Ashenda
Ashenda (Tigrinya: ኣሸንዳ) is an annual festival celebrated in Tigray and in neighboring Agew region. It's festival celebrated in August. Ashenda is a major event for Tigray people all over the world, particularly Tigrayan women, Tigrayan women and girls as young as 7 await for this Girls' Day festival all year. The name “Ashenda” came from the Tigrinya word for tall green grass, estimated at around 80–90 cm minimum height, that the girls make into a skirt and wear it around their waist as a decoration. In the tradition of this religious festival, blades of grass are strewn on the floors of homes and shops as a kind of welcome mat. The holiday started as a cultural one, but evolved to a religious one celebrated by girls of all religious backgrounds. It's orign can be traced to ancient Israel a common way Hebrew women celebrated their Holidays, victory, heros (Exodus 15:20) After the introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia in the 4th century AD the celebration began to have religious tone and merge with Christian beliefs, those celebrating it now see it as a commemoration of the heavenly ascension of the Virgin Mary following her Dormition, a feast called Filseta. It is typically celebrated between 16 and 26 August every year. Recently the festival has grown in popularity and is being adopted in parts of Ethiopia and even Eritrea. It commonly gets mistaken with similar holiday celebrated on Ethiopians New Years called Abebayehosh which originated in Amhara region inspired by Ashenda and is celebrated all over Ethiopia.
| Ashenda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Official name | Ashenda |
| Also called | Girls' Day |
| Observed by | Ethiopia |
| Type | Cultural |
| Begins | 16 August |
| Ends | 26 August |
| Date | After ending of Filseta feast |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Filseta |
Celebration
On the first day, some of the Ashenda 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 between 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 over the course of the celebration are then donated to a charity, the Church or other events.
Name
Ashenda is named after the long, thin "Ashenda" grass which 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 their waists causing the leaves to shake in an eye-catching manner. The festival also called “Maria”, “Aynewari”, "Ashendye", "Solel".[1]
See also
References
- "Ashenda, Ashendye, Aynewari, Maria, Shadey, Solel, Ethiopian girls' festival - intangible heritage - Culture Sector - UNESCO". ich.unesco.org. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
Further reading
- Yohannes, Gebregeorgis (2010). Tirhas Celebrates Ashenda: An Ethiopian Girls' Festival. Sololia Publishing. ISBN 9781883701024.