Below we present you 10 interesting things about Ethiopia that will pique your interest and make you want to travel to Ethiopia.




10 Ethiopia was never colonized

Ethiopia is, along with Liberia, one of only two African countries that have never been colonized. It is true that in 1935 the Italians occupied Ethiopia for six years, but the Ethiopian forces waged a permanent war with the Italian military, the country never coming under their control.

 

9 The Ethiopian year has 13 months

 

Many cultures and civilizations have their own calendars, but most "obey" the rule of the 12 months of the year. Not the Ethiopians. A few thousand years ago, the Ethiopians saw fit to believe that an extra month made the year better, so they counted accordingly. The truth is that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar (started in 45 BC) by Julius Caesar, in which every year divisible by four is a leap year.

8 And the hours are counted differently in Ethiopia

Ethiopians measure the hours of the day according to their own counting and a logic that is a bit hard to understand, they consider it less confusing to start counting the hours from the moment the day begins. That's why in Ethiopia, sunrise is 1 o'clock and sunset is 12 o'clock. So, when you buy bus tickets in Ethiopia, ask if the arrival and departure time is world time or Ethiopian time.

 

7 The first cup of coffee

 

We have Ethiopians to thank for the privilege of drinking our morning coffee . The story goes that a goatherd once noticed that the flock stopped daily to eat berries from some bushes. Curious, the shepherd tasted those grains himself and realized that he became more energetic. This is how the coffee industry was born.

6 A people fascinated by festivals

 

Ethiopia is a country marked by many colorful and energetic festivals. The largest of them is called Timket , it lasts three days and is held to commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the Jordan. Nowadays, priests remove from churches replicas of the Ark of the Covenant (object described in the Bible as containing the stone tablets with the 10 commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai, Aaron's rod and a small amount of manna, the food of the Jews for 40 years in the desert) and march to the nearest water source, where a general baptism takes place. The procession is accompanied by hundreds of local people, dressed in traditional white dresses, which contrast with the colorful ceremonial robes of the priests and their velvet umbrellas.

5 Land of a great champion: Bikila Abebe

 

In the year 1960, an Ethiopian named Abebe Bikila became the first black African to win a gold medal at an edition of the Olympic Games (Rome). Made into Ethiopia's Olympic team on the final day of selection after another athlete broke his foot, Bikila opted to run the marathon barefoot, beating the competition's favorite, Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdesselam, by 25 seconds . Four years later, Bikila also won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, setting a new world record and becoming the first person to win the marathon twice at the Olympics. When asked at the end if he wasn't tired, Bikila said he could have run another 10 kilometers.

4 Ethiopia is the country where the Rastafarian movement was born

 

You thought this was Jamaica, didn't you? It is true that the Rastafarian Movement took wings in Jamaica, but its spiritual land is, in fact, in Ethiopia. In the Amharic language (Ethiopia's official language), "ras" is a title similar to "chief", and "tafari" is the first name of Emperor Haile Selassie the First. As a principle, the movement positions Selassie as the incarnation of God. If you look at the colors on the Ethiopian flag you realize that everything is as true as it gets.

3 Ethiopia, the paradise of vegetarians

 

Ethiopian gastronomy is one of the tastiest, healthiest and most diverse on the entire African continent. And, in contrast to many African countries, it is a real paradise for vegetarians. The reason is that most Ethiopians follow the Orthodox fasting rule, which prohibits the consumption of animal products on Wednesdays and Fridays. This rule is also followed in restaurants, many of which have delicious vegan and highly spiced stews on their menus. Ethiopians, however, also have a strange way of understanding your request not to put meat in your food, replacing beef with... chicken.

2 Addis Ababa, a crowded capital

 

Addis Ababa is not exactly the most beautiful capital in the world, being big, dusty and very crowded. But here is the headquarters of the African Union, the organization founded in 2002 (equivalent to the European Union), but also of other important African organizations. At an altitude of 2,450 m, Addis Ababa (which translates as "new flower" in Amharic), is the fourth highest capital city in the world.

1 The oldest man in the world

 

Some archeological excavations made in the Ethiopian Afar region have revealed the fact that this country would have had the beginnings of humanity. In 1972, Donald Johanson and Tim D. White discovered Lucy, the skeleton of a hominid that lived 3.2 million years ago. For years, Lucy traveled the length and breadth of the Earth, being introduced as the oldest human on Earth. Then, in 2009, Ardi appeared (also a woman and also in the Afar region), who was said to be 1.2 million years older, dethroning Lucy as the ultimate grandmother.