Ashenda
| Ashenda/Ashendiye | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Ashenda |
| Also called | Girls' Day |
| Observed by | Primarily Orthodox Tewahdo Tigrayans |
| Type | Religious |
| Begins | 16 August |
| Ends | 26 August |
| Date | August 22/Nehase 16 After the end of Filseta |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Filseta |
Ashenda (Tigre: አሸንዳ, romanized: Äšända) is an annual Orthodox Tewahdo Tigrayan festival celebrating the acension of St. Mary.[1] It originated in Axum region of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia; scholars estimate it began around 400 AD. The festival takes place in August and mainly celebrated in Tigray and has been adopted in bordering regions of Tigray.[2] Tigrayan virgin girls living throughout the world try to make it to Mekelle or in their respective village where the Ashenda festival takes place. Only virgin women participate in the celebration while the men mostly play the role of gifters, in some cases protectors from potential harassment, as the younger girls travel door to door singing Ashenda songs and receiving gifts like money and traditional food made for the festival. The festival comes after the two weeks of Filseta. During Filseta, people fast or do not eat throughout the day. Filseta and Ashenda honor St. Mary, mother of Jesus.
In the festival, young women and girls wear white cotton dresses. These dresses have colorful embroidery, called tilfi. They also wear a lot of jewelry. They weave ashenda grass into a bunch and wear it on their backs or as a skirt.[3] Ashenda, in the Tigrinya language, is a tall green grass that grows on river banks.[4] Girls often wear five cornrows in their hair. They wear Kohl eyeliner.[5]
Celebration
[edit] |
Leading up to Ashenda, women and girls will prepare to adorn themselves with jewelry, dresses, henna, and diverse cultural hairstyles. On the first day of the festival, Ethiopian girls gather together and make the journey to their local Church of St. Mary (or any other Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the community), playing music and dancing. They then go around the entire village, expressing their thanks to each household in the community. The Ashenda girls spend around 20 minutes at each house, entertaining families and themselves, before being bid farewell, usually with gifts of money, food or drink. After the door-to-door celebrations, the girls find a suitable field in or near the village, spending a day to a week dancing and playing in the field while passing. Men are urged to provide gifts of money.
All money and gifts collected during the celebration are then donated to a Church.
Name
[edit]Ashenda is named after the long, thin ashenda grass girls tie to hang down from their waists in a fashionable pattern. The ashenda grass has come to symbolize the religious festival, as dancing girls move, causing the leaves to shake in an eye-catching manner. The festival is also called "Shadey," "Maria," "Aynewari," "Ashendye," "Solel," and "Engicha." [6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Ashenda Women's Festival". Ethiopian Quadrants. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Ashenda – Girls Feast". Hadgi Tourism. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Teffera, Timkehet (2019). "Magnificent Holidays: A Case Study of the Ašända Feast. Chapter II Part I".
- ^ "ASHENDA: Ethiopia's Multihued Intangible Heritage". ENA. 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Ethiopians from war-ravaged Tigray celebrate holiday in Sudan". Al Arabiya English. 7 September 2022.
- ^ "Ashenda, Ashendye, Aynewari, Maria, Ethiopian girls' festival – intangible heritage". Culture Sector, UNESCO. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Yohannes, Gebregeorgis (2010). Tirhas Celebrates Ashenda: A Tigray ,Ethiopian Girls' Festival of St. Mary. Sololia Publishing. ISBN 9781883701024.