Tigray

PRONUNCIATION: TIH-gray
ALTERNATE NAMES: Tigre, Tigrai, or Tigrinya
LOCATION: Tigray state (Ethiopia), Eritrea
POPULATION: 4.3 million in Ethiopia, 2.3 million in Eritrea
LANGUAGE: Tigriñña, Amharic
RELIGION: Christianity
RELATED ARTICLES: Vol. 1: Eritreans; Ethiopians

INTRODUCTION

The Tigray (Tigre, Tigrai, or Tigrinya) have a history that goes back before the time of Jesus Christ. Over the past two thousand years, all the Ethiopian emperors have been either Tigray or Amharas (the ethnic group in Ethiopia most closely identified with the Tigray). According to Tigrayan, as well as Amharan, history, the Axumite empire, which later became the Ethiopian empire, was founded by Menilik, the son of King Solomon of Israel, and Queen Sheba (or Saba). According to this history, it was Menilik's men who captured the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites and brought it to Axum (also spelled Aksum) in what is now the Tigray region in Ethiopia, where it remains to this day.

The seat of the Ethiopian empire has moved over the centuries. It has been located in a Tigriñña-speaking area (also spelled Tigrinya); in other times it has been in an Amharic-speaking area. In the 4th century, a Syrian named Fromentius was brought to Axum as a scribe in the royal court because he was literate in Greek. The court at Axum, like other courts of the ancient world, maintained an orientation toward Greek culture. Fromentius's influence went far beyond that of a scribe. He was a Christian, and his conversion of the court spread this religion to most of the Tigriñña, and later to the Amhara-speaking areas. After the collapse of the Mediterranean worlds of the Greeks and the Romans, the Ethiopian empire had less contact with outside centers of culture. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the Ethiopian empire was known as the home of legendary Christian ruler, Prester John of the Indies.

Between 1884 and 1891, Italy attempted to conquer Ethiopia, in an effort to become a colonial power but lost at the battle of Aduwa (a town near Axum). Emperor Yohannes did, however, cede the region that is now the heart of Eritrea to Italy as part of a strategy of solidifying Christian power in the south. In 1936, Italy added the remainder of Ethiopia to its holdings. With the expulsion of Italy in 1941, Eritrea was officially made a province of Ethiopia. A struggle for Eritrean independence from Ethiopia began in the 1960s and finally succeeded in 1991. Today Tigriñña is the dominant language of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Tigriñña and Arabic dominate in neighboring Eritrea.

The Tigray and the Amhara (as co-inheritors of the Ethiopian empire) have represented the political elite of the country, except during a brief period of Italian colonial rule (1936– 1942). Until the Empire ended with the Marxist revolution and Haile Selassie's death in 1974, all emperors were either Amharas or Tigrays. In the post-empire period, many Tigray became part of the Eritrean Liberation Front and Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which for a time became the most powerful antigovernment force. Since the ouster of the socialist government of Mengistu Haile Mariyam in 1991, Tigray have dominated the Ethiopian government.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

Today, Tigriñña speakers number about 6.6 million and are concentrated in Tigray state (Ethiopia) and in Eritrea. The regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea where most Tigriñña speakers live are high plateau, separated from the Red Sea by an escarpment (cliff-like ridge) and a desert. In good years, rainfall on the plateau is adequate for the plow agriculture engaged in by the majority of Tigray. However, when rainfall is low, the region is subject to disastrous droughts. Approximately 80 per cent of the Tigray live in a rural setting. It is these Tigray who are discussed here.

A significant number of Tigray still live in the Sudan, where they moved as refugees from the Ethiopian civil war and the Ertirean war of independence. Tigriñña speakers live in many urban centers of the United States and Europe, notably Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis.

LANGUAGE

Tigriñña, the language spoken in Tigray, is from the Semitic family of languages, and is related to Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus Christ). To the north of the Tigriñña speakers live people who speak the closely related language known as Tigre. Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, is so closely related to Tigriñña that most Tigray have little difficulty communicating in Amharic. Tigriñña, Amharic, and the liturgical language Gi-iz are written with the same script. Many of the letters used in writing these languages derive from ancient Greek. Many young men learn to read and write while studying to become deacons and priests. Between World War II and 1991, public schools taught Amharic and English. After 1991 public schools put an emphasis on local languages. Only a minority of rural Tigray attend school.

Most Tigray names have specific meanings. Some examples appear in the accompanying table. Generally, people refer to one another by their first names. If one wished to distinguish between several people with that name, one would add the person's father's name. Abraha, for example, becomes Abraha Gebre Giyorgis, meaning, Abraha is the child of Gebre Giyorgis. If a further distinction must be made, the grandfather's name could be added, for example, Abraha-Gebre Giyorgis-Welede Mariyam. Men's and women's names follow the same rules, with the exception that wives are often given new names by their mothers-in-law when they first come to live with the husband's family. This applies only to the first name; distinguishing names (father's, father's father's, etc.) remain the same.

Some examples of Tigriñña names include:

Most names represent things of high and positive value. In this context, a few names would appear to be strange. For example, a name such as Gidey (my share) is often given to a child if the family's earlier children have died. By naming a child Gidey, one could be seen as saying: “God, you have already taken your share: let this child be my share.”

FOLKLORE

Most Tigray place a high value on verbal skills. Poetry, folk-tales, riddles, and puns are central to entertainment. A person who has returned from studying at a monastery and can display a facility with qene, the art of “poetic combat,” is much sought after for public gatherings. One indicator of the value placed on verbal skills is that the heroic figures of folklore are often known for the cleverness of the poetic couplets they composed. At a wedding, a qene expert might give a greeting that on the surface complemented the guests, but by a small change in pronunciation state that they are sitting on a royal dunghill. Riddles are an endless source of pleasure. This value on verbal cleverness is also seen in royal figures and saints. The Ethiopian saint Tekle Haymanot (“sower of the faith”) is depicted as having verbally outwitted the devil. Another Ethiopian saint represents a contrasting heroic quality. Gebre Memfis Qudus (“granted by the holy spirit”) gained sainthood by showing extraordinary compassion. The future saint was a monk who wandered among the wild animals. During one of Ethiopia's droughts he came upon a bird that was dying of thirst. The monk was so moved by the bird's plight that a tear formed under his eye. He allowed the bird to drink the tear. This bird was actually the Holy Spirit. These two heroic figures, Tekle Haymanot and Gebre Menfis Qudus, express two virtues—one of the mind, the other of the heart—highly prized by the Tigray.

RELIGION

Many people think of Christianity in Africa as a European import that arrived with colonialism, but this is not the case with the Tigray (or with the Amhara). The empire centered in Axum and Adowa was part of the Mediterranean world in which Christianity grew. Fromentius's 4th-century arrival in Axum was roughly contemporary with St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland and predated the arrival of Christianity in most of Europe by hundreds of years. Many Tigrayan churches were cut into cliffs or from single blocks of stone, as they were in houses of religion in Turkey and in parts of Greece, where Christianity had existed from its earliest years.

The church is a central feature of communities and of each family's daily life. Each community has a church with a patron saint. There is a close relationship between the community of worship and the community of citizenship. Until recent years, a town meeting was held just beyond the walls of the churchyard after Sunday mass. Members of the community moved from worship directly to the discussion of such topics of community governance as when to repair a village road or how to collect the taxes. Today's administrative structure retains the sense of community participation, but separates administrative and legislative meetings from the church.

Tigray, like members of other culture groups, often justify action on the basis of long-standing practice of belief. An example of a traditional Tigray explanation of an individual's symptoms of illness would be that he or she was possessed by a zar spirit. Another traditional belief is that some people—Budda and Tebib— have the capacity to unknowingly cause another person to have misfortune when they feel envy toward that person. Such beliefs are comparable to the “evil eye” in many Mediterranean cultures.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

As in much of the rest of Ethiopia, most Tigray holidays are associated with the church calendar (Easter, Epiphany, etc.). The secular holidays include Ethiopian or Eritrean national holidays. The Ethiopian calendar runs on a different cycle from that originating in Europe. New Years entails a major holiday but comes on what in our calendar is September 11. There is also a difference in the calendar year and the clock. The Ethiopian millennium celebration fell in the European calendar year 2007. The sun rises at about 12 o'clock.

RITES OF PASSAGE

Births are attended by female friends and neighbors, and are private affairs. The infant is recognized as a member of the community in a naming ceremony held 40 days after birth for boys, and 80 days after birth for girls. Should a baby die after the naming ceremony, a funeral is required in recognition that a person has died; death in early infancy prior to the naming is not marked with a funeral.

Mothers have primary responsibility for children under age seven, who stay close to home. Boys older than seven begin accompanying their fathers to the fields. About the age of 12, children reach the “age of reason” and take on more responsibility, such as helping care for younger brothers and sisters and for herding farm animals. Also at about this age, children are baptized and enter the community of religion.

Adolescence is a time when boys begin to prepare for a career. For most rural Tigray, this career will be secondary to farming. Boys often begin studying with a biblical master, known as diakonin or deftera (deacons), who have been ordained by the Bishop (Abuna). Many of these young men hope to become priests (qashi) or deacons themselves. Orthodox deacons and priests are not prohibited from marriage, so a priest is often also a husband and farmer.

Studying the Bible is not simply part of religious training; it is also a stepping stone to other forms of career advancement. Students learn to read and write Ethiopian script, traditionally a necessity for most political offices. The path through religious study toward literacy is becoming less important with the increased availability of government schools. Boys who are serious about becoming priests often become mendicants (religious beggars), and go door-to-door asking for food. Because religious roles are not available to women until late in life, religious study is not an avenue to literacy for girls. For boys, studying, begging, and becoming a deacon are also steps toward careers such as medicine. Most diagnosis of illness and prescription of cures is done by deftera (deacons or diviners) who have left formal religious work. Whether Bible students or not, adolescence is a time for young people to develop a reputation for competence, and to show that they are prepared to become good heads of households (for women, ba-altigeza, and men, ba-algeza). Young women demonstrate culinary skills and take care of their younger brothers and sisters. Young men are expected to accumulate a sum of money.

With adulthood come new responsibilities. One of the signs of adulthood is community citizenship, that is, attendance at village meetings after church on Sunday mornings. Other signs are marriage or becoming a deacon.

The death of a person requires a funeral. Funerals, with ceremonies in both the village and the church, normally take place before the sun sets on the day following death.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Tigriñña uses an elaborate system of greetings to indicate honor, the closeness of the relationship, and gender. There are ten personal pronouns people use to address one another. The choice of greeting is important in establishing and maintaining good relations. When meeting a stranger whom one judges may deserve some special respect, one might decide to address him with khamihaduru (“How are you, my honored equal?”). After learning that a stranger is due a great deal of respect, one might address him with khamihadirom (“How are you, my honored superior?”).

The body language employed by Tigray is even more elaborate than the terms they use to address one another. Between any two people, there is always relative rank, referred to as a azazi-tazazi (“servant-master”) relationship. Every person is azazi (servant) in some relationships, but tazazi (master) in others. This relative rank is expressed in both greetings and body language. One may express deference by lowering the eyes when meeting a superior's gaze. Both men and women move to lower seats, stand back to allow others to pass at doorways, or bow to show respect to others. Draping of the toga is an important part of social interaction. The socially successful person is adept at switching the arrangement of the cloth rapidly to go from indifference to respect when moving from one person to another in a social gathering. Used European clothing has replaced the toga for many rural Tigray, requiring a corresponding replacement of clothing's communication with other body language.

When a Tigray man or woman arrives at someone's house, he or she does not knock on the door to signify he or she has arrived at someone's house; rather, he clears his throat. On hearing this signal, the occupants of the house will come out to greet the arriving guest and invite him in. Guests are usually offered coffee. The way the coffee, buna, is served also expresses the relative status of relationships. If the host wishes to be polite, he or she will offer the first cup of coffee to the guest with the greatest khibri (honor). The guest is likely to refuse the offer, expressing humility, and the sentiment that the host is even more worthy, and should therefore drink the first cup. Similar interactions take place between the next most important guest and the host, and so forth, until all have been offered coffee. Finally, the most honored person will give in and accept the cup of coffee, signally that all guests can be served, in order, giving a clear picture of the honor each is accorded.

When sewwa (beer) is served, quite a diffierent social dimension is expressed—for the moment, all present are equal members of a community, and the host makes sure that all glasses are always full. While coffee is used to reinforce the differences among people, beer is used to emphasize commonality.

For rural Tigray, there is no dating in the Western sense. Expressions of romantic interest between two people are not indicated by the couple going out together. Instead, parents of both create an agreement for a union between the two households, and a marriage takes place. Parents generally take the interests of their child into account. If a person becomes divorced, he or she may date prior to entering into a second marriage.

LIVING CONDITIONS

There are still few Western-trained physicians and life expectancy is low in Tigray. An increase in government clinics has not eliminated this problem. Chronic, parasitic diseases, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, are a problem in some regions. Many children die from communicable diseases such as measles and chicken pox. However, heart disease and lung cancer are rare, and people in their 50s are at the peak of their careers. By age 70 most people have retired from active farming.

In rural areas the main prestige items purchased are mules, often as status symbols for display to people outside the community. Generally speaking, status symbols have little importance. Within a community, people know one another well, and only deeds can add to a person's reputation.

A Tigray house provides shelter and contributes to the occupant's reputation in the community. A young couple's first house is usually a gujji, a practical, unimpressive house that the couple builds for itself. A gujji is a hut of wattle and daub—rods interwoven with twigs or branches—with a thatched roof. If the couple is successful, their next house will be more elaborate, with masonry walls and domed roofs supported by heavy wooden beams. Increasingly houses are roofed with sheetmetal. A very powerful family may later add stone walls around the yard.

Guests often bring stones with them as gifts of respect, to be added to the walls. One may view the walls as a concrete demonstration of one's friends' esteem.

Even the most elaborate rural houses have neither electricity nor running water. Candles or oil lamps provide light in the evening. The masonry walls and domed roofs provide good insulation and are comfortable in both cold and hot seasons. Fires for cooking and heating are fueled by wood or dried cow dung.

An average household in a farming community produces and consumes goods valued in hundreds of dollars per year; even small purchases by Western standards, such as soft drinks, represent substantial expenditures for rural Tigray.

Trucks and buses provide nearly all the road transportation, but many places people wish to go are not accessible by roads. Thus, many people travel by foot and carry loads on donkeys, mules, and camels. (Camels and mules also carry salt tablets from salt beds below sea-level in the Danakil depression up to the 8,000 ft plateaus of Tigray, where they are loaded onto trucks for transport to other parts of Ethiopia.)

FAMILY LIFE

The people living in a Tigrayan household are a family. They are generally related to each other and have a moral responsibility for one another. A rural Tigray household can also be seen as an agricultural firm, consuming directly most of what it produces, but selling some to get cash to buy items like spices and needles. To function efficiently, each family farm needs all jobs to be filled, and relies on every member to perform her or his job effectively. If a family is large, a son or daughter may go to live with an aunt or an uncle to help operate that household's farm.

Tigray women and men both bring property into the marriage; should there be a divorce each takes out what she or he brought in, and either party may call for the divorce. Typically, domestic goods, pots and pans, etc., are claimed by the wife. Farming tools, plows, etc., are claimed by the husband. In the case of divorce, younger children tend to stay with their mother. Older children stay with their same sex parent. When a household has both a wife and a husband, the husband is expected to represent the household's views to the outside world. The wife will speak for the household if her husband is not available. When a household is headed by a single woman, she is the spokeswoman. Though women occasionally hold political office, most offices are held by men.

Women are responsible for food preparation and the care of small children. The husband is responsible for plowing, planting, and the care of animals. Older girls work beside their mothers, older boys beside their fathers. Men may help around the house, and woman may help in farming, especially in weeding and at the harvest. In the case of divorce or death of a spouse, the surviving spouse will hire the help he or she needs to keep the farm and household in operation.

Households vary widely in size, from one member (widow or widower) to twenty (extended over two or three generations). The average family has a husband, wife, and four children.

For most couples, the first marriage is arranged by a contract between the parents of the bride and the groom. After a divorce, second marriages involve contracts between the new husband and new wife. Except for priests and deacons, couples typically do not go through a church marriage until later in life.

Tigray households go through changes as the occupants mature. A household is usually established by a new couple, with children added soon afterward. When young adults are old enough to marry, they may bring a spouse to live within the parental household. Whether the new couple joins the wife's or the husband's family's household is a matter of choice. In this manner, powerful families often add several subfamilies—the families of their married children. Most young couples leave their parents' household as soon as they can afford to farm on their own.

Families often keep dogs and occasionally keep a cat. However, these animals are generally regarded as working animals—watchdogs and mousers—and not companions.

CLOTHING

Traditional Tigray clothing is white, which is regarded as Christian, with little adornment. For dressy occasions and church, women express piety—reverence for religious obligations—by wearing ankle-length dresses with long sleeves made of fine material. Men wear a form of jodhpur—ankle-length pants that are tight from the knee to the ankle and baggy in the upper legs and hips. A fitted, long-sleeved shirt covers the upper body. The shirt extends to just above the knee for laymen and to just below the knee for priests and deacons. Both men and women wear a gabbi or kutta (toga) draped around the shoulders; it can be draped in a complex set of patterns to express a person's relationship to others.

Until recently, everyday clothing was similar to dress clothes. Men wore a variety of shirts and pants under their togas. For women, everyday clothing was simply less fancy than church clothes. For many Tigrays, used clothing imported from Europe has replaced traditional clothing for day-to-day wear.

FOOD

Probably the most important fact about food in Tigray is that there is not enough of it. Households must make up for food deficits with government subsidies. In Tigray, bread is one of the main foods. Two of the more common varieties are a thin, pancake-like bread preferred by most people, and a dense, disk-shaped loaf of baked whole wheat bread known as khambasha. Pancakes are 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in) in diameter, and are made from many kinds of cereal grains (wheat, barley, etc.). The favorite pancake is made from a grain called taff that does not grow in all regions. Where taff cannot be grown, khambasha is the everyday food. A variety of tsebhi (spicy stew) is eaten with the bread. Families and guests normally eat from a messob (shared food basket), with each person breaking off pieces of bread from the side nearest them and dipping it into tsebhi (stew) in the center of the basket.

Special occasion foods are similar to those eaten everyday, but use higher-quality ingredients. Festive breads are made of whiter flour, and stews are more likely to include meat. Mies, a honey wine or mead may replace sewwa (barley beer).

Eating utensils, such as silverware, are not used at most meals. One uses the right hand to tear off a piece of injera (pancake) or bread and dips it into the stew (or sauce), much like eating “dip.” On festive occasions like weddings, where a large piece of meat (sometimes uncooked) is served to each guest, a knife is provided. Cups have a variety of shapes and meaning. One of the first investments a new couple makes is a set of finjal, small coffee cups resembling those used to serve tea in Chinese restaurants. Beer glasses come in three basic varieties: cow horn, unglazed pottery, and glass or plastic. The mies (honey wine) should be served in a berile (special glass flask) with a long narrow neck. A Tigray saying is “Mies served without a berile is just beer.”

In Tigray, using the left hand to touch food that others will have contact with is regarded as very bad manners. The same relationship between left and right can be seen in many settings. For example, sitting on the right side of someone important is better than having to sit on the left. The right side of the church, as viewed from the altar, is holier than the left.

Some foods—pork, shellfish, and rabbit—are believed to be unfit for Christian Tigray to eat. (Most are also considered non-kosher or prohibited foods by Jews.) The justification for these food prohibitions is found in the Christian Old Testament book of Leviticus. During the 40 days of Lent, plus a 14 day cleansing period before it, observant Tigray Christians do not eat animal products, including meat, milk, cheese, butter, or eggs.

The first meal of the day is eaten shortly after rising and usually consists of leftovers from the night before. On most days, both the midday meal and afternoon dinner consist of pancakes or bread and stew (or a sauce). When people are in the fields plowing, herding, winnowing, or weeding, they bring lunch in an agelgil (leather covered lunch basket). Snacks generally consist of toasted grains, and are eaten as one eats popcorn.

EDUCATION

Traditionally, boys learn to read Tigriñña, Gi-iz, and Amharic as Bible students. Today, some rural boys, and a few girls, attend public schools, with a percentage of them completing high school. Children living in town are much more likely to go to school than their rural counterparts. In larger towns, such as Makelle, Aduwa, or Aksum, public education is available through high school. There are universities in Addis Ababa and Makelle in Ethiopia and in Asmara in Eritrea.

Many rural parents encourage Bible study for literacy and the career opportunities it provides. Rural parents see advantages (in terms of a non-farming career) and some disadvantages to sending their children to school in town: although the student receives an education, he or she may not return to the family farm, and thus may not support their parents in old age.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

There are two main categories of music: church music and praise songs. Deacons sing and accompany the song with drums and a tsinatsil (sistrum, a rattle-like instrument) as part of the mass. Praise singers form a kind of caste—families of praise singers intermarry with other families of praise singers. Singers accompany themselves with a one-stringed instrument that is a little like a violin. Hosts often hire singers to entertain at parties, such as weddings. Guests give tips to the singers to sing, often humorously, about their friends.

Deacons dance as part of some church holidays. Women dance as entertainment on a few secular occasions. Rural men and women do not dance together in public.

Passages from the “Book of Psalms” are frequently brought into discussions of people's behavior. Many priests and deacons carry the psalms called a dawit (for King David) in a leather pouch.

Qene is an admired form of poetry known for its use of double meanings, beautiful language, and cleverness. A couplet should have a surface meaning and a deeper one. Qene is described as being like “wax and gold,” an analogy that refers to the process of casting gold objects in wax molds pressed into sand. In qene, the listener “hears the wax” and must use thought to find the gold inside. Tigray kings and princes are often remembered for their qene compositions.

WORK

Until recently, most rural Tigray considered farming to be the most honorable work. Today's food shortages have made many parents rethink this proposition. Trade and government employment are seen as providing better opportunities. Th ose who make their living as blacksmiths, weavers, potters, or musicians are looked upon with some disfavor and suspicion. Most families farm, including those of priests and deacons. Farmers need plow animals in the Tigray region. The plow used is similar to those of Egypt further north, with a main shaft made from olive wood for strength. The plow shear is tipped with steel provided by blacksmiths. Because all farmers need plow animals, most are considered herders as well. People who can't afford animals must form partnerships with wealth-ier households. Since the 1974 revolution, Tigray farming has gone through several land redistributions, aimed at equalizing wealth. Nevertheless, shortages of oxen for plowing means that some households must form alliances with others who are better off than themselves.

The calculations that go into food production in the Tigray environment are complex and daunting. Nearly all parts of Ti-gray are subject to drought. Rainfall varies in timing and intensity. Different soil types perform differently. Tigray select from 17 varieties of cereal crops. Each household must choose the right seeds to maximize the amount of food and to minimize the chances of having too little food in years when rain is too heavy, too light, too early, or too late for any given field. An aggressive a choice of mixes of seed might lead to wealth for the household or starvation if the rains and the seeds are a bad match that year. A conservative set of choices may lead to the household not getting ahead. The calculations are comparable to what is required to manage a stock portfolio and is taken at least as serious by Tigrayan farmers.

Men are responsible for crops and women for the house and young children. Both help in the other's domain, and household decisions are made by mutual discussion. Teenage boys do much of the herding and help with plowing. Teenage girls work alongside their mothers.

SPORTS

A sport that seems to be unique to the Tigray and Amhara is a kind of cross-country field hockey. Those who are serious about the game grow their own hockey sticks, by training saplings to grow with the proper curve. When the sapling reaches the right stage of growth, they cut the tree and shape it into a hockey stick. The game is played running across the countryside, over cattle-yard fences, and through creeks. Hockey is associated with Easter.

The game played most by the Tigray is Timkhats, sometimes described as chess. In the center of neighborhoods, men play it all year round, and boys play it while watching the herds. Timkhats is played on a grid usually scratched in the ground. Two players take turns placing markers on intersections of the grid in what might be thought of as a three-dimensional tick-tack-toe game. The rules are similar to those of the German game, die müller. Spectators offer advice on, and criticism of, the players' moves.

While Timkhats is the most common spectator sport when measured in hours spent by the most people, soccer is the sport that captures people's passions as they cheer for their favorite school teams and town teams.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

While film, television, and to a large extent radio, are more a part of life in town than in rural areas, storytelling and riddles are part of the popular culture in both.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

Some of the most spectacular Tigray art is associated with the church. Tigray churches are famous for their architecture, with many cut into solid stone. The churches that are built of masonry are large and incorporate design features of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Icon painting—the creation of images of sacred people—is another art form associated with the church. Some deacons who have studied at debri (monasteries) return as icon painters. Icons are purchased by individuals and used to reinforce a relationship with a particular saint.

The major non-religious art forms are architecture and basketry. Masonry houses are meant to reflect the personality of the owner, and include details such as decorative borders below the roof line. Basketry, including the beautiful messob (shared-food baskets) that are the centerpieces of entertaining, are produced by women after their children have left home. Families specializing in weaving produce embroidered dresses. Some artisans and craftspeople—such as weavers, musicians, blacksmiths, and leather workers—are expected to marry within their group.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Since the 1970s, Tigray and Eritrea have experienced powerful social upheaval. In these two areas of greatest Tigray concentration, people have experienced a civil war, a struggle for independence, and a number of famines. Many observers believe that the human rights situation, after improving, has taken a downturn. Many challenges remain for the governments and people of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Probably the most important social problems are associated with Tigray's food deficit and un- and underemployment. The government's attempt to combat these problems has taken two forms—relief efforts and public works—much of it in the form of terracing to improve the region's agricultural output.

Each government interprets civil rights in its own way, and government policy has gone through much transformation as it evolved from the imperial rule of Haile Selassie (1936–74), the Marxist-oriented government of Mengistu (1974–91), to the current, more democratic government. In 2008, Melles Zenawi, a Tigray, is the president

HIV-AIDS has become a significant public health issue, particularly in road towns.

Alcoholism is not widespread among rural Tigray. The sewwa (beer) brewed by each household is very low in alcohol content. Mies (honey wine) is somewhat higher in alcohol content, but is reserved for special occasions, such as weddings or entertaining political figures. Araqi (anise flavored brandy) is occasionally drunk to symbolize the finalizing of agreements, such as wedding contracts.

GENDER ISSUES

Under both traditional law and current law, men and women have equal rights. Under the pre-Mengistu land tenure systems rights to land were counted equally through male and female ancestral claims. On a mother's death, all of her children (male and female) had equal claim on shares of her land. The same was true in the event of a father's death. In other words, each household's holding were a mix of claims through combinations of male and female ancestors. Similarly, after a divorce each spouse kept his or her own land. Movable community property was divided equally. Nevertheless, in practice divorce often created more of a problem for women than for men. For practical reasons of sharing herding duties new households were often set up near the husband's parents. Thus a woman was more likely to have to move after a divorce.

In public life, men are usually the spokesmen for their households. As a matter of etiquette, a man will act as host. In the husband's absence, the wife will act as host. A woman and her husband are equally “owners” of the household. A woman will represent her household, before an adult son will. Ownership counts more than gender in representing the household.

There are two major settings in which men and women are seated separately. In church, men sit on the right half of the church and women on the left, from the perspective of the altar. In a community meeting people sit in three groupings. Married men, representing their households sit as a group. Female household heads sit in another. Adult men who have not yet established a household sit in yet another.

Male and female roles are quite separate. As mentioned in the Section 15, above, men have responsibility for agricultural production and women have responsibility for food preparation and childcare. While each may help in the other's domain, the responsibilities are defined.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bauer, Dan. Household and Society in Ethiopia: An Economic and Social Analysis of Tigray Social Principles and Household Organization. East Lansing, MI: African Studies Center, Michigan State University, 1985.

———. “The Sacred and the Secret: Order and Chaos in Tigray Medicine and Politics.” In William Arena and Ivan Karp, eds. Creativity of Power: Cosmology and Action in African Societies. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.

Gerster, Georg. Churches in Stone: Early Christian Art in Ethiopia. New York: Phaidon, 1970.

Levine, Donald N. Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopia Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.

McCann, James. From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: a Rural History 1900–1935. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.

———. People of the Plow: An Agricultural History of Ethiopia. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1995.

—by D. F. Bauer

Tigray

ETHNONYM: Tigre

Orientation

Identification. The Tigray are the largest ethnic group in the Ethiopian province of Tigray and in the Eritrean nation. The Tigray have not been as thoroughly studied as their culturally similar neighbors, the Amhara, with whom they share an "imperial" heritage. The Aksumite Kingdom had its seat in Tigray territory.

Location. In addition to Tigray Province and the southern highland portions of Eritrea, the Tigray occupy parts of Ethiopia's Gonder and Welo provinces. The terrain is high plateau, cut through by deep ravines. Nearly all the land is either under cultivation or in pasturage, although reserved areas that surround churches suggest that the climax growth of much of Tigray is cedar forest. The average annual rainfall hovers around the 50 centimeters required for cereal agriculture. Droughts are frequent. Rainfall concentrates in two periods: the "large rains" fall for three months beginning in mid-June and the "small rains"—if they come—fall in January or February. Most Tigray live in the highlands, where daytime high temperatures are relatively cool (21° to 27° C); nighttime temperatures occasionally plunge below freezing in December.

Demography. There are approximately 2,000,000 Tigray, primarily divided between Tigray and Eritrea. Drought, civil war, and resettlement make precise estimates impossible. Since the mid-1970s, severe droughts have resulted in extremely high rates of infant mortality. Prior to the droughts and civil war, the population density had reached the carrying capacity of the land, requiring pasturage to be converted to cultivation.

Linguistic Affiliation. Tigreñña is Semitic and more closely related to the liturgical language Ge'ez than is Amhara. All three languages are written using a common script. The language should not be confused with Tigre, a language spoken by a nearby group.

History and Cultural Relations

The Tigray have been in their present location since before the time of Christ and began converting to Christianity in the fourth century. Some of the population may have migrated from the Arabian peninsula. There seems to be a long-term process of migration south, with Tigray imperceptibly "becoming" Amhara as they marry into Amhara communities. The Tigray, with the Amhara, are the coinheritors of the Aksumite Kingdom, which later become the Ethiopian Empire. Tigray as well as Amhara were eligible for the emperorship, the last Tigray emperor being Yohannes (1872-1889).

The Tigray living in Tigray Province experienced a relatively short colonial period (1936-1942) compared to that of their Eritrean neighbors, who were dominated by the Italians from the 1890s until 1942. The heavily Tigray-influenced Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF, now the EPLF) led a separatist revolt through the 1960s until it was joined by the now-stronger Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) after the 1974 overthrow of Haile Selassie. Most Tigray are rural; Asmara in Eritrea and Maqelle in Tigray are the only urban centers. War, drought, and international relief agencies have played a major role in this region since the mid-1970s.

Settlements

Tigray "parishes" equate with local communities and are the smallest units of administration for both the state and the Ethiopian Orthodox church, having a chief appointed from above. Priests and deacons are responsible to church authorities. Parishes range in population from 500 to 4,000 people. There is regional variation in settlement pattern: climatic conditions favor dispersed settlement of small hamlets across parishes where rainfall is relatively constant from year to year, and nucleated villages, one per parish, where rainfall is less predictable. Villages go through a process of dividing into quarters, which reunite when new, more powerful quarters try to dominate them. Depending on the phase of their life cycle, villages have two or three quarters. Houses range from wattle-and-daub huts to impressive masonry lime-domed or zinc-corrugated roofed edifices, depending on the family's economic success.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activity. The Tigray practice plow cultivation of primarily cereal crops: wheat, barley, t'af (Amharic: tyeff; Eragrostis abyssinica ), and sorghum. A second crop per year is risky or impossible in most areas. Legumes, primarily garbanzos, are included in the croprotation cycle. After several years, weeds become too strong for competition, and the field is fallowed until grasses choke out the weeds and the turf can be removed again, bringing the field into cultivation. Flax is grown for linseed oil. In some zones, frankincense figures prominently. For those living near the eastern escarpment, transportation of salt from the Danakil Depression for sale in the highland markets is an important source of income. In addition to the salt trade, individuals earn some cash by purchasing cattle and small animals in the lowlands and selling them further into the highlands. Cattle are important as plow animals. When population density is high and pasturage is in short supply, plow animals are the most critical variable in the agricultural process.

Industrial Arts. Crafts are associated with pariah "castes" of artisans who are believed to be witches. Blacksmithing, pottery making, tanning, weaving, and music making fall under this stigma. A person with a physical disability, however, can engage in weaving without being regarded as a witch.

Trade. Markets, shops, and mills are associated with towns. Shops are often run by Arab merchants. Products of artisanry (pottery, hides, metal tools), herbs and spices, coffee, salt, and bread are sold. Towns, especially those associated with administrative offices, have mead houses; each quarter of a village has at least one beer house.

Division of Labor. For nonartisans, sex and age account for most of the division of labor. Men are responsible for nearly all agriculture and husbandry. The sole exception is weeding, which is done by women. Once the grain has left the threshing floor, its storage and processing into injera (the crepelike staple) and bread is also the province of women. Boys, after the age of about 12, begin herding and helping with plowing and planting. Girls help with food preparation and child care. At least one herd boy is needed if a household is to be independent. If there are more herd boys than necessary, some may go off to study the Bible to prepare for careers as deacons, with the eventual possibility of joining the priesthood. Priests, like other male heads of households, are farmers. As many as 10 percent of a parish's households may be headed by priests. Most curing, which depends heavily on ecclesiastical training, is done by defrocked priests and deacons; most treatment of spirit possession is done by women. Artisans sometimes form their own villages, where they also practice agriculture; however, in other villages, they are found interspersed in individual households with nonartisans. Elders and powerful men are designated as "recognized men" and "big-men."

Land Tenure. Land tenure is complex and governed on a parish-by-parish basis. Each parish chooses from permutations of two basic forms: ristî (hereditary) and igurafgotet (communal). To make a claim under ristî, a person must trace descent from a parish founder through any combination of males and females. The system has inherent contradictions: all plots of land potentially have multiple claimants, giving rise to a political as well as a genealogical component to land claims. igurafgotet land tenure, unlike ristî—which can be used to restrict the inflow of new farmers—encourages newcomers and becomes salient after a drought depopulates an area. Because the choice of land-tenure systems affects the size of the holdings of many people, parishes switch from one system to the other only under extreme ecological and demographic conditions. The two land-tenure systems are not associated with settlement patterns; nucleated and dispersed forms of settlement are found with both types.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Descent is omnilineal or ambilineal. Descent groups form and disperse depending upon the particular land claim that is being prosecuted. Persons who are allies for one purpose are enemies for another. This does not follow the familiar pattern of "fission and fusion" described by Evans-Pritchard for the Nuer ( 1940), in that groups are not segments of larger groups but are based on a particular individual's genealogical relations in a particular parish. He or she will be brought together with a distinct collection of people in each parish and at each genealogical level. These associations do not achieve the kind of solidarity that would make them useful for purposes other than land claims. Kinship is bilateral and, like descent, is traced through any combination of males and females. The importance to each household of having at least one herd boy leads to boys often being brought up in the household of a father's or mother's brother or sister, as adjustments to household work forces require.

Kinship Terminology. Tigray kin terms reflect their bilateral kinship and omnilineal descent. Generation and linealtty are distinguished. Sex is distinguished only in Ego's generation and for parents. Kin types are grouped as follows: son and daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, father's and mother's brother, father's and mother's sister, and father's and and mother's father and mother. All eight great-grandparents are referred to by a single term.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Marriages are monogamous and "contractual." First marriages involve a dowry, usually of animals, given by the bride's family to the couple. Second marriages usually require equal contributions from both parties. Should the potential wife not have capital comparable to her potential husband's, an arrangement is made in which she is "paid" and her accumulated shares are eventually converted into community property. Only older couples and deacons intending to become priests are married before the church. The "life expectancy" of a marriage at the time it is contracted is between seven and twelve years. Marriage contracts incorporate the potential of divorce. At marriage, a guardian is selected to help reconcile difficulties and to aid in division of property in case of divorce. Elders are called in to oversee the process. After the wedding, for a first marriage, there is a period of bride-service during which the couple goes back and forth between the two parental households, spending time in each. Once bride-service has been completed, there is no formal rule of postmarital residence. Practical considerations of joint herding often lead to a period of viripatrilocal residence.

Domestic Unit. The nuclear family is the most common domestic unit. Youngest children may remain with the family homestead to take care of aging parents. A small number of economically successful households retain their own sons and daughters and draw in their mates, thus forming large multifamily households. Partition takes place in stages: separation of hearths, separation of grain bins, and final separation.

Inheritance. Inheritance rules distinguish between land and household property. If the parish is ristî, each child, regardless of gender or marital status, inherits an equal share of the land of his or her dead parent. Domestic equipment tends to remain with the child who took care of the aging parent. Other property (principally livestock), if not consumed in the funeral commemoration a year after death, may be divided.

Socialization. Small children are indulged, particularly boys. Girls begin helping their mothers earlier than boys begin helping their fathers. Girls gradually take on domestic chores. At about age 7, boys must begin to learn to obey, which involves a period of apparent trauma. Children are baptized. A series of vertical scars to the outside of either eye, found on most adults, is regarded as "medicinal" rather than "ritual" and is done on the occasion of eye infections. A cross is often made by tattoo or scarification in the middle of the forehead. Movement from minority to adulthood is not dramatic. Boys move to the adult part of the parish meeting when they become married or when they become deacons. Women tend to act in political contexts only in the absence of their husbands but have the rights of jural majors after marriage.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The most significant unit beyond the household is the h'agareseb (lit., "farm people"), which is the parish or local community. It is at the parish meeting, held on Sunday mornings after church services, that all important community decisions are made, whether they be religious or civil, whether to add a new saint to the local church calendar or to repair a path. Parish meetings are presided over by a secular community leader, or "manager." In nucleated parishes, village wards are significant and have informal leaders. Neighbors participate in one another's life-cycle ceremonies and have the legal duty to respond when a neighbor raises a hue and cry. Descent groups have little relevance outside of land-tenure issues. Most adults belong to "twelve apostle" eating clubs, consisting of men or women or couples who meet once a month for feasting and discussion.

Political Organization. When the Ethiopian state was functioning well, the Tigray of Tigray Province were full participants in politcal life and on several occasions provided emperors. This relationship was interrupted in Eritrea by the long Italian colonization. After the 1974 Revolution, many of the Tigray in both areas rose in rebellion. Nowadays the state organization involves provincial, district, and subdistrict governors. Each parish has an official, appointed from above, who owes loyalty to the subdistrict governor. The official at each level of government owes loyalty to the official immediately above him, not to the central government. Parish priests are responsible to the bishops.

Social Control. In native theory, people are "good" because they fear what their neighbors will think, what the courts will do, and what God will do. Beyond this, the parish chief is an officer of the court and has the responsibility to handle minor cases and to carry more serious ones to higher courts. The institution of awu ha h requires all members of the community to assemble for three days or until someone confesses knowledge of a crime.

Conflict. The Tigray see conflict as a natural consequence of weak authority. Conflicts occasionally transpire, ranging from those at the the intervillage level to rebellions against the state, as happened in the 1940s and again since the Revolution. Outlaws with a large following are sometimes later made part of the state, and state officials sometimes become outlaws.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Christianity is said to have come to Tigray with the shipwrecked Syrian Fromentius, in the third century. Each parish is associated with a church, which in most regions is built of masonry and, in some others, carved into cliffs. It is through Bible study that most young men gain literacy. The Ethiopian Orthodox church was formally affiliated with the Coptic church in Alexandria, to which, until 1954, it was obliged to turn for archbishops. The Tigray recognized three categories of belief as "religion" (haymanot ): Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. A number of the saints are indigenous and not shared by the Roman or Greek churches. Spirit possession, in the form of the zar cult, is prominent, but many Tigray regard it as illegitimate. Zar has special significance in empowering women.

Religious Practitioners. Priests and deacons, many monastery trained, celebrate the Mass. Diviners are defrocked deacons or priests. Spirit mediums are typically women, as are the vast majority of those afflicted with possession. Priests and deacons receive a special allotment of land for their services, plus honoraria from their penitents. Diviners charge for their services, as do spirit mediums.

Ceremonies. The most frequent ceremony is the celebration of Mass, which occurs a number of times per week, depending on the local church calendar and parish patron saints. Other important rituals are baptism and funerals. Ordinary weddings are more ceremonial than ritual. Divination and curing have a ritual character, as do ward or neighborhood dances intended to affect the weather.

Arts. Arts, crafts, and secular music are primarily the domain of the pariah castes of artisans. The exceptions are sacred music, which is led by monastically trained (but not necessarily ordained) men, and icon painting, biblical illumination, and scroll making, which are undertaken by a few deacons.

Medicine. Most affliction (including illness) is treated by diviners rather than by priests or spirit mediums. Affliction is attributed to transgressions against God, sorcery motivated by envy, or witchcraft unconsciously executed by artisans or others possessed by Satan. Diviners both diagnose and treat. Spirit possession by entities other than Satan and his minions primarily affects women and is regarded as outside the realm of Christian belief. Such possession may be brought under control but not cured.

Death and Afterlife. After death, people are judged, in what is popularly thought of as a setting much like a secular court, and proceed to heaven or hell.

Bibliography

Bauer, Dan F. (1978). Household and Society in Ethiopia. 2nd ed. East Lansing: Michigan State University, African Studies Center.

Bauer, Dan F. (1990). "The Sacred and the Secret: Order and Chaos in Tigray Medical Practice and Politics." In Creativity of Power, edited by William Arens and Ivan Karp. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Bruce, John (1975). "Land Reform Planning and Indigenous Communal Tenures: A Case Study of the Chigurafgwoses in Tigray, Ethiopia." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1940). The Nuer. London: Oxford University Press.

Hoben, Allan (1973). Land Tenure among the Amhara of Ethiopia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Levine, Donald (1965). Wax and Gold. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Nadel, S. E (1946). "Land Tenure on the Eritrean Plateau." Africa 16(1): 1-21.

DAN F. BAUER

Tigray

PRONUNCIATION: tih-GRAY

ALTERNATE NAMES: Tigre; Tigrai; Tigrinya

LOCATION: Tigray state (Ethiopia), Eritrea

POPULATION: 3.2 million in Ethiopia; 1.7 million in Eritrea

LANGUAGE: Tigrinya; Amharic

RELIGION: Christianity

1 • INTRODUCTION

The Tigray (Tigre, Tigrai, or Tigrinya) have a history that goes back thousands of years. According to Tigrean history, the Axumite empire, which later became the Ethiopian empire, was founded by Menelik (1889–1913), the son of King Solomon of Israel, and Queen Sheba (or Saba). According to this history, it was Menilik's men who captured the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites and brought it to Axum (also spelled Aksum ) in what is now Tigray state in Ethiopia, where it remains to this day.

During the colonial era, Italy briefly ruled Tigrayan lands. With the expulsion of Italy in 1941, Eritrea was officially made a province of Ethiopia. A struggle for Eritrean independence from Ethiopia began in the 1960s and finally succeeded in 1991. Today roughly half the Tigrayans live in Ethiopia and the other half in Eritrea.

2 • LOCATION

Today, Tigrayans number about 4.9 million and are concentrated in Tigray state (Ethiopia) and in Eritrea. The regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea where most Tigrayans live are high plateau, separated from the Red Sea by an escarpment (cliff-like ridge) and a desert. In good years, rainfall on the plateau is adequate for the plow agriculture engaged in by the majority of Tigray. However, when rainfall is low, the region is subject to disastrous droughts.

3 • LANGUAGE

Tigrinya, the language spoken by the Tigray, is from the Semitic family of languages, and is related to Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic. To the north of the Tigrinya speakers live people who speak the closely related language known as Tigre. Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, is so closely related to Tigrinya that most Tigray have little difficulty communicating in Amharic. Tigrinya, Amharic, and the ancient religious language Geez are written with the same alphabet. Many of the letters used in writing these languages are derived from ancient Greek.

Most Tigray names have specific meanings. Generally, people refer to one another by their first names. If one wished to distinguish between several people with that name, one would add the person's father's name. Abraha, for example, becomes Abraha Gebre Giyorgis, meaning, Abraha is the child of Gebre Giyorgis. If a further distinction must be made, the grandfather's name could be added, for example, Abraha-Gebre Giyorgis-Welede Mariyam. Men's and women's names follow the same rules, with the exception that new wives are often given new names by their mothers-in-law when they first go to live with the husband's family. This applies only to the first name; distinguishing names (father's, grandfather's, etc.) remain the same.

Some examples of Tigrinya names include:

4 • FOLKLORE

Most Tigray place a high value on verbal skills. Poetry, folktales, riddles, and puns are central to entertainment. A person who has returned from studying and can display skill at qene, the art of "poetic combat," is much sought after for public gatherings. One indicator of the value placed on verbal skills is that the heroic figures of folklore are often known for the cleverness of the poetic couplets they composed. This is also true of royal figures and saints. The Ethiopian saint Tekle Haymanot ("sower of the faith") is famous for having verbally outwitted the devil.

Another Ethiopian saint represents a different heroic quality. Gebre Memfis Qudus ("granted by the holy spirit") gained sainthood by showing extraordinary compassion. The future saint was a monk who wandered among the wild animals. During one of Ethiopia's droughts he came upon a bird that was dying of thirst. The monk was so moved by the bird's plight that a tear formed under his eye. He allowed the bird to drink the tear. This bird was actually the Holy Spirit. These two heroic figures express two virtues—cleverness and compassion—highly prized by the Tigray.

5 • RELIGION

Many people think of Christianity in Africa as a European import that arrived with colonialism, but this is not the case with the Tigray (or with the Amhara). The empire centered in Axum and Adowa was part of the Mediterranean world in which Christianity grew. The arrival of Christianity in Tigrayan lands happened about the same time that it arrived in Ireland. The Tigrayans, in fact, had been converted to Christianity hundreds of years before most of Europe. Many Tigrayan churches were cut into cliffs or from single blocks of stone, as they were in Turkey and in parts of Greece, where Christianity had existed from its earliest years. The church is a central feature of communities and of each family's daily life. Each community has a church with a patron saint.

6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS

Most Tigray holidays are associated with the church calendar (Easter, Epiphany, etc.). The secular holidays include Ethiopian or Eritrean national holidays.

7 • RITES OF PASSAGE

An infant is recognized as a member of the community in a naming ceremony held forty days after birth for boys, and eighty days after birth for girls. Should a baby die after the naming ceremony, a funeral is required; death in early infancy prior to the naming is not marked with a funeral.

About the age of twelve, children reach the "age of reason" and take on more responsibility, such as helping care for younger brothers and sisters and for herding farm animals. Also at about this age, children are baptized and enter the community of religion.

With adulthood comes new responsibilities. One of the signs of adulthood is citizenship; that is, attendance at village meetings after church on Sunday mornings. Other signs are marriage and becoming a deacon.

Death of a person requires a funeral. Funerals, with ceremonies in both the village and the church, normally take place before the sun sets on the day following death.

8 • RELATIONSHIPS

Tigrinya uses an elaborate system of greetings to indicate honor, the closeness of the relationship, and gender. There are ten personal pronouns people use to address one another. The choice of greeting is important in establishing and maintaining good relations. When meeting a stranger whom one judges may deserve some special respect, one might decide to address him with khamihaduru (How are you, my honored equal?). After learning that a stranger is due a great deal of respect, one might address him with khamihadirom (How are you, my honored superior?).

For rural Tigray, there is no dating in the Western sense. Expressions of romantic interest between two people are not indicated by the couple going out together. Instead, parents of both create an agreement for a union between the two households, and a marriage takes place. Parents generally take the interests of their child into account. If a person becomes divorced, he or she may date prior to entering into a second marriage.

9 • LIVING CONDITIONS

There are still few Western-trained physicians and life expectancy is low in Tigrayan areas. Chronic, parasitic diseases, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, are a problem in some regions. Many children die from communicable diseases such as measles and chicken pox. However, heart disease and lung cancer are rare, and people in their fifties are at the peak of their careers. By age seventy most people have retired from active farming.

A Tigray house provides shelter and contibutes to the occupant's reputation in the community. A young couple's first house is usually a gujji, a practical, unimpressive house that they build for themselves. A gujji is a hut with a thatched roof. If the couple is successful, their next house will more elaborate, with masonry walls and domed roofs supported by heavy wooden beams. A very powerful family may later add stone walls around the yard. Guests often bring stones with them as gifts of respect, to be added to the walls. One may view the walls as a concrete demonstration of one's friends' esteem.

10 • FAMILY LIFE

Tigray women and men both bring property into a marriage. If there is a divorce, each takes out what she or he brought in. Both men and women may call for the divorce.

Women are responsible for food preparation and the care of small children. The husband is responsible for plowing, planting, and the care of animals. Older girls work beside their mothers, older boys beside their fathers.

Men may help around the house, and women may help in farming, especially in weeding and at the harvest. In the case of divorce or death of a spouse, the surviving spouse will hire the help he or she needs to keep the farm and household in operation.

11 • CLOTHING

Traditional Tigray clothing is white, which is regarded as Christian, with little adornment. For dressy occasions and church, women wear ankle-length dresses with long sleeves made of fine material. Men wear ankle-length pants that are tight from the knee to the ankle and baggy in the upper legs and hips. A fitted, long-sleeved shirt covers the upper body. The shirt extends to just above the knee for laymen and to just below the knee for priests and deacons. Both men and women wear a gabbi (shawl or toga) draped around the shoulders.

For many Tigrays, used clothing imported from Europe has replaced traditional clothing for day-to-day wear.

12 • FOOD

Probably the most important fact about food in Tigray is that there is not enough of it. Households must make up for food deficits with government subsidies.

In Tigray, bread is one of the main foods. Two of the more common varieties are a thin, pancake-like bread preferred by most people, and a dense, disk-shaped loaf of baked whole wheat bread. Pancakes are 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 centimeters) in diameter, and are made from many kinds of cereal grains (wheat, barley, etc.). A variety of tsebhi (spicy stews ) are eaten with the bread.

Families and guests normally eat from a messob (shared food basket), with each person breaking off pieces of bread from the side nearest them and dipping it into stew in the center of the basket.

13 • EDUCATION

Traditionally, boys learn to read Tigrinya, Ge'ez, and Amharic as Bible students. Today, some rural boys, and a few girls, attend public schools, with a percentage of them completing high school. Children living in town are much more likely to go to school than are their rural counterparts. In larger towns, such as Aduwa, Aksum, or Maqelli, public education is available through high school. There are universities in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and in Asmara in Eritrea.

14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE

There are two main categories of music: church music and praise songs. Deacons sing and accompany the song with drums and a sistrum (a rattle-like instrument) as part of the mass.

Praise singers form a kind of clan. Families of praise singers intermarry with other families of praise singers. Singers accompany themselves with a one-stringed instrument that is a little like a violin. Hosts often hire singers to entertain at parties, such as weddings. Guests give tips to the performers to sing, often humorously, about their friends.

Passages from the Book of Psalms are frequently brought into discussions of people's behavior. Many priests and deacons carry the psalms dawit (for King David) in a leather pouch.

Qene is an admired form of poetry known for its use of double meanings, beautiful language, and cleverness. A pair of lines should have a surface meaning and a deeper one. Qene is called "wax and gold," an analogy that refers to the process of casting gold objects in wax molds pressed into sand. In qene, the listener "hears the wax" and must use thought to find the gold inside. Tigray kings and princes are often remembered for their qene compositions.

15 • EMPLOYMENT

Until recently, most rural Tigray considered farming to be the most honorable work. Today's food shortages have made many rethink this idea. Trade and government employment are seen as providing better opportunities. Those who make their living as blacksmiths, weavers, potters, or musicians are looked upon with some disfavor and suspicion.

16 • SPORTS

A sport that seems to be unique to the Tigray and Amhara is a kind of cross-country field hockey. Those who are serious about the game grow their own hockey sticks, by training saplings to grow with the proper curve. When the sapling reaches the right stage of growth, they cut the tree and shape it into a hockey stick. The game is played running across the countryside, over cattle-yard fences, and through creeks. Hockey is associated with Easter.

The game played most by the Tigray is Timkhats. Although some Tigray call the game "chess," it is very different from the Western game of chess. In the center of neighborhoods, men play Timkhats all year round, and boys play it while watching the herds. Timkhats is played on a grid usually scratched in the ground. Two players take turns placing markers on intersections of the grid in what might be thought of as a complicated tic-tac-toe game.

Soccer is very popular and people follow their teams passionately.

17 • RECREATION

While film, television, and to a large extent, radio are more a part of life in town than in rural areas, storytelling and riddles are part of the popular culture in both.

18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES

Some of the most spectacular Tigray art is associated with the church. Tigray churches are famous for their architecture, with many cut into solid stone. The larger churches use design features of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

Icon painting—the creation of images of sacred people—is another art form associated with the church. Some deacons who have studied at debri (monasteries) return as icon painters. Icons are purchased by individuals to reinforce a relationship with a particular saint.

19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Probably the most important social problems in Tigrayan areas today are associated with Tigray's food deficit and un- and underemployment. The government's attempt to solve these problems has taken two forms, relief efforts and public works.

Alcoholism is not widespread among rural Tigray. The sewwa (beer) brewed by each household is very low in alcohol content. Mies (honey wine) is somewhat higher in alcohol content, but is reserved for special occasions, such as weddings or entertaining political figures.

20 • BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bauer, Dan. Household and Society in Ethiopia: An Economic and Social Analysis of Tigray Social Principles and Household Organization. East Lansing, Mich.: African Studies Center, Michigan State University, 1985.

McCann, James. From Poverty to Famine in Northeast Ethiopia: a Rural History 1900–1935. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.

WEBSITES

World Travel Guide. Eritrea. [Online] Available http://www.wtgonline.com/country/er/gen.html.

World Travel Guide, Ethiopia. [Online] Available http://www.wtgonline.com/country/et/gen.html, 1998.