Habesha People - Culture

Culture

The way of life in the Habesha countryside evokes images of Biblical times; camels, donkeys, and sheep are everywhere. Fields are plowed using oxen. The Orthodox Church is a large part of the culture. The church buildings are built on hills. Major celebrations during the year are held around the church, where people gather from villages all around to sing, play games, and observe the unique mass of the church, which includes a procession through the church grounds and environs.

Coffee is a very important ceremonial drink. The "coffee ceremony" is common to the Tigrinya and the Amhara. Beans are roasted on the spot, ground, and served thick and rich in tiny ceramic cups with no handles. This amount of coffee can be finished in one gulp if drunk cold, however, it is traditionally drunk very slowly as conversation takes place. When the beans are roasted to smoking, they are passed around the table, where the smoke becomes a blessing on the diners. The traditional food served at these meals consists of injera, a spongy flat bread, served with wat, a spicy meat sauce.

Houses in rural areas are built mostly from rock, dirt, and timber poles. The houses blend in easily with the natural surroundings. Many times the nearest water source is more than a kilometer away from the house. In addition, people must search for fuel for the fire throughout the surrounding area.

The Habesha people have a rich heritage of music and dance, using drums and stringed instruments tuned to a pentatonic scale. Arts and crafts and secular music are performed mostly by artisans who are regarded with suspicion. Sacred music and iconic art is performed by monastically trained men.

The Harari culture meanwhile is deeply Islamic, as is its art and architecture. It has developed unique art forms, such as its polyphonic singing style, its rich tradition of Zikr, and ornamentation. Harar's legacy of leather book-binding of Qurans and other religious books is renowned in the Islamic world. The ancient walled city with its white-washed walls and narrow alleyways is reminiscent of the medinas and casbahs of the Near East. Harar has been the epicenter of Islamic learning and culture in the Horn and East Africa for a millennium.