page_title: Habesha peoples
section_title: Customs
hierarchical_section_title: Habesha peoples / Culture / Customs
caption_attribution_description: English: A typical injera served during the fasting time before Easter in Ethiopia. It contains no meat. Lalibela, Ethiopia. Deutsch: Eine typische Injera, welche während der Fastenzeit vor Ostern in Äthiopien serviert wird. Sie enthält kein Fleisch. Lalibela, Äthiopien. Français&#160;: Une injera typique comme elle est préparée pendant le carême en Ethiopie. Elle ne contient pas de viande. Lalibela, Ethiopie. Español: Una injera típica como la sirven en Etiopía durante la cuaresma. No contiene carne. Lalibela, Etiopía.
context_page_description: Habesha peoples is a term most frequently employed to refer to Semitic language-speaking Christian peoples of highland Ethiopia and Eritrea. Recently, the term has been applied by some within diasporic communities to refer to all people of Eritrean or Ethiopian origin.
context_section_description: Throughout history, various European travelers such as Jeronimo Lobo, James Bruce and Mansfield Parkyns visited Abyssinia. Their written accounts about their experiences include observations and descriptions of the Abyssinian customs and manners.
  Cuisine
  Habesha cuisine characteristically consists of vegetable and often very spicy meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (also w'et or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. People of Ethiopia and Eritrea eat exclusively with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes.
  Fit-fit, or fir-fir, is a common breakfast dish. It is made from shredded injera or kitcha stir-fried with spices or wat. Another popular breakfast food is fatira. The delicacy consists of a large fried pancake made with flour, often with a layer of egg, eaten with honey. Chechebsa (or kita firfir) resembles a pancake covered with berbere and niter kibbeh, or spices, and may be eaten with a spoon. A porridge, genfo is another common breakfast dish. It is usually served in a large bowl with a dug-out made in the middle of the genfo and filled with spiced niter kibbeh.
  Wat begins with a large amount of chopped red onion, which is simmered or sauteed in a pot. Once the onions have softened, niter kebbeh (or, in the case of vegan dishes, vegetable oil) is added. Following this, berbere is added to make a spicy keiy wat or keyyih tsebhi. Turmeric is used instead of bebere for a milder alicha wat or both are omitted when making vegetable stews, atkilt wat. Meat such as beef (Amharic: ሥጋ, səga), chicken (Amharic: ዶሮ, doro) or Tigrinya: derho), fish (Amharic: ዓሣ, asa), goat or lamb (Amharic: በግ, beg or Tigrinya: beggi) is also added. Legumes such as split peas (Amharic: ክክ, kək or Tigrinya: kikki) or lentils (Amharic: ምስር, məsər or birsin); or vegetables such as potatoes (Amharic: ድንች, Dənəch), carrots and chard (Amharic: ቆስጣ) are also used instead in vegan dishes.
  Another distinctively Habesha dish is kitfo (frequently spelled ketfo). It consists of raw (or rare) beef mince marinated in mitmita (Ge'ez: ሚጥሚጣ mīṭmīṭā, a very spicy chili powder similar to the berbere) and niter kibbeh. Gored gored is very similar to kitfo, but uses cubed rather than ground beef. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church prescribes a number of fasting (tsom Ge'ez: ጾም, ṣōm) periods, including Wednesdays, Fridays, and the entire Lenten season; so Habesha cuisine contains many dishes that are vegan.
  Dress
  The habesha kemis is the traditional attire of Habesha women. The ankle length dress is usually worn by Ethiopian and Eritrean women at formal events. It is made of chiffon, and typically comes in white, grey or beige shades. Many women also wrap a shawl called a netela around the formal dress.
  The netela or netsela is a handmade cloth many Ethiopian women use to cover their head and shoulders when they wear clothing made out of chiffon, especially when attending church. It is made up of two layers of fabric, unlike gabi, which is made out of four. Kuta is the male version.
  An Ethiopian or Eritrean suit is the traditional formal wear of Habesha men. It consists of a long sleeve, knee-length shirt, and matching pants. Most shirts are made with a Mandarin, band, or Nehru collar. The suit is made of chiffon, which is a sheer silk or rayon cloth. The netela shawl or a kuta is wrapped around the suit.
caption: Traditional Habesha injera
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