Dear Val and Malcolm
,
With regard to your post about Christianity in Eritrea, it is in many ways similar to the orthodox church of Ethiopia, which we know about as Tsedey is Ethiopian (not sure if you knew that) and I lived in Addis Ababa for about five years back in the 1980s. Eritreans speak Tigrinya, which is the same language spoken in Northern Ethiopia. Unfortunately, Tsedey only speaks a few words of Tigrinya – her mother tongue is Amharic.
The Orthodox Church in both countries is from a common root – Christianity arrived in the region of Eritrea and Ethiopia in the early centuries after Christ, before it reached most of Europe. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has some similarities to others such as Greek or Russian, e.g. celebrating Christmas on January 7th. Services are conducted in ge’ez, the historic language that both Tigrinya and Amharic are derived from – similar to when RC services were conducted in Latin.
We have some spice mixtures that Ethiopians and Eritreans use in their cooking, which are difficult to get in Europe and which we can spare. It’s similar to a curry powder mix but with a flavour very specific to Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking. If you can suggest an opportunity to get them over to the refugee family, we’d like to do that – either a suitable time for one of us to bring them over, or if you know someone going between Najac and St Antonin.
Best wishes, Gareth and Tsedey
Val says all my research on Eritreans to discover today a totally different mix have come. The post is informative anyway and we are told that curry mixes are still the favourite foods.
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