Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Category Archives: Easter

Melkam Fasika – Happy Easter

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Ethiopian Crucification & the life of Abuna Saläma (at the British Museum)

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 feast. But the why’s and wherefores are rather stranger!

As Easter marks the date of Jesus’s death and resurrection, which happened around the Jewish Passover. (Christ celebrated the Last Supper on the first day of Passover and his Crucifixion occurred on the second day, at the hour when the lambs were slaughtered in the Temple at Jerusalem.) It was originally celebrated along side the Passover festival by early Christians.  However the formula for calculating Easter was set down at the Council of Nicaea in 325 — the most famous of the seven Christian ecumenical councils accepted by both Catholics and Orthodox. It is a fairly simple formula:

Easter is the first Sunday that follows the Paschal Full Moon (Paschal means “Passover” in Greek), which is the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox (taken as being 21st March).

But for calculation purposes, the Council of Nicaea declared that the full moon is always set on the 14th day of the lunar month.

Council of Nicea from Greek Icon

(The lunar month begins with the new moon.) This is called the ecclesiastical full moon; the astronomical full moon may fall a day or so before or after the ecclesiastical full moon.

So far so everyone is on the same page. And this does explain how the date of Easter moves across a month, linked to this ecclesiastical full moon date. And the fact that is on the 1st Sunday following a full moon adds several days to the possible 28 day variation.  However the difference between the Western and Orthodox Easter comes from the calendar used by the church.

The Julian calendar (establish by Julias Caesar in AD45), overestimated the length of the tropical year, the time from one equinox to the next, which also affected  the date of Easter, and is increasingly out of sync with the actual solar year.

In 1582, to correct the increasing error in the Julian calendar, Pope Gregory XIII suggested knocking off a few days from the calendar and adjusting the frequency of leap years. That year, in all countries who went with the Pope’s plan, 4 October was to be followed by 15 October. Hence the term Gregorian calendar! It took England almost 200 years to follow suit (because of its protestant allegiance in the 16th century) and it was decided that Wednesday 2 September 1752 would be followed immediately by Thursday 14 September 1752, thereby synchronizing with the rest of Europe.

However the Orthodox churches have continued to calculate based on the Julian Calendar until now, even if most countries adopted the Gregorian calendar for secular life!  This 13 days is the difference between Western Christmas (25 Dec) and Orthodox Christmas (7 January). But now Easter compounds the 13 days difference with the lunar calculation and the fact that it is always a Sunday! It couldn’t get more complicated than that!

This means Western Easter can be from late March until late April, (from 22 March to 25 April) and Orthodox Easter from early April until early May (from 3 April to 8 May).

Fasika in Lalibela

Here in Ethiopia, this week Good Friday – Sekelet – will be celebrated on 3 May and Easter Sunday (known as Tinsae or Fasika) will be celebrated on 5 May. The week leading up to Easter is known as Holy Week (Himamat), and the fasting in Ethiopia becomes more intense, with a total fast from Friday morning until late Saturday night (in fact Sunday morning) when the fast is broken at church.  For anyone wishing to get a feel for the intense passion with which Fasika is marked here in Ethiopia, you should attend a local church on Saturday night. (For more on the fasting see this blog article)

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Melkam Hosanna / Palm Sunday

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Palm Fonds are worn to commemorate Palm Sunday (Hosanna) – this one specially made for COVID19 emergency

Easter is now one week away in Ethiopia. Today is Palm Sunday or Hosanna in Ethiopia. It is usually one of the busiest days in the church calendar, but today – although some still went to church, Addis Ababa remained quiet. People did put palm fonds on their heads. Hosanna marks the start of the final week of Hudadi, commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this

Eyesus Church very quiet on Palm Sunday

fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.
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Fruit and Veg store in Addis

This year Easter will not be a great celebration. Many will continue to fast seeking God’s intersession in these COVID19 times. However lockdown as in Europe is not possible. People live day to day from small businesses and there is no real safety net. People buy their bread at small bread shops, fruit and veg from stalls on the road side, small ‘supermarkets’ sell other food stuffs, corner shops sell pretty much all you need- pasta, rice, flour, eggs and much more.

Now handwash stations are outside shops and ropes keep people away from the counter or even outside – so that business is conducted in the street. The government has declared a state of emergency to tackle the virus and are making preparations: hospital beds, gathering PPE, asking retired medical staff to volunteer. Tesfa Tours, as with many businesses has been asked for and has provided  funds and a vehicle to help with the emergency.   We all pray that the measures are enough to stave off the worst of the virus.

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The great Lenten fast draws to a close and Easter approaches

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Fasika in Lalibela

Enkwanaderasachu

Best wishes to everyone celebrating Easter on either the 1st or the 8th of April. Easter in Ethiopia, known as Fasika is celebrated according to the Orthodox or Eastern church calendar this year on 8th April. Some years it falls on the same day as in the western church, some years it can be far apart, but this year it is one week after western Easter.

Fasika is a Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia) word and also the word in Amharinya and Tigrinya for Easter. Easter is also sometimes called Tensae a Ge’ez word meaning to rise). It is one

Sheep are bought into Addis for sale for holidays

of the most important holidays in Ethiopia, marking the end of a long 55 day Lenten fast. On Easter Sunday chickens, sheep, goats and cattle are dispatched for the pot as the fasting comes to an end in no uncertain terms. Sunday sees piles of sheep skins on street corners, to be picked up by small dealers in trucks. In the days leading up to Easter flocks of sheep and goats as well as herds of oxen are driven by herders into the city, chickens are driven in trucks and pick ups. They are sold at impromptu markets all over the city to be slaughtered in back yards. Prices of livestock more than double for Easter. Sheep come to the capital with drovers bringing them across countryside from several hundred miles away, from Shoa and even as far as Wollo.

Local shepherd boys in Wollo


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After Easter there is no fasting not even on Wednesdays and Fridays until after Pentecost on 27th May (Parakilitos). In the countryside the end of the fasting is celebrated in different ways. In Tigray priests are feted with parties held by different households from their parish. In Wollo I have seen the girls making swings from rope to hang from trees and sing songs while swinging, while the boys have javelin contests. Its also a second wedding season as people like to get married before the rainy season and after the fasting. These are enjoyable times in the countryside, and if you have the chance to spend a week or so up in the countryside on a Tesfa Trek in Wollo, Tigray or the Simiens you will be a very welcome guest and

Hosanna palm rings

participant at the celebrations. Its still not too late to book your trek in early April!

The lead up to Fasika starts now with Palm Sunday or Hosanna this Sunday (1 week before Easter, 1st April this year).  It is a very special day in the Orthodox church commemorating Jesus’s march into Jerusalem on a donkey with Palm fonds laid before him. It is marked with palms (worn by many worshippers on hands or head), processions and special services in the church.

Following Hosanna is the last week of the Great Lenten fast or Hudadi.  This final week of Hudadi is commonly known as Holy Week, or the “Week of Pains” or in Ethiopia Himamat and it is the strictest part of Lent. During Himamat no absolution is given, and during this week the fast becomes yet more rigorous. For some strict worshippers, having broken the fast after mass on Thursday they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water until Easter morning. So they totally abstain for all of Good Friday (or Sekelet) and Saturday, breaking this fast after the church service that goes through the night on Saturday, finishing at around 3am on Sunday morning. These three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.

As far as I am aware no other major religion has such penitential fasting. For the strict observers of the fast, the 55 days of Lent are very tough on the body. Fasting in Ethiopia not only means a vegan diet but also means many hours of no food or drink. Each fasting day the observer will not eat of drink anything from the time they wake up until after the mass in the middle of the day is finished in church for many that means 3-4pm. Two simple meals may then follow, a late ‘lunch’ or more properly ‘break-fast’, and a light supper in the evening. What is staggering is that there is no drinking – not water, not coffee, nothing – during those fasting hours.

For vegetarians the end of Lent means no fasting food, even on Wednesdays and Fridays – so make the most of the last week of fasting.

 

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Fifty five days of fasting underway in Ethiopia

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Fasting-JokeAs many will know the big fasting season in Ethiopia started this week on Monday. Fasting is appears in many religions around the world. But in the west its has lost its rigour for most people. However in the Ethiopian Orthodox church there are many fasting days through the year. In fact a strict observer of all fasts would be vegan for half the year. The longest of the fasts is Hudadi or the Abiy Tsom, as the lenten fast leading up to Easter is variously known, and the majority of followers of the Orthodox church fast these 55 days every year.

Why is it 55 days when in the western church it is 40 days?  There are specific reasons for the addition of 2 weeks to the 40 day fast that many people are not aware of.

Eraclias

Medieval painting of King Eraclias

The first week of Hudadi is known as the fast of Eraclius, a Byzantine Emperor who lived in 614 A.D. During his reign the Persians invaded Jerusalem and took the Cross of the Lord. Eraclius made an expedition to Persia and having defeated the Persians he took the Cross back to Jerusalem. The Christians in Jerusalem who were very happy because of Eraclius’s victory and the return of the Cross, dedicated the first week before Lent to be the fast of Eraclius and included it in their canons. The last week of Lent: Passion Week during remembers the Apostles who fasted in commemoration of Christ’s Passion.

To the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Hudadi is a period of fasting when the faithful undergo a rigorous schedule of prayers and penitence. This fast is observed with greater rigour than any other fast and it is a test of one’s spiritual strength and resolve. Properly observed it is believed to nullify sins committed during the rest of the year. 

The fast if strictly followed :

  • is applicable to all persons older than 13 years of age
  • involves abstinence from: meat, dairy products and eggs (and many will abstain from fish too)
  • instead, cereals and vegetables will be consumed
  • only one meal (vegan) a day is eaten, taken in the evening or after 3:00pm (when church services end). Before that no food, drink  nor even water is to be consumed
  • starting on Good Friday to Easter Sunday (i.e. late on Saturday night), there is total abstinence nothing taken maybe eaten nor drunk.
  • on other Saturdays and Sundays during Lent, eating breakfast is allowed.
  • Daily Services are conducted in all churches from morning to 2:45pm.
  • Priests regularly attend night services starting at midnight up to 7am.

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Fasting selection with Ethiopian beer

Fasting selection with Ethiopian beer

For the visitor to Ethiopia a wonderful array of fasting foods is served up on enjara – just ask for: – ‘ye tsom bayenetu’. You may also get a wonderful fired fish (probably Tilapia) ‘asseh‘.  Enjoy!

Tesfa Tours will happily recommend good fasting restaurants in Addis, and take you there as part of a city tour.

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Melcam Fasika – Happy Easter

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Photo by Anthony Pappone Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/)

Photo by Anthony Pappone Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/)

Enkwanaderasachu

Best wishes to everyone celebrating Easter this weekend.

Easter in Ethiopia, known as Fasika is celebrated according to the Orthodox or Eastern church calendar. Some years it falls on the same day as in the western church, but this year it is as far apart as it can be.
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Fasika is a Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia) word and also the word in Amharic and Tigrinya for Easter. Easter is sometimes called Tensae a Ge’ez word meaning to rise). It is one of the most important holidays in Ethiopia marking the end of a long 55 day Lenten fast. On Easter Sunday chicken, cheep, goats and cattle are dispatched for the pot as the fasting comes to an end in no uncertain terms.

There is a lot of fasting in Ethiopia with 180 days of fasting through the year (almost half the year is fasting) and more for priests and monks and the like who fast for 250 days a year. Fasting means abstaining from and meat or dairy produce. Fish was traditionally allowed but it is now common for many to exclude fish too.

Following Easter there is no fasting for one month until the regular Wednesday and Friday fasts restart.

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Holy week in the Ethiopian Church – Himamat

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Priests reading the Bible by the light of a taper

Priests reading the Bible by the light of a taper

Yesterday was Palm Sunday or Hosanna.  It is a very special day in the Orthodox church commemorating Jesus’s march into Jerusalem on a donkey with Palm fonds laid before him.  It is marked with palms (worn by many worshippers on hands or head), processions and special services.
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And now we are in Holy Week, the “Week of Pains” or the Himamat. For some strict worshippers, from Thursday afternoon until Easter morning (late on Saturday night/Sunday morning) they will not eat any food nor drink even a drop of water for the three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly.  During Himamat no absolution is given.

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Have your tried the Prickly Pear?

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Hailay (Tesfa Tours driver) peeling a prickly Pear - Beles fruit!

Hailay (Tesfa Tours driver) peeling a prickly Pear – Beles fruit!

As Baloo sings in the Jungle Book –

 

Now when you pick a pawpaw

Or a prickly pear

And you prick a raw paw

Next time beware

Don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw

When you pick a pear Try to use the claw

But you don’t need to use the claw

When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw.
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The peeled Beles fruit – no more prickles!

The season for these tasty fruit starts in May, but you are best advised to let someone who knows how to peel it (as you do not have Baloo’s claws!). So why not come up after Fasika (Ethiopian Easter) and walk through the beautiful Agame mountains around Adigrat, famed for their tasty ‘Beles’ fruits.

It is also the season of priest parties (for two weeks after Fasika)- when householders entertain their local priests to congratulate them on getting through the rigours of another fasting season. Local beer and spicy ‘Teh’lo’

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray

Tehlo ceremony in Tigray

(meat in red sauce with balls of barley) is served and everyone celebrates the season.  You will undoubtably be invited in as a guest of honour.

So come and be a guest of the local villagers in the Agame mountains this May.

 

 

 

The Cactus in flower in the Agame mountains

The Cactus in flower in the Agame mountains,

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Easter is over for this year; fasting is over for now ….

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Fasika – Easter, is over for another year. Sunday saw the piles of sheep skins on street corners, to be picked up by small dealers in trucks. For the days leading up to Easter flocks of sheep and goats as well as herds of oxen were driven by herders into the city, chickens were driven in trucks and pick ups. They are sold at impromptu markets all over the city to be slaughtered in back yards. Prices of livestock easily double for Easter, with sheep were costing over $100 USD, chickens over $10 USD. Sheep come to Addis with drovers bringing them across country from several hundred miles away, across Shoa and even as far as Wollo.

So the fasting is done, in fact there is no fasting now, even on Wednesdays and Fridays until after Pentecost (this year that means until June). In the countryside the end of the fasting is celebrated in different ways. In Tigray priests are feted with parties held by different households from their parish. In Wollo I have seen the girls making swings from rope to hand off trees and play on them singing songs, while the boys have javelin contests. Its also a second wedding season as people like to get married before the rainy season and after the fasting.
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As you know this year there were two Christian Easters with the Orthodox Easter (Fasika) falling one week after the western Easter. The dates for both the Orthodox and Western Easters move around March and April and can even appear in May, but quite often they also coincide. Next year however, in 2016, the two Easters will be far apart with western Easter falling on 27th March and the Orthodox celebration will be on 1st May. Yet in 2017 both will be on the same day.

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