ETHIOPIA - Coffee Ceremony, Fasil Castle and Nyangatom Tribe

Thanks to Solomon for these wonderful Ethiopia cards, sadly it all unwritten. Anyhow, I enjoy all the cards.

Coffee Ceremony (Ethiopia)

A coffee ceremony is a ritualised form of making and drinking coffee. The coffee ceremony is one of the most recognizable parts of Ethiopian culture. Coffee is offered when visiting friends, during festivities, or as a daily staple of life. If coffee is politely declined then most likely tea (shai) will be served.

17th Century Imperial Fasile Castle (Gonder)

Fasil Ghebbi is located in the Amhara National Regional State, in North Gondar Administrative Zone of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the fortress-city of Fasil Ghebbi was the residence of the Ethiopian emperor Fasilides and his successors. Surrounded by a 900-m-long wall, the city contains palaces, churches, monasteries and unique public and private buildings marked by Hindu and Arab influences, subsequently transformed by the Baroque style brought to Gondar by the Jesuit missionaries. Source

Southern Ethiopia Gnangatom

The Nyangatom tribe women wear a lot of different beads on their necks, which they never ever take off. As a young girl, she gets her first strand of beads as a gift from her father and for all the years of her life she adds more and more. Sometimes you can see a woman who wears up to 6-8 kg of beads! Source

ETHIOPIA - Crowd of Shopping People

Thank you Ziqian for the card showing daily life in Ethiopia.

ETHIOPIA - Simen Mountain National Park

"Simien Mountains National Park is one of the national parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Semien (North) Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethiopia. It is home to a number of endangered species, including the Ethiopian wolf and the walia ibex, a wild goat found nowhere else in the world.

It was one of the first sites to be made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1978). However, due to serious population declines of some of its characteristic native species, in 1996 it was also added to the List of World Heritage in Danger."

The stamps was issued in 2003 and is 1 of 25 in definitive set.