Ethiopian History

...is a curious thing.  They are undoubtedly proud of their history.  The National Museum features extensive displays of bones of early humans from the Great Rift Valley.  "Lucy"--the 3+ million year old early human being--was found in what is now Ethiopia, and her "bones" are on display--though not as featured as an American museum would do.  I say "bones" because, apparently, portions of the partial skeleton were found at some distance from each other.  In any case, Ethiopians are particularly proud of their status in the ancient history of humanity.

Lucy

They are also very proud of their ancient Solomonic heritage.  We visited Entoto yesterday.  That's the site of the palace of the king that established Addis Ababa...in the 1870s.  So, the last few Solomonic kings ruled from Addis, instead of the ancient Axum or Gondar.  I'm not sure why Menelek II moved the capital to the Entoto--a mountain just outside Addis, but he reputedly found evidence of a church hewn from the rocks, which showed Ethiopian presence there earlier.

This is that very church...if I understood our guide correcetly.

It is also the site of this 140-year-old church today.

Elyas, with Elyas (Elijah).

The church--and, as I gather, all Ethiopian Orthodox churches--is octagonal, for 7 archangels and Jesus.

The seven on the left--the archangels.  The four on the right--what our guide called 'the evangelists'--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The exterior 8 walls of the inside structure (which houses the holy of holies) are brightly painted with about as much bible story as you could imagine.  Adam and Eve, the birth of Jesus, the miracles, death and resurrection, the apostles, their deaths, judgment day, and more.

The apostles' deaths, including Peter, crucified upside down.

The last supper.  In traditional Ethiopian style, all bad characters are shown in profile--only one eye.  Judas, is on the far left, one eye, and the devil at his back, pulling him.

Doubting Thomas.

Petrus, Paulus and Petrus.

The devil.  Our guide says, "two eyes, because he didn't start out bad."  They keep a curtain over this.

So, the Solomonic heritage resides elsewhere, and the very young Addis Ababa--it's younger than Tacoma-- stands at the end of that legacy.  But still the Ethiopians are proud of this history, and the newness of Addis Ababa is transcended by its historical connection to the ancient Ethiopian church...another of the things of which Ethiopians are proud.  Their Orthodox church was originally administered by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the 4th century to 1959.  Apparently, Christianity was declared the state religion in 333.  And they are a non-Chalcedonian--they reject the Council of Chalceon's 451 claim of Christ having two natures, divine and human.  Instead, the Ethiopian church unites both natures into one.  And beyond that, I'm out of my theological realm.

The Ethiopian Orthodox church also adheres to Jewish dietary standards and a variety of other traditions.  They fast extensively, though that fasting takes various forms.  Sometimes, it's vegetables and no meat (until 3 PM).  Wednesdays, it's a complete fast until 3.  The numerous saints' days involve fasting, though I'm not sure which kind.  And they do some form of fasting for weeks before Christmas and Easter.  The fasting is so extensive (but can involve some eating) that restaurants have a fasting section on their menu.

They also believe that Menelek I--Solomon and Sheba's son--brought the Ark of the Covenant back with him after visiting his father in Jerusalem.  That ark is in Axum, Ethiopians will tell you.  And every Ethiopian Orthodox church has a replica, stored in that church's holy of holies, and brought out for special occasions.

It seems that about 40 % of the population is Orthodox, about 1/3 Muslim and 1/5th protestant (which they call pente--pen-tay, from pentecostal).   Yosef tells me that religious conflict is not a problem--at least, not now.  Conflict here seems based more on what we'd call ethnicity.  As I mentioned before, the Oromo and Amhara groups feel disenfranchised by the much less numerous but more politically powerful Tigray.

The Lion of Judah. 

Since Solomon was from the tribe of Judah, all the Ethiopian kings--through Haile Selassie--are also.  This figure is everywhere, and was even in the Ethiopian flag for a time.

Another--probably not the last--thing for which Ethiopians are proud is their coffee.  And, as they tell it--that they created (founded?, developed?) coffee first.

The "founding" of coffee.  A goat, whose shepherd was named Kaldi--thus the name of the Starbucks derivative, wandered off.  When Kaldi went to find it, he discovered coffee beans.  First, they tried to eat them, and then they tried something else (sorry...I can't remember what it was), then they ground them up and ran water over that...and you get coffee!

Sorting out good beans from bad.

Okay...that was a lot for tonight.  Tomorrow, we head to all those last details...hopefully to include the embassy and the final steps before departure.  

I'm hoping I can do one more post Thursday night or Friday morning...then I'll go dark.  That'll mean we're on our way.

Thanks for reading!