10 fun facts about me
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Only making the team selection at the last minute due to another athlete’s broken foot, Bikila opted to run the marathon barefoot, pipping hot favourite Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdesselam by a full 25 seconds. In 1960, an Ethiopian by the name of Abebe Bikila became the first black African to win gold in the Olympics. VISIT LUCY PERSONALLY ON OUR 21-DAY ADVENTURE THROUGH THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS 3.
So you arguably also have the Ethiopians to thank for, well… you. Then Ardi, also from the Afar region but one million years her senior, rocked up and blew her out of the water. For years, Lucy was all the rage, embarking on a nine-year worldwide tour and enjoying widespread fame. White discovered Lucy, a 3.2 million year old hominid skeleton. Several archaeological findings in Ethiopia’s Afar region go quite some way in suggesting that the country may be where we all started out from. His day’s herding was notably more efficient for it – and the coffee industry took off from there. As the story goes, a goat herder way back when noticed his flock’s fondness for a certain bush and decided to give one of the fruits a nibble himself. You know your morning caffeine shot? You’ve got some Ethiopian goats to thank for that. Need further evidence? Just check out the colours on the Ethiopian flag. In Amharic, ‘ras’ is a title similar to chief, and ‘tafari’ the first name of Emperor Haile Selassie I – essentially the movement posits Selassie as an incarnation of God. While much of the Rastafarian movement did evolve in Jamaica, the spiritual homeland of it is in actual fact Ethiopia. SOUND GOOD? VISIT TIMKET ON OUR 14-DAY JOURNEY THROUGH ETHIOPIA 6. The birthplace of the Rastafarian movement The procession is accompanied by thousands of locals dressed in dazzling white traditional dress that contrasts with the colours of the ceremonial robes and sequined velvet umbrellas of the priests. Today the priests remove the ‘Tabots’ (replicas of the Ark of Covenant) from each church and march to the nearest water source, where the communal baptism takes place. The biggest, Timket, is a three-day annual festival that honours the baptism of Jesus Christ in the river Jordan. A nation of festivalsĮthiopia is a country full of vibrant and colourful festivals. As some of the locals put it, “we waited until they had built us railways and nice buildings… and then kicked them out.” 7.
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The Italians did give colonisation a crack in 1935 – and succeeded in militarily occupying the country for six years – but Ethiopian forces were waging military opposition the entire time and the whole country was never brought under control. So when buying bus tickets etc., make sure you ask whether departure time is in Ethiopian or Western time.Įthiopia is the only African country never to have been brought under colonial control – a fact that locals will never tire of informing you.
Thus, sunrise is 1 o’clock and sunset 12. In a piece of logic that’s kind of hard to argue against, they believe it’s less confusing if the clock starts when the day does. Ethiopian timeĮthiopians also measure the hours of a day to a different schedule. And that canny tourism boards can legitimately claim that the country really does boast ’13 months of sunshine’. What does this mean? Well, that 2017 is still 2009 there. Ever looking to buck a trend, several thousand years ago the Ethiopians cottoned on to Spinal Tap’s belief that one more is always better – and have been counting 13 months to their year ever since. Sure, plenty of cultures have their own calendars that they prefer to follow over the Western Gregorian one, but most still abide by the unspoken ’12 months to a year’ rule. And just to push the point further, here are 10 facts about Ethiopia you probably don’t know: 10.
The country has been at peace for more than 15 years and its economy is one of the fastest growing in the world.Īdd to this a staggering diversity of landscapes, kaleidoscope of cultures and history that tracks back to when our species first raised itself up onto two legs – and suddenly you’ve got one very surprising travel destination. UPDATED: This post was originally published on February 27, 2014.Įthiopia may not be the first place you think of when booking your next holiday, but it should be.