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EveryParampara

Traditions of Asmara

A highland city of art deco and modernist buildings, where coffee ceremonies and Orthodox feasts keep their place.

Asmara is the capital of Eritrea and a World Heritage Site for its early twentieth century Italian architecture. The city is known for its slow, café-based life. Eritrean culture mixes Tigrinya, Tigre, Bilen, Afar and other peoples, with strong coffee ceremonies and Orthodox, Muslim and Catholic observances.

Asmara: Fiat tagliero, 09.JPG
Photo: sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Coffee and Meskel

The coffee ceremony, bun, is an important sign of hospitality, with roasted beans, incense and three rounds. Meskel is celebrated with bonfires in September, and Eritrean Orthodox Christmas is on 7 January. The Festival of Eritrea held in summer brings together all nine ethnic groups with dance and food.

At the table

Zigni, a spicy stew of beef or lamb with berbere, is eaten with taita, flatbread, or injera. Hamli, a green vegetable dish, and shiro are common on fasting days. Italian influence is found in pasta, cappuccino and pastries in the old cafes. Mies is a honey wine.

Signature traditions of Asmara

MeskelThe bonfire festival.

Also part of it, and being written: Eritrean coffee ceremony (The bun ritual.), Zigni (The spicy stew.).

A trail idea for Asmara

  1. Fiat Tagliero Building A famous modernist garage.
  2. Medeber Market Buy spices and crafts.
  3. Cinema Impero An old art deco cinema.
About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast

No traditions here yet. New pages are added every day.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.