🇪🇹 The colours of Ethiopia
6 meanings recorded, 1 colour tied to the country and 2 colour cities.
What colours mean in Ethiopia
Customs vary by region, faith and family; these are the meanings most often recorded.
The red band of the flag is read as the blood shed in defending the country. Ethiopia was never colonised, and its green, yellow and red were taken up by many new African states.
Politics and protestCourageSource: Pan-African coloursYellow daisies called adey abeba cover the highlands at the end of the rains in September. Children give bunches of them at Enkutatash, the New Year.
Festival and celebrationNature and renewalHopeJoySource: Bidens macropteraThe yellow band of the flag stands for peace and hope. The three colours have flown together since the 1890s, in the reign of Menelik II.
Politics and protestHopeSource: Flag of EthiopiaThe green band at the top of the flag stands for the land and its fertility. Green, yellow and red are also the colours of sashes and umbrellas at Orthodox church festivals.
Nature and renewalPolitics and protestHopeSource: Flag of EthiopiaThe blue disc at the centre of the flag, added in 1996, stands for peace. The star on it is for the unity and equality of the country's peoples.
Politics and protestTrustSource: Emblem of EthiopiaOrthodox Christians go to church wrapped in the netela, a thin white cotton shawl. At Timkat, the feast of Epiphany, crowds in white follow the priests to the water.
Sacred and holyPurity and peaceCalmSource: Clothing in EthiopiaColour cities of Ethiopia
Colours tied to Ethiopia
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Khaki: Mehlauge, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lalibela Et: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Harar Et: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, source