Denying oneself luxuries like tibs (an amazing Ethiopian meat dish), cheese and eggs, whilst still keeping your body nourished. This is the strictest fasting terms, but the majority opt for eating at normal meal times (excluding breakfast) but still remaining vegan which, in my personal opinion, is a much healthier way of fasting. Fasting in Ethiopia is essentially being vegan. There are many variations of fasting throughout the world and, in Ethiopia, fasting officially comes in the form of only eating one meal per day, after 3pm, and renouncing all meat, dairy and animal produce. But even if you only follow the Wednesday and Friday rule, that’s still a lot of fasting days in a year!įasting, in its more general term, is all about refraining from food for a certain period of time. The people that I know all follow the twice weekly fasting and maybe around 60% of the other fasting seasons – with The Great Lent and the Assumption of the Virgin Maryam fasts being the two most universally held fasting seasons. This means that for those who follow all the fasting periods, they will be fasting for roughly 180 days – that’s essentially half the year! Now, not all Orthodox Ethiopians follow each and every fasting season. The only exception to this rule is for the 55 days immediately following Easter where there is no fasting (but bear in mind, the country’s Orthodox Christians have just fasted for 55 days straight so it is a well-deserved break!). Wednesdays and Fridays! Every single week. Not only do Ethiopians fast during these seasons, but on a regular basis there are two designated fasting days every week.
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