Before I met Eyerusalem, the thought had never entered my mind that one day I would visit Ethiopia. In fact other than Egypt, slightly maybe, I would not have ever thought to have visited the entire African continent. Well now I have, and I can tell you, at least Addis Ababa is nothing like I thought Africa would ever be. Addis Ababa is a sprawling city that lies at the foot of the Entono and is at about 7500 feet above sea level, comparative to Kabul which is at about 6000 feet. It is considered the political capital of the Africa due to its historical, political, and diplomatic importance to the continent. It is an old city, founded in 1886, this site of which was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul.
Addis Ababa is located in a temperate part of Africa just above the equator. I had thought that meant hot and dry but it being, June the beginning of their winter months, it was cold and rainy. June, July, and August, in order are the wettest and coldest months. However, the temperature in Addis hovers around two or three degrees of each other (21-24 degrees celsius) each and every month. I was ill prepared for such moderate and rainy conditions as I took mostly shorts and t-shirts, other than my wedding apparel. When I say wet, I really mean wet. Each and every day we had downpours of a torrential nature. Streets flooding, rivers and creeks swelling, the whole nine yards.
Ethiopia is a very poor country. Its average per capita income is much similar to Afghanistan’s. However, I can say Addis Ababa is much more developed than Kabul. It reminded me, though, of pictures of Kabul in the late 60’s to early 70’s which many say was the Kabul heyday, and prior to the Russian invasion of the country and before the ravages of war here set in.
I will say something for Afghanistan, the internet connections in Addis were much worse than anything I have ever experienced. Far worse than Kabul and worse even than the old dial up days in the U.S., thus the reason for no updates from Addis to you all.
Ethiopia is an old culture. Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world. It can trace its roots to the 10th century B.C. Anthropologic evidence suggests that it, perhaps is the oldest culture known to mankind. At least the oldest remains have been found in Ethiopia. That being said, it is a country steeped in tradition dating back thousands of years.
I had read that Ethiopian culture was based in religion, but I was not prepared for how based it was. History suggests that the religious ties to Christianity and the bible go way, way, back. Ethiopia is mentioned in the The Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia and, if you remember your biblical history, bore Solomon a son, and returned home with that son. Thus the religious aspects of Ethiopian culture go way back to Solomon’s day and to the, previously a monarchy, rulers of the country being direct descendents, so they say, of King Solomon, himself.
Christianity, it is said made its way to Ethiopia very early on. The Kingdom of Aksum (northern Ethiopia) was one of the first nations to officially adopt Christianity. In Ethiopia, converted the King during the fourth century AD. Many believe that the Gospel had entered Ethiopia even earlier, with the royal official described as being baptized by Philip the Evangelist in chapter eight of the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 8:26–39).
While the name "Ethiopia" (Hebrew Kush) is mentioned in the Bible numerous times (thirty-seven times in the King James version). Abyssinia, an ancient name for Ethiopia, is also mentioned in the Quran. Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion; in 615, when a group of Muslims were counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia via modern day Eritrea, which was ruled by a pious Christian king. Moreover, Bilal, the first muezzin, the person chosen to call the faithful to prayer, and one of the foremost companions of Muhammad, was from Abyssinia Also, the largest single ethnic group of non-Arab Companions of Muhammad was that of the Ethiopian's. (Wikipedia) Today 62.8 percent of the population is Christian and 33.9 percent is Muslim. Christians and Muslims live, work, and interact side by side in society with little or no tension in the country. Mosques are beside churches in many areas.
The Christian religion can be compared closest to Catholicism, I would say. Although, my wife, among other Ethiopians, might object to that comparison, as well as some of my Catholic friends. That being said from an outward perspective that is what I would compare it closest to. Religion, though, is a strong part of all aspects of their culture.
Something that I was not aware of prior to traveling. Ethiopia is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, whose adherents believe Ethiopia is Zion. The Rastafari view Emperor Haile Selassie I as Jesus, the human incarnation of God. The Emperor himself was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, which also has a concept of Zion, though it represents a separate and complex concept, referring figuratively to St. Mary, but also to Ethiopia as a bastion of Christianity surrounded by Muslims and other religions, much like Mount Zion in the Bible. It is also used to refer to Axum, the ancient capital and religious centre of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, or to its primary church, called Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. (Wikipedia)
In addition a little known fact A small ancient group of Jews, the Beta Israel, live in northwestern Ethiopia, though most emigrated to Israel in the last decades of the twentieth century as part of the rescue missions undertaken by the Israeli government, Operation Moses and Operation Solomon. Some Israeli and Jewish scholars consider these Ethiopian Jews as a historical Lost Tribe of Israel.(Wikipedia)
Coffee and Ethiopian Culture
Coffee is very much engraved in the Ethiopian culture. Coffee goes back centuries. Its origins remain unclear. Many, however, believe that coffee was actually discovered in Ethiopia. One story, that of a goatherd, named Kaldi, who noticed his goats energized after eating a particular berry. Kaldi tried the berry himself and found he also had a marvelous amount of energy. He took the berry back to a monastery but the holy men dissaproved, thinking they were some sort of drug. They threw the berries in the fire and out came a wonderful aroma. The roasted beans were quickly raked from the fire, ground up, and put in hot water. This is said to be the world’s first cup of coffee.
Regardless if this story is all or partially true coffee is a rich part of the Ethiopian culture. I discovered this the weekend I had decided to propose to Eyerusalem. Being the romantic that I am, following a trip to the U.S., I had reserved a nice hotel in Dubai. She picked me up, however, from the airport and announced we were going back to her place for coffee. Not being a coffee drinker I sort of rebuked the idea and she became highly upset. As soon as I arrived, however, I realized it was much more. An eleborate setting was laid before me. One in which a ceremony actually occurred related to the roasting, brewing, and drinking of coffee. It was complete with candles, incense, nana (mint) spread on the floor, etc. It was a site to behold. I began then to understand the tie between coffee and the Ethiopian culture.
In Addis, many restaurants, hotels, etc. have coffee ceremonies similar to the one that I was treated to that night. However, what really surprised me was that you could not throw a stone in the street without hitting one or even two small coffee shops of cafes that served various forms of coffee from espresso to macchiato and those in between. Some of the cafes small mom and pops, some of the big, like the Kaldi Coffee Chain, similar to our Starbucks in appearance, and of course named for the famous goatherd of the legendary tale above. Addis was devoid of Mountain Dew, as many of you know my drink of choice. However, with the fresh roasted Ethiopian coffee, I had a wonderful substitute and even developed the taste for a good double macchiato.
The Wedding; the Reason I Came
So what was it like getting married in Ethiopia? WOW is all I can say. It was hard, it was an adventure, and in the end it was GREAT. We had a rather large wedding, by our standards, smaller by Ethiopian standards. 222 guests plus the wedding party in total. That was just the wedding, though. There was the marriage ceremony and there was the planning up to the wedding.
What a lot of work. Yes, I have been married before but nothing like this. Lots of planning had to go into this wedding. In the past it was always small and quick. This was a big deal and I knew it going in. Luckily, we chose a location, The Crown Hotel, that did a lot of the work for us. It was at a great price by U.S. or even Ethiopian standards, as well. They did it all. They would have even arranged the cars for us but wanted a large price for that but we were able to arrange our own. That plus a photographer/videographer and we were set. Or were we? We also had to do announcements and get them quickly to friends and family and get the word out. Normally, a wedding is announced 2 to 3 months in advance in Ethiopia, however, even though we knew enough in advance, we were not in country and could not do so. Therefore, we had to hit the ground running. Then we picked out bridesmaid dresses, accoutrements for the groomsmen, etc. All this in a few short weeks. In addition, however, there was the civil marriage process.
The Bifurcated Marriage Process
In Ethiopia, and I hear in other countries there are two parts to a marriage/wedding. One is the civil process that makes the marriage legal and binding. The other is the religious/cultural ceremony. Complicating the former was the fact that I was a foreigner and even more so was that I had been married before. I had to get a certified copy of my divorce papers to the U.S. Embassy to provide me a “Free to Marry” certificate. That was followed by taking that certificate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since I was a foreigner, and getting it certified in Ethiopia as a legal document. If you have ever visited either in a foreign country you or gone through other major bureaucratic steps you will know that this is not a simple few hour process. I was aware of the process and went prepared with a certified copy of my divorce papers, otherwise what took us a few days, yes a few days, could have taken much longer. Thank goodness for email and contacting the Embassy in Addis, in advance. So two trips to the Embassy, and two trips to the Ministry and we were set. She had to get a similar document from her local government office, or kebele, but that was only a few hours to get.
On June 9th, however, after traveling from kebele to kebele, a few friends and family in tow, we arrived at the correct one that would marry a foreigner to a local. We did the marriage signing ceremony in which we signed the “big book” but really less than an hour later we were married legally in Ethiopia and were told to come back after lunch and get our certificate. We did so but a major power outage happened and after waiting for a couple hours they suggested we come back early the next morning and we did. So our “Marriage Anniversary,” as I call it, is June 9th.
Other Bureaucratic Stuff
In addition to the wedding stuff, we had to get Eyerusalem a new passport, hers had been damaged and we were worried that traveling might be an issue with 4 or 5 pages having been destroyed. She initially thought it would be 3 days but it actually was 3 weeks of going to Immigration and sitting in line after line. The place was packed as Muslim Ethiopians were trying to get passports in preparation for the time of the Hajj a few months down the road. I am not sure if that increased the time of processing but it sure did not help. Finally, less than a week before the wedding we got the passport.
With no Afghan Embassy in Ethiopia we had to decide where to go to get her visa for Afghanistan. We decided Cairo would be a nice place to visit. We could have been in and out in a couple of days but we decided to spend an extra couple of days for a brief Cairo honeymoon. We booked out trips but she had to get an Egyptian visa to go to Cairo to get the Afghan visa. Luckily, that was only two half days worth of work, as it is fairly easy for an Ethiopian to go to Egypt.
The Wedding Day Arrives
Weddings in Ethiopia are a whole different thing than in the U.S. They have very distinct traditions that I had to learn very fast. The first is the groom and his party going to the bride’s home in a large procession of fine cars, ours were Mercedes, and picking her up to go to the place of the wedding after a small ceremony there. Yes, a few friends, Justin and Theo, came in from Kabul to participate with me. I feared the rain, and Eyrus’ home being on a dirt road, the mud. Mud and white clothes do not make a good mix. I even asked her a couple of times if we could alter the tradition for nature’s sake but it is so embedded that it was a must.
As I said each day there were torrential downpours. Our wedding day was no different. Just about the time to head to Eyerus’ home it started. It was huge. Rain, sleet, thunder, lightning, the works, it all came. We got down the dirt road as far as we could but when the cars could not go any further waited out the rain for a bit. It let up a bit but it was evident that it would not stop for a while so we got out of the cars and headed to the house where her family and friends had gathered to greet us. As we emerged from the cars and walked about a block in the mud, just before turning to go down her specific street, we noticed a river of black muddy water. Not a river, really, but a fast moving flow of water about 2-3 inches deep for sure. Stepping on rocks and such we got across, a bit wet, and a bit muddy, but we all, one by one, there was only one umbrella did it.
As we each approached, the word got out we were there and we were greeted by the shrill la, la, la, la calls of the family and friends. One by one as we got there more and more calls erupted. We all assembled on the porch, waiting, finally on the photographer/videographer to get inside and set up his gear. A few minutes, seemed like long minutes, we were signaled to come inside, me first and then the calls all erupted in deafening unison. In an Ethiopian wedding, this is when the groom first sees his bride. I had seen the dress but, living with our wives tails and traditions, had not seen it on Eyerusalem. Much as a groom who sees his bride, in the U.S., for the first time in her dress coming down the aisle, I saw my beautiful wife. Stopping in my tracks, a grin came over my face, and my heart skipped a beat. Then I went to her, lifted the veil, and again my heart skipped a beat, WOW!
Of course there were the pictures at the house, then we left the house, all getting in our Mercedes, and then went close by to the photographers local studio, where we did some in studio shots. Of course, it was still raining a bit, and very dark cloud cover so we could not do outside stuff. Then it was off to the wedding in our procession of 4 white Mercedes, an adventure in and of itself. (Video soon to come).
The wedding, itself, was a sight to behold. I really cannot describe it. You should really check out the pictures at www.eyerusalemanddavid.com. Dancing, eating, drinking, more dancing, it was a big celebration. A few small Ethiopian particulars to the wedding I will point out, however. One is that fresh raw beef is a part of the Ethiopian diet and very much a part of the wedding ceremony thus what you see in the pictures. The second, you can see the ring ceremony, slicing of the cake, and champagne is similar but unique in nature. You will have to wait on the video, to really see the differences but can observe a few. I would say the biggest difference is the “thrown” on which the bride and groom sit and even the stage in which the whole wedding party sits is very unique. Now yes, we have a wedding table, but this was truly a thrown on which we all set and could see the whole of the goings on.
Departing Addis
Two days after the wedding my friends departed after a nice thank you dinner on Monday night for our wedding party. Our departure was the next evening. Of course departing that soon after the wedding was stressful. We really had no downtime to think of. We quickly got our belongings together and got on a airplane headed for Cairo. Many mixed emotions. Of course, many of my new friends and family were sad to see us go but equally they were happy that Eyerusalem and I would be beginning a new life together. The Addis airport is unique to any other place I have been, in that family and friends can sit with you almost until departure time. It has, of course, 2 coffee shops, etc. that make it very convenient for a nice send off. About 10 friends and family came along to see us off and it was very nice. At 8:00 p.m. we boarded the flight headed to Cairo and eventually Kabul.
Cairo Then Kabul
As I said previously, we chose Cairo as the place to get Eyerusalem’s Afghan visa. We did so for several reasons, including her ease in getting a visit visa to Egypt. Cairo also would be a nice change as neither of us had been there before and we had both heard it to be a nice place. We decided it should be a nice honeymoon, albeit a short one, in addition to a place for a visa run and it was.
How does one characterize Cairo? Cairo is a busy, very, very historic city. I don’t think I need to go into Cairo history for you all. Traffic is terrible, there appears to be no rules of the road, and it is chaotic. However, there seems to be a method to the madness as you zip here and her through the traffic. I will say, though, that the taxi drivers are crooks. The best bet is to get a metered taxi, if you can, as the others will rob you blind if you don’t watch out. They also have know idea about direction and nor how to find something. Our trip to the Afghan Embassy was not a fun experience as the taxi driver drove around and around looking. Luckily, this was not a metered taxi and we had agreed on a price in the first place or the meter would have killed us. 2 hours later we found it, finally, and just over an hour or so later we had Eyerus’ visa in hand to come to Afghanistan. However, having not got to the hotel until 4 a.m. and up at 8 a.m. it was nap time.
I collect a few things. Two of them happen to be t-shirts from Harley dealers and from Hard Rock Café’s both from throughout the world. Through our nap we missed the Harley dealer, but a good meal at the Hard Rock was meant to be had and that is where we chose to eat dinner, or at least I did. This particular Hard Rock is one of the oldest ones from a world perspective. It is built into a huge hotel, the Cairo Grand Hyatt. After a great time there, collecting my t-shirt, we strolled along the Nile river for a few hours after such a huge meal hand in hand. The Nile is, of course famous, but it is also a huge part of Ethiopian culture as a branch, the Blue Nile, originates in Ethiopia. The Blue Nile, originating at Lake Tana, Ethiopia, is said to contribute 80-90 percent of the overall Nile itself. Therefore one can say the Nile predominantly originates in Ethiopia. Therefore, for Eyerusalem to see it and walk beside her river was a great.
The second day in Cairo we decided to do a little shopping before heading to Kabul. Something, as I have said in previous blogs we certainly lack in Kabul. We grabbed a few items, had some good ol’ American fast food at the food court and headed back to the hotel for a rest.
That night, however, we planned a huge treat. We decided to take a dinner cruise on the Nile. It was everything we hoped. Great food, good entertainment, we were able to sit topside for a while, and we even got to “drive” the boat. It was a bit pricey at about $130 U.S. but that included cab fair to the boat, and all inclusive on the boat. Wonderful time.
That was it for Cairo. We will return for sure but the next day was travel day. We had breakfast at the hotel then it was time to pack and get to the airport. We left Cairo at 3:00, had a layover in Bahrain, then Dubai, and then to Kabul, arriving at 6:30 a.m. the following day. I could have done it a bit different but at the cost of about $500 so we did the layovers and the stopover in Bahrain and the redeye to Kabul.
Conclusion
I knew this trip would be one for the memory books even without the wedding. The wedding, added, it was definitely something very special. To marry Eyerusalem would have been wonderful. However, this was something over the top special. A storybook wedding, of sorts, in a different and, to me, exotic place with a brief honeymoon in of all places Cairo, Egypt. WOW is all that I can say. WOW!!! The only thing I regret is that more of my friends and family could not be there. You will see the video, though, and enjoy the pictures. http://www.eyerusalemanddavid.com/
Eyerusalem and I are in Kabul now. We are starting our new life here. We hope to see many of you when we come “home” to the U.S. for the Winter Break.
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