The Ethiopian Garden is the first garden from an African country in the 100+ year history of the gardens.
The unveiling ceremony for Phase 1 of the Ethiopian Garden took place on Saturday August 24, 2019 with Fitsum Arega, Ethiopian ambassador to the United States, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Ethiopian artist Yetimgeta Zerihun in attendance.
As youmay know, the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country.
Zoma Ethiopian Restaurant is run by Zeleke Belete and the evening included many glimpses into the geography, history and culture of Ethiopia.
Zeleke told the Food Adventurers that they had entered a Fork Free Zone and explained that Ethiopian food is eaten with the spongy injera bread instead of silverware.
Zeleke prepared a special menu for the Adventurers including:
When I spoke at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers event at the Ethiopian Restaurant Zoma in Cleveland Heights Ohio several people asked "Where in the world is Ethiopia?"
I showed that Ethiopia is in the Horn of Africa (East Africa about 2/3rds of the way up) and how the geography is important to the politics and history.
I also told of how the Nile River flows South to North and is split, how Ethiopia is the originator of coffee and about the languages (Amharic and others) and religions (Orthodox Christian and Muslim) of Ethiopia.
Watch this short video of Dan's answers about Ethiopia.
I am a big fans of reggae music especially Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.
They were both followers of Rastafarianism. Both a religious movement and social movement, it developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. Practitioners are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas.
Many Rastas call for the resettlement of the African diaspora in either Ethiopia or Africa more widely, referring to this continent as the Promised Land of "Zion.” Western society is considered to be the oppressive "Babylon".
The smoking of cannabis is regarded as a sacrament with beneficial properties. Rastas place emphasis on what they regard as living 'naturally', adhering to ital (take the v off of vital) diets, allowing their hair to form into dreadlocks, and following patriarchal gender roles.
It was influenced by the Back-to-Africa movement promoted by black nationalist figures like Marcus Garvey.
Rastafarianism is an Abrahamic religion. Rastafari believe in a single God—referred to as Jah—who partially resides within each individual.
Meanwhile, Haile Selassie I ruled as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Many Rastas regard him as an incarnation of Jah on Earth and as the Second Coming of Christ. Others regard him as a human prophet who fully recognized the inner divinity within every individual. During his life, Selassie described himself as a devout Christian.
The 1974 overthrow of Haile Selassie by the military Derg and his death in 1975 resulted in a crisis of faith for many Rastas. Enthusiasm for Rastafari declined in the 1980s, following the deaths of Haile Selassie and Bob Marley.
But the music is still great.
Watch this short video telling the story of reggae and Rastas.
When I spoke recently at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers event at the Ethiopian Restaurant Zoma in Cleveland Heights I told how several important finds have propelled Ethiopia to the forefront of palaeontology.
This included the several hundred pieces of bone fossils representing 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago that is called Lucy.
Lucy is probably the most well-known hominid discovery. It's offical name is Australopithecus afarensis. Known locally as Dinkinesh, the specimen was found in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Region in 1974 by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It is one of the most complete and best preserved adult Australopithecine fossils ever uncovered.
There is a cool story how they came up with the name Lucy. Watch the short video to hear it.
