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Today Thursday 21 November is St Mikael’s day here in Ethiopia – Hedar (the month) Mikael. It’s one of numerous big saints days where the holy tabot is paraded out. But for this day there is a tradition to burn rubbish and that the smoke will take the evil away. For more details see this […]
The UK FCDO travel advice has just been changed to show all the core areas of Tigray (away from disputed territories and boundaries) as green. At Tesfa Tours we have been sending clients there to trek at community-owned guesthouses and see the wonders of the ancient city of Axum and there hidden rock churches of […]
As the rainy season – the Kremt – begins to recede, Ethiopians prepare to celebrate their new year – saying goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017. If you want to know about the why’s and wherefores of the Ethiopia’s unique calendar please check this earlier blog article. The New Year holiday falls on […]
For those of us in Addis the change in the weather has been noticeable in the last week. One of my favourite descriptive words in Amharic is ‘goom’ – ጉም – which describes the low cloud/ foggy weather which has started now. Along with a lot of rain over the last week, there is this […]
Tesfa Ethiopian Calendar for 2017 EC (2024-5) Running from 1 Sep 2024 – 31 Aug 2025 (29cm x 52cm hanging size) This shows the western dates (Gregorian) and the Ethiopian dates. Weaves the many saints days, annual festivals, fasting periods, Islamic holidays, various curiosities, & even the full moon dates into a western calendar matrix. […]
We wish all who are celebrating a Happy Easter – (or as we say in Amharic “Melkam Fasika”). Some of you may be surprised that Ethiopian Easter, (which is in fact Orthodox Easter across many countries) is celebrated so long after Western Easter. As we all know Easter in all Christian faiths is a movable […]
Over a year ago I went back up to Tigray after the peace accords had been signed and flight services resumed. I met with my good friend Berhe and visited his family. We trekked to all the guesthouses and met with communities. (More details of this can be found here:- Blog- A new-dawn-for-tigrays-tourism.) Berhe has […]
We wish all our friends, customers and our team members across the country a happy Christmas time – Melkam Gena (Happy Christmas know as Gena or Lidet in Ethiopia). As across the Orthodox world it is celebrated a few weeks later than in the west. But this year (2016 which started on 12 Sept), is […]
We wish all or friends, family, supporters and partners Melkam Addis Amet: Happy New Year. Today – as the thirteenth month (Pagume) ends we say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016 in the Ethiopian Calendar. In this past year (2015), known as a Lukas year, (there is one for each of the four evangelists) […]
The new and unique Tesfa Calendar is coming out from the printers soon! It runs from Sep 2023 – Aug 2024 (ie Ethiopian Year 2016) is now in its 17th year and is ready! And since the 2014 edition it is printed on recycled paper!!! The Tesfa Calendar is available again this year, with all […]
Today Thursday 21 November is St Mikael’s day here in Ethiopia – Hedar (the month) Mikael. It’s one of numerous big saints days where the holy tabot is paraded out. But for this day there is a tradition to burn rubbish and that the smoke will take the evil away. For more details see this […]
The UK FCDO travel advice has just been changed to show all the core areas of Tigray (away from disputed territories and boundaries) as green. At Tesfa Tours we have been sending clients there to trek at community-owned guesthouses and see the wonders of the ancient city of Axum and there hidden rock churches of […]