Hospitality

• Ethiopians are known across the globe for their remarkable hospitality and appreciate entertaining visitors in their homes.
• Ethiopians like to smile, and project happiness and welcoming spirit.
• A visitor will always be welcomed with a big smile by the host followed by a cup of coffee.
• It is viewed as impolite to decline the offer.
• Foreigners are normally referred to as farenji meaning a foreigner and refer to themselves as habesha meaning Ethiopian. Most people here are always willing to help out in case one needs help.

Greetings

• Greetings hold an important place in the Ethiopian culture consisting of handshakes as shoulders touch each other followed by a direct eye-contact.
• It is common to see women who have a close relationship kissing each other on the cheeks three times or even more.
• In the presence of elders, it is customary that they be greeted first by bowing.

Ethiopians Smile

• Ethiopians have a contagious Smile, they can give you a heartfelt and warm smile in every situation.
• Wherever you go inside Ethiopia, they can melt you with their Smiles.
• They can shine up your mood just without saying a word. You can miss

Adera አደራ Entrust

• Adera can be translated as a Entrust.
• Adera means give or put (something) into someone’s care or protection.
• Someone who knows you, usually close friend, asking you to keep and protect his own property, it could be a material, his animals, or his child, hoping that he will take it back later in time.
• It’s like a promise but with a higher degree of trust in the eye of God.
• Ethiopians value Adera as an honorable thing, a person cloud risk his life to protect the Adera.

Religion

• People here value their religious beliefs and practices in accordance with the Orthodox Christian teachings and Islamic culture taking the lead with the largest population.
• Religion in Ethiopia has a greater influence on its people with half the population adhering to Ethiopian Orthodox church teachings.
• The other half consists of Muslims and those who follow Judaism forms.
• Wednesdays and Fridays are considered as fasting days by Ethiopian Orthodox followers. The fasting includes no touch on animal and dairy products such as milk, meat and eggs.
• Expect to see most people wearing small crosses around their necks that act as religious symbols.
• Friday at noon, most Muslims go to Friday prayer in almost all towns in the country.

Dates, time and Ethiopian calendar

• Ethiopians follow a solar calendar that is unique as it is almost similar to Julian and Coptic calendars.
• A year has 13 months with the first 12 months having 30 days and the last month consisting of 5 days or 6 days in a leap year.
• Christmas is celebrated on January 7th.
• New Year is celebrated on September 11 or 12th and there is a 8 year gap with the Gregorian calendar.
• Meskel celebrations that commemorates the founding of the cross are held on 26th or 27th September.
• A typical Ethiopian day begins at 6am when the sun rises and is considered as 1.
• To change the Ethiopian time to western clock, add or subtract 6 hours to the western time zone.

Time concept and Punctuality

• Just like any most developing countries, time concept in Ethiopia is not held with much importance.
• Rigidity in schedules and meetings is not part of the Ethiopian culture. Meetings here are known to start with lots of social pleasantries characterized with drinking coffee and tea.
• Satisfaction and agreement in meetings are what determine the time which a meeting ends and not during a scheduled time.
• Greetings that are quite formal and courteous happen in business meetings with government officials being referred as “Excellency” without necessarily calling out their names.