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Ashenda (Geez/Tigriniya/Amharic: ኣሸንዳ), also known as Shadey, Ashendiye, Solel, and Engicha, is an annual festival celebrated in Northern Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. This festival is celebrated annually, typically between August 16th and 26th. It is a major event for Ethiopian people all over the world, particularly Tigrayan, Amhara, and Agew women. Ethiopian women and girls wait for this Girls' Day festival all year. The name "Ashenda" is the term for the tall green grass, estimated at around 80–90 cm minimum height, that the girls make into a skirt and to wear around the waist as decoration. The holiday originated as a religious one, marking the end of the 2-week fast known as Filseta, commemorating the heavenly ascension of the Virgin Mary following her dormition. It has now evolved into a cultural holiday that is celebrated by girls of all religious backgrounds.

(Celebration )
Leading up to Ashenda, women and girls will prepare to adorn themselves with jewelry, dresses, henna, and diverse cultural hairstyles. On the first day of the festival, Ethiopian 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.

The Ethiopian oriole was originally described in the genus Turdus. Alternate names for the Ethiopian oriole include the Abyssinian black-headed oriole, Abyssinian oriole, black-headed forest oriole, dark-headed oriole, Ethiopian black-headed oriole, Ethiopian forest oriole and forest oriole.

Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized:

Omo black-headed oriole (O. m. meneliki) - Blundell & Lovat, 1899: Originally described as a separate species. Found in southern Ethiopia
O. m. monacha - (Gmelin, 1789): Found in northern Ethiopia, Eritrea

Ethiopian Christmas at a glance

Unlike the Christmas you might be familiar with, the Ethiopian variety has a noticeable lack of tangled tinsel, red bobble hats and flickering, multicoloured lights intertwined amongst conifer branches.

Ethiopian Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January on the Gregorian calendar, or the 29th of Tahsas on the Ethiopian calendar.

In the run up to Christmas, practitioners are expected to partake in a 43-day fast known as Tsome Nebiyat or the ‘Fast of the Prophets’.

During this period, believers must abstain from all non-vegan products and psychoactive substances, including alcohol and can only consume one meal per day.

Beginning on the 25th November, the fast is believed to clear the body of sin, allowing those who partake the opportunity to cleanse the spirit in anticipation of the birth of their saviour, Jesus Christ.