In the heart of Ethiopia\u2019s capital, a group of women danced while brandishing a flag bearing the insignia of the war-scarred Tigray region \u2014 a scene that would have been unimaginable a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-year conflict that pitted Ethiopia\u2019s federal government against the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front sparked accounts of widespread rights abuses, including rapes by both sides and arbitrary mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans in Addis Ababa and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the northern region endured a massive humanitarian crisis due to a lack of food, fuel, cash and medicines, Tigrayans living in other parts of Ethiopia were forced to keep a low profile to avoid becoming the targets of ethnic profiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the signing of a peace deal last November raised cautious hopes among the community, whose female members gathered to mark the traditional festival of Ashenda in Addis Ababa for the first time since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did not celebrate (Ashenda) in this country for the last three years, because our Tigrayan people were … in a war,\u201d said Selam Haile, 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was so bad for us,\u201d the teenager said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-year conflict that pitted Ethiopia\u2019s federal government against the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front sparked accounts of widespread rights abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival, which ends on Saturday, honors girls and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They showed up for the celebration in traditional embroidered dresses and gold jewelry, their hair twisted into elaborate braids and curls, with beaded headbands across their foreheads and henna patterns adorning their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn this day, we wear a special dress and traditionally decorate our hair and we keep our traditions alive while we are celebrating,\u201d said Dina Mohammed, 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young woman said she was \u201cvery happy\u201d to showcase her culture after a long hiatus, echoing the joy expressed by others at the gathering hosted at a venue in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally a Christian festival marking the end of a 15-day fast commemorating the Assumption of Mary, Ashenda has evolved into a celebration that transcends religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its roots lie in Tigray but it is also celebrated in the neighboring Amhara region and in Eritrea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men don\u2019t usually participate in the festival, which is focused on women and girls, who were in high spirits and filming selfies during the celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt means a lot to us because Ashenda is freedom for girls,\u201d said Selam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others voiced their relief at finally being able to express their pride in their culture and share it publicly without shame or fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t celebrate (Ashenda) for a long time … But after all, all came back to love and unity and celebrating together. That makes it so special,\u201d said Danawit Tesfaye, 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebeka Seyum, 38, said she did not know \u201chow to explain my happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is nothing like peace,\u201d she said finally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the heart of Ethiopia\u2019s capital, a group of women danced while brandishing a flag bearing the insignia of the war-scarred Tigray region \u2014 a scene that would have been unimaginable a year earlier. The two-year conflict that pitted Ethiopia\u2019s federal government against the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front sparked accounts of widespread rights abuses, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[7457,7456],"class_list":["post-82513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world","tag-festival","tag-tigrayans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82515,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82513\/revisions\/82515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metronews.ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}