The National Museum of Ethiopia
If you think I'm several months early in wishing year-end greetings, think again. In Ethiopia, the new year began on September 12, marking the start of the year 2012. 2012? Yes, for the Ethiopian calendar is very similar to the old Julian calendar that was used in the Western world until it's gradual replacement by the Gregorian calendar. So we are now in the first month of the year 2012. If you're interested, you can read a detailed explanation
here (and if you're keen in being even more confused, read the Wikipedia
article on time in Ethiopia).
Being New Year's Day, Thursday was a national holiday, meaning no school for my daughter and no work for me. We didn't have anything special planned for the day, but as the meat my wife was preparing for lunch was taking longer than expected to thaw, Shu-E proposed the three of us going out to eat at a nearby Asian restaurant called Four Seasons, on the top floor of the Union Hotel Apartments. We were the only customers there for lunch. The 6th-floor dining room provided some decent views of the surrounding area:
The yellowish hue was the result of tinted windows, not poor air quality. The large building on the right is part of the
African Union Commission complex:
The food turned out to be pretty good. While the girls enjoyed some time-honored Chinese favorites, I had some spring rolls and the Thai pad thai:
The restroom overlooked the adjacent St. Michael Church:
In preparation for the New Year festivities, numerous goats were purchased and slaughtered leading up to the holiday. Everywhere we walked, we came across the remains of goat heads and entrails. This stray dog was enjoying a feast just outside our home:
With the girls safely ensconced at home (where they were no doubt absorbed in their various electronic devices all Thursday afternoon), I went out again, this time for an extended walk. My iPhone GPS took me through some neighborhoods that can only be described as soberingly poor, in a Third World-sort of way (I refrained from taking any voyeuristic photos of people and their living conditions). A lot of folks naturally stared at me as I passed by, and a couple of residents begged me for money, but I never once felt threatened. Many children smiled and said "hello", and one man invited into his home for coffee, which I politely declined on the pretense of having to meet friends. A good number of people were dressed in their finest, presumably having gone or going to church in this very devout country. Still, the security officers at the embassy would probably go into cardiac arrest if they were to learn of some of the routes I've been taking since we arrived in Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ.
My destination on Thursday afternoon was
Meskel Square መስቀል አደባባይ, a 45-minute walk from our house. Being one of the largest and most well-known public gathering spots in Addis Ababa, I figured if anything was to be happening on New Year's Day, this would be be the most likely spot. I guessed otherwise, apparently, for Meskel Square was largely empty when I arrived. If anything had been taking place, presumably it would've occured the night before, when the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks could be heard throughout our area on Wednesday evening:
A selfie, timed with the passing of an
Addis Ababa Light Rail የአዲስ አበባ ቀላል ባቡር train in the background. The system is the first of its kind in eastern and sub-Saharan African, but we're not allowed to ride it for security reasons.
Some of you may have noticed I'm wearing an
A.S. Roma jersey in the photo below. I learned on Thursday that in this football-mad country, sporting a shirt of a well-known soccer club is a great ice-breaker. A lot of people commented favorably on my fashion sense:
I may not be allowed to ride it, but no one has said anything about not walking up to the nearest platform to get a photo of a light rail train as it pulls into a station:
For the walk back home, I opted for a longer route, but one that kept me on busy (and presumably safer) public roads, though more crowded areas ups the risk of being pickpocketed (which is why when I go on these walks, I leave my camera and wallet at home, and only carry a few small bills on me in case I'd like a refreshment). In all, I walked 8.7 kilometers (5.4 miles), according to Google Maps.
On the second day of the New Year (Friday), our neighbors invited us over to see a demonstration of the
Ethiopian coffee ceremony ቡና ማፍላት. A good time was had by all present. As it was also the occasion of the
Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節, my wife picked up some
mooncakes 月餅 at the
China market as our contribution to the ceremony. The cakes containing sweet red bean paste were gobbled up quickly, while the salty-tasting ones filled with pork proved less popular. Go figure...:
On the third day of the New Year (Saturday), Amber and I took a taxi to the National Museum ብሔራዊ ሙዚያም, between the Arat Kilo and Siddist Kilo traffic circles, considered one of the most important in sub-Saharan Africa:
We began our exploration of the museum in its basement, checking out various fossilized remains of extinct mammals, like this elephant...:
...this hippo..:
...and this giant savannah pig known as
Notochoerus:
The star of the museum is without a doubt
Lucy. She's the 3.2 million year-old
Australopithecus Afarensis female whose fossilized remains were discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, forcing a complete reevaluation of human genealogy. The actual skeletal remains are hidden from public view in the museum's archives, but there is a realistic replica for visitors to take in:
The discovery of Lucy showed that our ancestors were walking around 2.5 million years earlier than previously thought:
There's also
Selam, the remains of a 3.3 million year-old hominin child, discovered in Ethiopia in 2000:
These skulls, found in Ethiopia in 1997, are some of the earliest known fossils of
Homo Sapiens, and are strong evidence for the hypothesis that we as a species originated in the Horn of Africa around 200,000 years ago:
My daughter was fascinated by this encyclopaedia-resembling book that turned out to be a record of the genome of a chicken:
The first (ground) floor of the museum for us began with a collection of royal paraphernalia. Below is an exhibit that was part of the Africa Pavilion at
Expo 2005 2005日本国際博覧会 in Aichi Prefecture 愛知県, Japan. Shu-E and I actually visited the fair at the time while we were living in Yokkaichi 四日市, but neither of us recalls this particular pavilion:
The throne of Emperor
Haile Selassie ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ:
Empress
Zewditu's ዘውዲቱ chair. It was taken to Italy during World War II, and given back to Ethiopia in 1972:
Weapons belonging to Emperor
Tewodros II ቴዎድሮስ, seized after the monarch's defeat (and suicide) at the
Battle of Magdala in 1868 (and returned to the museum from Kenya in 1985):
The rest of the first floor has displays of artefacts from the pre-Aksumite,
Aksumite መንግስቲ ኣኽሱም,
Solomonic and
Gonderian periods:
A relief representing two sphinxes:
A pre-1st century CE oil lamp depicting a dog chasing an ibex;
The second floor of the museum focuses on Ethiopian art going back to the 14th century, though much of the collection dates from the 20th century:
This painting depicts the meeting of Solomon and Sheba, an important moment in Ethiopian mythology. The shield of the soldier standing next to Solomon is engraved with the Star of David and a Christian cross; as my
Lonely Planet guide points out, this encounter supposedly happened long before the appearance of Christianity. Oops:
African Heritage, by the country's most celebrated artist,
Afewerk Tekle:
There were some lesser examples of art from Ethiopia's disastrous experience with Marxism:
Portrait ምስል, Solomon Teshome ሰለሞን ተሾመ (2014):
Famine Cycle የችጋር ኡደት, Asefa Guya አሰፋ ጉያ (1984):
This painting is entitled
The pardon of Victorious የእሸናፊው ምህረት, and presumably shows the Italians surrendering to Emperor
Menelik II ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ following the
Battle of Adwa አድዋ. Presumably, because other than the name and type of painting, no additional information was given:
We also took a stroll around the museum grounds. Here, Haile Selassie addresses a group of a dozen students:
Unlike my A.S. Roma shirt, my
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua F.C. 上海绿地申花足球俱乐部 jersey failed to elicit a single reaction, even from the many Chinese tour groups that showed up at the museum while we were there:
The National Museum receives a number of complaints from foreign visitors because many of the exhibits, especially those on the upper floors, are poorly-labelled and lit. The lack of a gift shop on the premises also seems like a wasted revenue-generating opportunity, because I was certainly in the mood to splash out on some replicas. But Amber and I both enjoyed what was on display, and you certainly can't criticize the entry fee - admission for one was only 10 birr, or 34¢!
Much more expensive, but worth the price, was lunch next door to the museum at the
Lucy Lounge & Restaurant, complete with resident tortoise (on the ground in the photo below, not on the menu):
I went local with the beef cubes and St. George beer, while Amber opted for the filet mignon:
And on the fourth day of the New Year (today
aka Sunday) the family went to a shopping mall. Not exactly earth-shattering news, but the
Century Mall is the nearest shopping center we've seen so far in Addis that somewhat resembles a North American mall. And just like those dying shopping outlets back home, food options were limited to a food court. My Angus Cheeseburger was more bun and sauce than meat patty, but being on the top floor there were at least some views:
And the caramel doughnut I had afterward wasn't bad, washed down with a Fanta Pineapple, containing zero percent real fruit anything:
The Century Mall is six floors of retail outlets (plus the rooftop food court), including a multi-screen movie theater and a surprisingly large number of furniture shops. The mall is patronized by the city's growing middle class, with plenty of clothing boutiques to suit their fashion needs. I think I might be too old to pull off what is fashionable these days for men:
My wife took an interest in something more traditional:
Other than lunch, we ended up not purchasing anything at the mall, but it's only a twenty-minute drive from our house. Good to know for if and when our car (supposedly en route from Djibouti) finally gets here:
Last Sunday afternoon (the day following
our excursion to the Debre Libanos monastery and Portuguese bridge), I took a short walk around our area. Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world, and according to government statistics, 63% of the population is Christian, with 44% following the orthodox faith. However, Protestant groups have been making gains among the populace in recent years, leading to some tensions between adherents of Christianity. There are a couple of Protestant churches close to where we live, and they're very active and seemingly well-attended. In fact, many of the attendees appear to be relatively well-off, judging by the clothes they wear and the cars they drive to the services:
The streets and lanes in our area look much better (and more prosperous) than some of the other neighborhoods I've walked through, like those on Thursday afternoon:
34% of the population is Muslim. The Selam Mosque (about a kilometer on foot from our home) looks much more impressive from our third-floor balcony than it does closer up:
Livestock marked and ready to be marketed. I wonder how many survived this New Year's holiday period?:
Here's wishing you all a healthy and prosperous Ethiopian New Year!
