractions. One of a few is Lalibela, an area where the underground churches were hand-calved from stone:
Another is Axum, where the Queen of Sheba is thought to have lived:
Ethiopia is also where the Nile starts its journey before ending up in Egypt. During its journey, the Nile comes across the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat Falls):
Much like Nigeria has Yoruba and Ghana has Ashanti, Ethiopia is split into 13 provinces. Most of theses have their own languages: people from Oromia or Tigray speak Oromo or Tigrinya respectively. However, the main language is Amharic which is spoken more commonly.
Some interesting facts:
- The Queen of Sheba’s son, Menelik, became the first Emperor of Ethiopia.
- During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia remained un-colonized when they defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa.
- According to historians, Ethiopia is said to be the last resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.
- Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world and Africa's second-most populous nation.
- This is the flag for Ethiopia:
- Ethiopia was the original source of the coffee bean, and coffee beans are the country's largest export commodity.
- The main religion is Christian Orthodox.
- The main cuisine is a flat bread called Injera and a stew called Wet:
- Famous Ethiopians include supermodel Liya Kebede.
Menen Hailu
See more Cultures of the Month by clicking on one of the following links:
June / July 2007: Malta
May 2007: Ghana | 
