Monday, June 30, 2008

ESFNA

The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission will host the Ethiopian Sports Federation festival in the District June 29th through July 7th at RFK Stadium. 
 
"We are very proud to help bring the first Ethiopian soccer tournament and festival to RFK Stadium," said Erik A. Moses, DC Sports and Entertainment Commission chief executive officer. 

"The Sports and Entertainment Commission and the District are very excited to host the thousands of revelers converging on the city for this unique and important sporting and cultural experience."
 
For more than two decades, the Ethiopian Sport Federation of North America (ESFNA) has been promoting amateur soccer and cultural events within the Ethiopian community across North America.

The Federation strives to provide positive role models for the youth and promote goodwill between the Ethiopian communities in the United States and those around the world.  For more information about schedule of events and ticket information, visit http://www.washdcsports.com/

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Queen of Sheba (Saba)


Queen of Sheba's Palace Discovered in Ethiopia, University Says

By Catherine Hickley

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- A team of archaeologists from the University of Hamburg said they discovered the Queen of Sheba's palace and an altar that may have once held the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia.

A Christian king built a new palace over the 10th-century B.C. structure, which probably didn't survive for very long, the university said in a statement. The altar, oriented toward the star Sirius, has two columns and may have been where the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest treasure of early Judaism, was kept until the first temple was built in Axum, the researchers said.

``The special significance of this altar must have been handed down over centuries,'' the statement said. ``This is shown by the many sacrifices found around this spot.''

The Ark of the Covenant, featured in the Indiana Jones movie ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' was kept in Jerusalem for centuries, according to the Old Testament. After Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C., the ark's fate isn't documented in the Bible and it entered the realm of legend.

Ethiopian Christians contend that the ark left Jerusalem much earlier -- during the realm of Solomon -- and was brought to Ethiopia, where it has long been enshrined in a church and is now accessible only to its guardian, a monk. This theory was explored by the British author Graham Hancock in ``The Sign and the Seal.''

Fate of the Ark

The Hamburg team led by Helmut Ziegert has for nine years been investigating the origins of the Ethiopian state and the Ethiopian orthodox church. The central purpose of the field trip was to find out how Judaism arrived in Ethiopia in the 10th century B.C., and to seek clues to the present location of the Ark of the Covenant, the university said.

The palace built over the Queen of Sheba's home was also aligned with the star Sirius, the statement said. The researchers conjecture that the second palace was built by Menelik, who, legend has it, was the son of Sheba and King Solomon.

The results of the Hamburg field trip suggest that together with Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, a cult worshipping Sirius came to Ethiopia and practiced its religion until about 600 A.D., the university said.

According to the Old Testament, God ordered Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, a box made of acacia wood and plated with gold. It is believed to have contained the tablets listing the Ten Commandments.


Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/
Picture: http://www.specialtyinterests.net/queen_sheba_solomon.JPG

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Empress Zewditu


Empress Zewditu was the daughter of Emperor Menelik II and Woizero Abechi. Her mother passed away while Zewditu was still a very young child, so Zewditu was raised by her father and step-mother, Queen Taitu Bitul.

Zewditu had very good relations with her step-mother. Zewditu had earned a reputation of kindness. Zewditu treated everyone with the same sweet friendliness.

In 1900, at the suggestion of her step-mother, Zewditu married Ras Gugsa Welle, son of Ras Welle Bitul and nephew of Queen Taitu. Ras Welle was ruler of Simien and Yejju and younger brother of Queen Taitu. This marriage bound the princess even more closely to her stepmother, and the marriage proved to be a happy union.

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/ethiocrown/Zewditu.html