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Merry Christmas / Melcam Gena

Ox stops the traffic

In downtown Addis an Ox has broken free from its new owner and is terrorising the traffic. (He chased my car after I took the photo!)

On the eve of a big holiday like Christmas, (Gena in Amharic) livestock are a common sight in the streets as animals make are lead away to become the next day’s stew.

Christmas in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar falls on  January 7th, 13 days after western Christmas. However in Lalibela the church has ruled that it is Christmas on January 8th in a following the Ethiopian leap year.
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An Ethiopian leap year has an extra day  on the last day of the year – on 11 September (as happened in 2015)  so the new year starts on Sept 12 and all dates are one day out until 29th February. The 8th January this year (2016) is the Tahsas 29 in the Ethiopian Calendar, which is the monthly festival for the birth of Christ. So in Lalibela Christmas moves in the western calendar date to stay consistent with the Ethiopian date (as with all holidays that fall from 11 Sept  – 29 Feb). But for the rest of the country the date slips back to Tahsas 28 (today) because they start counting from the date at which Gabriel announced that Mary was pregnant back in March in the previous year, and as she was pregnant for a fixed number of days … so the date is one day early every 4th year.

When ever you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a good feast. Lets hope that Ox was not to tough!!

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Gabriel day in Addis

St Gabriel's day in Addis Ababa

St Gabriel’s day in Addis Ababa

Yesterday’s St. Gabriel’s day is one of the biggest saint’s days in the Ethiopian Calendar. The holy Tabot is paraded around the church as thousands of worshipers attend services at the Gabriel church in the city centre (behind the palace above Cassanchis).The roads leading to the church are closed to traffic.

Most women will wear traditional white cotton dresses and shawls and men will where a Gabi – a white cotton blanket – over their clothes. Back at home grass will be laid out over the floor for a coffee ceremony, incense will be burned and special home baked traditional bread will be shared out.

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PS – note the leaning building in the photo. If you look closely you will see that they could not decide whether the windows should conform to the lean or be horizontal! Its a strange one for sure…

 

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Kulubi Gabriel

Today – 29th December (Tahsas 19 in the Ethiopian calendar) is one of the two big annual Gabriel festivals (the other one comes on 28 July), and is the culmination of one of the biggest pilgrimages in Ethiopia.

Kulubi is a small place some 60km from Dire Dawa, but today tens of thousands of pilgrims will have converged on the St Gabriel’s church there, many walking for days to get there.

The joint churches of Gabriel & Rufael in Lalibela

The joint churches of Gabriel & Rufael in Lalibela


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But all across Ethiopia, today is a huge celebration at every Gabriel church. Whether in Addis Ababa, in Lalibela, or on a Tesfa community trek in a village where a church has a Gabriel Tabot, there will be special celebrations.

Enjoy today!

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Tesfa Tours can take payment by credit card

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Tabots, taxis and runners

A Tabot being paraded

A Tabot being paraded

All goes silent. The murmuring from the churches has stopped. The Tabots have left the church to be paraded in the compound. They are the sacred holy heart of each church, often said to be a replica of the Arc of Covenant, but actually a replica of the Arc’s contents – the tablets of stone. The town is silent. No one likes to drive when the Tabots are out, so many taxis are not working.

A Sea of yellow shirts as the Great Ethiopian Run sets off - curtsey of the GER -http://ethiopianrun.org

A Sea of yellow shirts as the Great Ethiopian Run sets off – curtsey of the GER -http://ethiopianrun.org

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Smoke, prayer and running in Addis Ababa

212_Archangel_Michael

Icon of St. Mikael

As the sun peers through the thin veil of smoke and the chanting from the churches creates a murmuring sound through the city, sent forth on loud speakers, worshippers are heading to church, as is one of the big days of the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar. Today is known as Hedar Mikael or the November St. Michael’s day, and is the day that everyone sweeps up the rubbish in their compound and burns it. The fires are said to take the disease and sickness away with the smoke.

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Great Ethiopian Run (curtesy of GER http://ethiopianrun.org/)

Great Ethiopian Run (curtesy of GER http://ethiopianrun.org/)

But as worshippers head off to church, some 20,000 runners are making there way to the centre of Addis Ababa to participate in Africa’s largest mass participation run. The Great Run as Addis Ababa’s 10km run is called, is also a highlight in the calendar for Addis Ababans, as the mass run becomes a running street party in green and yellow (the colour of this years shirt) for the 15th year in a row.

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Wonderful article in Selamta (Ethiopian Airlines inflight magazine)

Photo from ​Genesis​ by Sebastião Salgado

Photo from ​Genesis​ by Sebastião Salgado

When you are next on board an Ethiopian A/L flight have a look for the main feature (Nov/Dec issue) in the inflight magazine – Selamta. But you can also read it on line at www.selamtamagazine.com  – the following is taken from the article – wonderfully written by Noreen Fagan, with photos by Sebastião Salgado

 

In sync with Highland living, each day from there unfolded seamlessly into another. We woke with the rising sun and walked until midday, when we rested for lunches of injera(local flatbread made from fermented teff grain) and lentils washed down with strong black coffee. Each climb brought us closer to the clouds, giving us the perfect vantage points from which to witness a lifestyle that had not changed over thousands of years: Small boys balanced sticks twice their size, steering goats toward grazing land; farmers in every direction walked horses and bulls in a circle, threshing hay; and women ambled their ways home, carrying jugs of water, locally made beer or goods traded at the nearby market. At more than 3,500 meters above sea level, we became briefly a part of the agricultural and cultural life of Ethiopian pastoralists.

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We spent our final night atop a jagged mountaintop, overlooking valleys and layers of mountains cascading toward the hidden horizon. Lammergeyers swooped down below us before spiraling upward with the wind — their flight accentuating the stillness of our surrounds. As the light faded, our warm memories of the past three days blanketed us against the cold Ethiopian night — reminding us that time need not be dictated by the hourglass but by the momentum of daily life.

 

 

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Always wanted to see the spectacular Danakil?

Ertale Volcano

Ertale caldera – feel the heat of a live volcano

Why not come and se the spectacular Ertale Volcano, and the Dalol salt flats with their mineral deposits? Its like no place on earth!

We have two clients looking to make a trip to the Danakil within the period 17th November -28th November.

An ideal group size is 4-6 people.  We do not like sending large groups.

potash and sulpher deposits

Spectacular mineral deposits at Dalol

We have expert guides and drivers and the best rugged Toyota Hardtops (landcruisers) with A/C electric windows etc, to make sure your trip is safe and comfortable.

We take a good cook and equipment from Mekele including a camping shower and toilet.

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Tesfa Tours own well-maintained 4WDs

Tesfa Tours own well-maintained 4WDs

Prices vary upon the final numbers. If you are interested email tigist@tesfatours.com for more details, or call Tigi on 011 126 0303 or 011 124 5178, or alternatively pop in to our office on Kebena roundabout in Addis.

Caravans carry the salt from the Danakil

Caravans carry the salt from the Danakil

Salt and other mineral deposits take strange shapes and interesting colours

Salt and other mineral deposits take strange shapes and interesting colours

Salt blocks

Salt is still cut and taken from Danakil

Mineral springs - very colourful

Mineral springs – very colourful

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Tesfa Tours office in Addis

Photo of Tesfa Tours office at Kebena

Our office at Kebena, Addis Ababa

Tesfa Tours office in Addis Ababa, at the Kebena roundabout is now a busy place. Our neighbours are DK doughnuts with a cafe just opened on the ground floor, Berhan International bank, and the Korean car importers Menkem have taken the top floor. We are happily on the first floor looking out over the rising wooded slopes of eastern Addis as they rise up to Entoto mountain.
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So come and have a coffee and doughnut, do your banking and see Tesfa Tours! You might even drive off in a little yellow car!

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Melkam Meskal

 

All over Addis decorated bonfires are set up the day before the holiday

All over Addis decorated bonfires are set up the day before the holiday

Tonight is the eve of Meskal day, a night which more than any other is the bonfire night. Bonfires ‘demera‘ are being prepared, beautifully decorated with the yellow Meskal daisy on every street corner in Addis, and throughout the Orthodox parts of the country. The smell of smoke and sound of the celebrations will be everywhere in the capital in the coming hours

Best wishes to all on this holiday tomorrow – and a happy bonfire night tonight.

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Meskal bonfireShe followed the instructions, added frankincense to the huge fire and  the smoke that went skywards came back down showing the spot where she found the cross. It was at Amba Gishen , a cross shaped amba – or plateau – in the mountains of South Wollo. This is now the location of a church called Gishen Mariam with its huge day on a Mariam day that falls right at the start of October, and is one of the biggest pilgrimage sites in Ethiopia.

However in many parts of Ethiopia (particularly in the south, but also in Adigrat in Tigray) Meskal is a huge festival that starts many days before the day itself, suggesting that there maybe some other older festivity with which Meskal has since been linked.

The Meskal daisy, Ethiopian flower for for Meskal and New Year

The Meskal daisy, Ethiopian flower for for Meskal and New Year

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