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Ethiopia prepares to celebrate Christmas today - Merry Christmas

Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in Africa. It still follows the ancient Julian calendar, so Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's birth is called Ganna. It is a day when families attend church.

The day before Ganna, people fast all day. The next morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians don a traditional shamma, a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly colored stripes across the ends. The shamma is worn somewhat like a toga. Urban Ethiopians might put on white Western garb. Then everyone goes to the early mass at four o'clock in the morning. In a celebration that takes place several days later, the priests will dress in turbans and red and white robes as they carry beautifully embroidered fringed umbrellas.

Most Ethiopians who live outside the modern capital city, Addis Ababa, live in round mud-plastered houses with cone-shaped roofs of thatched straw. In areas where stone is plentiful, the houses may be rectangular stone houses. The churches in Ethiopia echo the shape of the houses. In many parts of the country there are ancient churches carved out of solid volcanic rock. Modern churches are built in three concentric circles.

In a modern church, the choir assembles in the outer circle. Each person entering the church is given a candle. The congregation walks around the church three times in a solemn procession, holding the flickering candles. Then they gather in the second circle to stand throughout the long mass, with the men and boys separated from the women and girls. The center circle is the holiest space in the church, where the priest serves Holy Communion.

Around the time of Ganna, the men and boys play a game that is also called ganna. It is somewhat like hockey, played with a curved stick and a round wooden ball.

The foods enjoyed during the Christmas season include wat, a thick, spicy stew of meat, vegetables, and sometimes eggs as well. The wat is served from a beautifully decorated watertight basket onto a "plate" of injera, which is flat sourdough bread. Pieces of injera are used as an edible spoon to scoop up the wat.

Twelve days after Ganna, on January 19, Ethiopians begin the three-day celebration called Timkat, which commemorates the baptism of Christ. The children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups they belong to. The grown-ups wear the shamma. The priests will now wear their red and white robes and carry embroidered fringed umbrellas.

The music of Ethiopian instruments makes the Timkat procession a very festive event. The sistrum is a percussion instrument with tinkling metal disks. A long, T-shaped prayer stick called a makamiya taps out the walking beat and also serves as a support for the priest during the long church service that follows. Church officials called dabtaras study hard to learn the musical chants, melekets, for the ceremony.

Ethiopian men play another sport called yeferas guks. They ride on horseback and throw ceremonial lances at each other.

Ganna and Timkat are not occasions for giving gifts in Ethiopia. If a child receives any gift at all, it is usually a small gift of clothing. Religious observances, feasting, and games are the focus of the season.

Source: howstuffworks

Ethiopia - Patriarch Receives Highest-honor Portuguese, Spanish Medal

Source: ENA

Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) Abune Paulos receives on Tuesday the ‘Highest-Honor Portuguese and Spanish Medal’ for his outstanding contributions toward ensuring peace and mutual co-existence among the peoples of the world, the patriarchate private secretariat disclosed.

Abune Paulos, who is also one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, has been making remarkable contributions toward ensuring peace, tolerance, and mutual co-existence at global level, according to the statement of the secretariat sent to ENA.

Hence, the statement said, the two countries honored the patriarch with the medal for his exemplary deeds in the area of ensuring peace, stability and friendship worldwide.

Handing over the medal, head of the delegation Major, Jose Augusto said the peoples of the two countries attach due respect to the medal, which is the highest-honor medal in Portugal and Spain.

Major Jose Augusto said Portugal and Spain are desirous to bolster bilateral relations with Ethiopia in the years ahead. Especially, he said, the countries will be working together with the church in assisting orphans in Ethiopia.

After receiving the medal, the patriarch said his church will exert utmost efforts toward scaling up the existing bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and the two European countries to a higher level.

The patriarch also received messages sent from Portuguese and Spanish royal families, according to the statement.

Ethiopian Patriarch expresses sorrow over death of Serbian Patriarch

Source: ENA

Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos expressed heartfelt sorrow over the death of Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle. The patriarch died on Sunday at the age of 95.

At a program held in Serbian Embassy here on Wednesday, Abune Paulos, who is also President of the World Council of Churches, said the death of the Patriarch is not only a loss for the Serbian people and the Church but also for all Christians.

The late patriarch has contributed a lot for the world peace and for the unity of people as well.

He said the good deeds of the patriarch will always be remembered. Abune Paulos also wished solace to the people and Orthodox Church of Serbia.

Serbian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Dragan Momcilovic expressed gratitude to Abune Paulos for expressing his condolence over the death of the patriarch.

Patriarch Pavle, elected to head the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1990, died of cardiac arrest during his sleep after having been hospitalized for two years in the Belgrade Military Medical Academy.

World Muslim Population hits 1.57B ; 28 million Muslims in Ethiopia

The number of Muslims in the world hits 1.7 Billion according to a new study of more than 200 countries by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. This number represents about 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion people. More than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. For instance in Ethiopia Muslims make up about 33.9% of the population at around 28 million Muslims according to Pew.

Ethiopia has the second largest number of Muslims living as Minorities in the world with 28 million Muslims living in a majority-Christian country. And Ethiopia has the second largest Muslim population in Sub-Sharan Africa.

While 80% of the world’s Muslims live in countries where Muslims are in the majority, significant numbers – about one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population – live as religious minorities in their home countries. Of the roughly 317 million Muslims living as minorities, about 240 million – about three-quarters – live in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million). Two of the 10 countries with the largest number of Muslims living as minorities are in Europe: Russia (16 million) and Germany (4 million). These minority populations are often quite large. For example, India, a Hindu-majority country, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. The Muslim population of Ethiopia is about as large as that of Afghanistan. China has more Muslims than Syria; Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined; and Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon

Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes 50 countries and territories, has about 241 million Muslims, which is about 15% of the world Muslim population. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 78 million Muslims (about 50% of Nigeria's total population). Almost one-in-three Muslims (about 32%) in Sub-Saharan Africa live in Nigeria. Western Africa is the only area in Sub-Saharan Africa with a Muslim majority. In contrast, the southern part of Africa has the smallest Muslim population.

Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to a number of countries that have very large Muslim majorities. Countries with the highest percentages of Muslim populations are: Mauritania (99%), Niger (99%), Somalia (99%), Mayotte (98%), Comoros (98%), Djibouti (97%), Senegal (96%), Gambia (95%), Mali (93%), Guinea (84%) and Sierra Leone (71%). The combined Muslim population of all these countries is about 67 million, or about 4% of the global Muslim population.

Read The Complete Report here

Anwar Mosque Addis Ababa Ethiopia

An Islamic history is a vital part of Ethiopia’s richness

By HA Hellyer

We are sorry if you get woken up by the Muslim call to prayer in the morning.” Those were some of the first words I heard at my hotel when I arrived in Addis Ababa, on my first trip to Ethiopia. I confess – I was a bit confused. Call to prayer? In the capital of a “Christian country in a sea of Muslims”, as Ethiopia is sometimes called? Perhaps I was in a Muslim quarter of Addis Ababa that had been recently established?

No, the situation was far more complicated than that, and one about which I had a surprisingly limited awareness. Most non-Ethiopians, including the immediate neighbours of Ethiopia, also believe that Ethiopia is predominantly Christian. The more sophisticated might believe that there is a Muslim minority – and it was to learn about that population that drew me to Ethiopia in the first place. But it is not a minority. About 55 per cent of Ethiopia’s parliament is Muslim and representatives from the country’s Islamic community insist they are at least 50 per cent of the population. While the US State Department estimates that this number is a bit lower, Islam might actually be the religion with the most adherents in Ethiopia.

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