Foto Friday – Celebrating Ethiopian Ledet with Matanya Tausig

January 7, 2011 - 5:39 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, coexistence, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, News, Profiles, Religion, Travel 

Freelance photographer Matanya Tausig has always been fascinated by religion and religious subjects. For his final project at Jerusalem’s Hadassah College, Tausig chose to document the priests from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The Ethiopian Church has two centers in Jerusalem: the historic Deir es-Sultan on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Debre Gannet constructed in the 19th century on Ethiopia Street. On one hand, both locations are only a short walk from the college; on the other hand, they are worlds away.

The resulting series went on to win second prize in the Local Testimony exhibition of regional photojournalism, (which runs concurrently with the annual World Press Photo exhibition).

The series is part of a larger project of documenting religions and religious ceremonies all around the Holy Land. “I generally work on things that take a long time; they percolate for years,” he says.

So, for example, last night Tausig was in Bethlehem, continuing work on his ongoing project by documenting the Orthodox Church’s Ledet (Christmas) midnight mass.

Ledet falls on January 7 in the Gregorian calendar (which is December 29 in the Ethiopian calendar). It comes after 43 days of daytime fasting known as Tsome Gahad (Advent), with a and is celebrated with processions, the mass service and a breakfast meal of traditional Ethiopian fare: cooked meat and vegetables served on injera (flat, spongy buckwheat bread), and washed down with tella (beer) or tej (a sort of weak mead).

In two weeks, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church will celebrate its most important festival of the year, Timket (Epiphany; also Timkat), a three-day festival commemorating Jesus’ baptism by Saint John in the Jordan River. Again, there will be processions and feasting.

Tausig maintains contact with his subjects and is planning future projects with them as well. Meanwhile, there are more photos to enjoy of the Ethiopian Orthodox priests on the Local Testimony site. And Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has more information about the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.

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Picture of the week: The Ethiopian journey comes to an end

November 18, 2009 - 2:31 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Holidays, Picture of the Week, Religion 

Ethiopians celebrate the holiday of Sigd in Israel.

It’s been a long journey for Israel’s Ethiopian Jews, airlifted out of Ethiopia to Israel in 1984 and 1991, but this week, many must have felt their travels were really and truly over.

Thousands of Ethiopian Jews descended on Jerusalem on Monday to take part in the prayer of the Sigd on a hill overlooking the Mount of Olives.

Ethiopians Jews, who are thought to be descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel, celebrate this holiday every year. Back in Ethiopia, they would climb a mountain called Amburver to pray and beg God to bring them to the Holy Land.

Now in Israel the 80,000 strong population continue to celebrate the holiday. This year, however, the whole of Israel celebrated with them. The holiday of Sigd has been declared a national holiday and mandatory educational programs will be initiated to teach children about the celebration.

It’s a significant step forward for a people who haven’t always found it easy to adapt to their new life, and who still face prejudice from some quarters. Keep an eye out on ISRAEL21c for our video on the holiday.

Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90.

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