Human Feature:
In the culture of Ethiopia, colors are very vibrant and less clothing is considered alright. Men , women, children don't really wear much in the villages compared to the city. The women wear a lot of homemade jewelry especially to elongate their necks.
Mannaerts, P. (2012, November 9). Hamar Portrait, Ethiopia. National Geographic.
Human Feature: It's not uncommon in Ethiopia to have the woman do most of the chores and collecting food. They do everything except for hunt, and run the village. Even though it may be back breaking work its how they are told to do by the men.
Shah, A. (2014, January 14). Starter Kit To Ethiopia. Retrieved from http://www.fodors.com/news/starter-kit-to-ethiopia-7413.html
Human Feature: Compared to the United States where we have highways and sidewalks people in Ethiopia "share" the road and its very crowded in the city. Highly populated with little to no room to live or build.
https://www.menschenfuermenschen.at/en/ethiopia-africa-travel/travel-destinations-development/
Physical Region Blue Nile Falls:
Not all of Ethiopia is dirt, and dry they have some of the most beautiful water falls in the world like this one right here. Since 2003 the flow of the fall has changed and it constantly flows during the wet and dry season.
Edition, Teacher's. "Country Perspectives." Exploring Africa. African's Studies Center. Web.
Physical Region Climate:
This picture shows the annual average temperature in Ethiopia. Since in the United Sates we go by fahrenheit, they read their temperatures in celsius. The average temperature in ethiopia ranges from 25-40 degrees celsius is about 85-104 degrees in fahrenheit.
Barker, Brent, and Zane Rubin. "Knowledge To Go Places." Colorado State University, 29 Aug. 2009. Web.
Connection between Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has gained much of the cultural diversity and connected it with biodiversity from its surroundings of nature. Much of their artwork, hand crafted pottery, weaving all comes from the inspiration of the animal and plant biodiversity. When you pick a piece of pottery that women in the village has hand painted their will always be a story behind the rootedness in the biodiversity. For not having much experience in painting these women and men create extraordinary pieces of artwork that tells stories of their ancestors which can be people or animals. In the article Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia and It’s Impact on Local Economics and Biodiversity, they mention how natural diversity evolved into present cultural diversity pattern in Ethiopia. Donald N. Levine has described it as a holistic specialization, in which small and relatively homogeneous societies occupied the various ecological niches of the Ethiopian environment and thus creating an overall pattern of a heterogeneous society consisting of many different homogeneous cultures (Biocultural Diversity of Ethiopia). This allowed for different cultures, societies, and languages to be created, giving these people an identity. Much of Ethiopian people believe they came to be who they are now thanks to the animals that they worship today and show in their paintings.
Ethiopia, over the years has seen much diversity in the culture with over eighty identified ethnic groups since Africa was discovered. Villages in Ethiopia rely on living off a majority of the land, meaning they hunt and use their resources as needed. I found it interesting that in a small village of Debre Zeyet they hold a ritual and bring out a cow to help heal the people who might be sick or injured. Once a year they sacrifice a lamb and a calf to have their spirits help those who need healing (National Geographic). As I watched this video from national geographic it was very informing of how these rituals take place and many people believe they become healed after coming in contact with the dead animals. I can imagine a lot of people would be, well how does this really work. Or some might be thinking they could just be saying that they are healed an move on. Ethiopian believes that having these gathering and praying to the animals that their spirit will come through and help heal them. Much of Ethiopians have practiced healing rituals for very many years and it has worked because a man mentioned in the video he has no feeling in his foot and once touched by the calf spirit he was able to feel again. It may sound weird to us but this is how Ethiopians live and believe animals are the healers and gods to them.
With Ethiopia being so culturally diverse it is truly extraordinary place that many tourist go to visit. One of the more practiced religions in Ethiopia is Christianity, and in the villages they are known for vigorous celebrations and festivals. Some people wonder why some Ethiopians decide to pierce their bodies in odd places and much of it appears to be painful. Really their body decoration is used for ritual scarification and has been passed down from tradition. Many tourists go their just to see these people’s bodies and learn the meaning behind the piercings and tribal paint. There is good reason as to why the villages use the resources of the minerals to paint their bodies. Colors on the body are used to designate position, for ritual, ward off illness, attracting the opposite sex, represent a tribe or animal and well to impress the tourist. Painting bodies goes way back to their ancestors and as told by their ancestors they believe it helps protect them and their young children from the supernatural while others see the paint as a religion. Villages since they don’t follow the normal norms of the country, tribes consider the paint as living in harmony with nature and the spirit world. Same goes for illness, like I mentioned above how they have rituals of sacrifice, illness is a disturbance with yourself and nature (Inspiration Green). You aren’t in one with nature like you should be. Going through some of the tribal pictures of how these people paint their bodies is really neat and intricate, absolutely beautiful.
In all seriousness much of Ethiopia has been environmentally disturbed and it’s affecting the biodiversity. Many of the villages and tribes in Ethiopia are being forced to give up their practices and language to follow the flow of what the country is doing. These people have been practicing rituals, and establishing their identity by studying their ancestor’s history and to be suddenly uprooted and have all that be taken away is affecting the diversity between the people and nature. Much of Africa is being disturbed by the human growth and migration of people trying to get them to change their ways. By taking away their culture diversity we are essentially destroying their life and causing them to lose their identity. I hope that the balance between biodiversity and cultural diversity in Ethiopia can be resolved and their will no longer be a disturbance between the two. People need to learn to accept all cultures because it wouldn’t hurt us to learn something new once in awhile. Diversity in Ethiopia is key to survival of a culture.
Work cited:
Hartmann, Ingrid. "Chapter 6 Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia and It's Impact on Local Economies and Biodiversity." Bio Cultural Diversity of Ethiopia 3 (2008): 145-46. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6970-3_20.
Healing Spirit [Motion picture]. (n.d.). Africa: National Geographic.
Fox, K. (n.d.). The Ultimate Canvas. Retrieved from http://www.inspirationgreen.com/tribes-of-the-omo-valley.html
Hunde, D. (2007). Human Influence and Threats to Biodiversity. Human Influence and Threat to Biodiversity and Sustainable Living, 3, 86-87. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Kaitlyn/Downloads/42000-20209-1-PB.pdf
Ethiopia has gained much of the cultural diversity and connected it with biodiversity from its surroundings of nature. Much of their artwork, hand crafted pottery, weaving all comes from the inspiration of the animal and plant biodiversity. When you pick a piece of pottery that women in the village has hand painted their will always be a story behind the rootedness in the biodiversity. For not having much experience in painting these women and men create extraordinary pieces of artwork that tells stories of their ancestors which can be people or animals. In the article Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia and It’s Impact on Local Economics and Biodiversity, they mention how natural diversity evolved into present cultural diversity pattern in Ethiopia. Donald N. Levine has described it as a holistic specialization, in which small and relatively homogeneous societies occupied the various ecological niches of the Ethiopian environment and thus creating an overall pattern of a heterogeneous society consisting of many different homogeneous cultures (Biocultural Diversity of Ethiopia). This allowed for different cultures, societies, and languages to be created, giving these people an identity. Much of Ethiopian people believe they came to be who they are now thanks to the animals that they worship today and show in their paintings.
Ethiopia, over the years has seen much diversity in the culture with over eighty identified ethnic groups since Africa was discovered. Villages in Ethiopia rely on living off a majority of the land, meaning they hunt and use their resources as needed. I found it interesting that in a small village of Debre Zeyet they hold a ritual and bring out a cow to help heal the people who might be sick or injured. Once a year they sacrifice a lamb and a calf to have their spirits help those who need healing (National Geographic). As I watched this video from national geographic it was very informing of how these rituals take place and many people believe they become healed after coming in contact with the dead animals. I can imagine a lot of people would be, well how does this really work. Or some might be thinking they could just be saying that they are healed an move on. Ethiopian believes that having these gathering and praying to the animals that their spirit will come through and help heal them. Much of Ethiopians have practiced healing rituals for very many years and it has worked because a man mentioned in the video he has no feeling in his foot and once touched by the calf spirit he was able to feel again. It may sound weird to us but this is how Ethiopians live and believe animals are the healers and gods to them.
With Ethiopia being so culturally diverse it is truly extraordinary place that many tourist go to visit. One of the more practiced religions in Ethiopia is Christianity, and in the villages they are known for vigorous celebrations and festivals. Some people wonder why some Ethiopians decide to pierce their bodies in odd places and much of it appears to be painful. Really their body decoration is used for ritual scarification and has been passed down from tradition. Many tourists go their just to see these people’s bodies and learn the meaning behind the piercings and tribal paint. There is good reason as to why the villages use the resources of the minerals to paint their bodies. Colors on the body are used to designate position, for ritual, ward off illness, attracting the opposite sex, represent a tribe or animal and well to impress the tourist. Painting bodies goes way back to their ancestors and as told by their ancestors they believe it helps protect them and their young children from the supernatural while others see the paint as a religion. Villages since they don’t follow the normal norms of the country, tribes consider the paint as living in harmony with nature and the spirit world. Same goes for illness, like I mentioned above how they have rituals of sacrifice, illness is a disturbance with yourself and nature (Inspiration Green). You aren’t in one with nature like you should be. Going through some of the tribal pictures of how these people paint their bodies is really neat and intricate, absolutely beautiful.
In all seriousness much of Ethiopia has been environmentally disturbed and it’s affecting the biodiversity. Many of the villages and tribes in Ethiopia are being forced to give up their practices and language to follow the flow of what the country is doing. These people have been practicing rituals, and establishing their identity by studying their ancestor’s history and to be suddenly uprooted and have all that be taken away is affecting the diversity between the people and nature. Much of Africa is being disturbed by the human growth and migration of people trying to get them to change their ways. By taking away their culture diversity we are essentially destroying their life and causing them to lose their identity. I hope that the balance between biodiversity and cultural diversity in Ethiopia can be resolved and their will no longer be a disturbance between the two. People need to learn to accept all cultures because it wouldn’t hurt us to learn something new once in awhile. Diversity in Ethiopia is key to survival of a culture.
Work cited:
Hartmann, Ingrid. "Chapter 6 Cultural Diversity in Ethiopia and It's Impact on Local Economies and Biodiversity." Bio Cultural Diversity of Ethiopia 3 (2008): 145-46. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6970-3_20.
Healing Spirit [Motion picture]. (n.d.). Africa: National Geographic.
Fox, K. (n.d.). The Ultimate Canvas. Retrieved from http://www.inspirationgreen.com/tribes-of-the-omo-valley.html
Hunde, D. (2007). Human Influence and Threats to Biodiversity. Human Influence and Threat to Biodiversity and Sustainable Living, 3, 86-87. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Kaitlyn/Downloads/42000-20209-1-PB.pdf