Traditional Houses of Ethiopia
"In Adoua the houses are, of course, of many descriptions, according to the condition of their respective owners. Those of the wealthy are, for the most part, square and flat-roofed..."
From Life in Abyssinia by Mansfield Parkyns, 1853.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
In Adoua the houses are, of course, of many descriptions, according to the condition of their respective owners. Those of the wealthy are, for the most part, square and flat-roofed, while the habitations of the poorer classes are principally round, and covered in with a conical roof thatched with straw. A description of the one I inhabited will give a tolerably correct idea of those of the former class.
The "Deggy Salam" is the principal gate, in most houses the only one, by which you enter from the street. It is usually a covered entrance, with a small room on one or both sides, intended for the porter, "Agafari Deggy Salam," or other servants. Passing through this gate you enter a large court, about thirty yards square, in the front part of which are constructed one or more "gojjos," or wigwams of straw, for the accommodation of servants or strangers. In the right-hand corner, at the end of the yard farthest from the entrance, is the "adderash," or reception-hall. In the left-hand corner is another building, not so large, usually occupied by the "azzadge," or house-steward, and which has two doors — one leading into the great court, the other into a smaller one behind. In this building are kept the supplies of provisions — corn, butter, honey, &c.
The back court belongs entirely to the servants employed in cooking, brewing, &c, and may contain many small buildings, as each servant has his laboratory separate from the others. Thus there is one appropriated to the "tedge melkenia," or brewer of mead, where he brews and afterwards locks up his jars of hydromel, as he is held responsible for it, and would not of course be able to answer for his thirsty fellow servants' honesty unless his charge were secured under lock and key. There is a separate room for a kitchen, another for storing wood, and another for grinding corn, pepper, &c. These duties, as well as the carrying of water, cooking, and making beer, invariably devolve on the women, while the making of mead is usually a man's office.
The "adderash," or reception-hall, is square or oblong; and when, as in my house, it is so large as to render it difficult to find a sufficient number of good beams to reach across it, a plan is adopted which it has often struck me might be advantageously employed under similar circumstances even in Europe. The four corners are cut off by small beams laid across them, leaving an octagonal aperture in the middle, round which is built a wall about four or five feet high; this serves at once to heighten the room and lessen the width to be covered in….
The interior of my dwelling may be considered as in three divisions.
1. The apartment occupied by myself, in which I sleep, eat, and receive my visitors.
2. The stable where my mules are kept, and which opens into my room, there not being even a door to separate us. The mules stand with their heads towards me, and when I am eating make eyes at me to throw them bits of bread.
3. The "Medeb," a sort of couch, made of stones and plastered over with mud. I dignify it with the name of couch, though in reality it is nothing more than a part of the floor raised a step higher than the remainder, and extending the whole length of the room, and about five feet broad. This is separated from my apartment by a partition wall, in which is an opening of about eight feet broad. Should the house belong to a married man, this aperture is closed by a curtain drawn across it. The "medeb" is used by the ladies as a withdrawing room; and from behind this curtain they peep at all that goes on in the reception hall upon festive occasions. On entering my apartment the stable is on the right hand, and the "medeb" on the left. In front is the "arat" or couch of the master of the house, placed also in a sort of alcove, like the "medeb," from which a small door passes to the left, opening into a private passage, by which the master can pass unobserved to the "medeb," or can effect his escape by a small door ("helfinia") to the back yard, which he often finds convenient for avoiding disagreeable visitors.
The "arat" I have just mentioned is the couch or bed on which all town Abyssinians sleep; that is to say, all those who can afford the luxury. It is a solid framework of wood on four legs. A fresh raw hide is cut into strips, and these are stretched over the frame in and out, one crossing the other about an inch or rather more apart. The whole tightens in drying, and forms a rather hard, but very agreeable, cool bed. It is the custom always to sleep naked, but covered with the quarrie or cotton cloth worn in the daytime; and the only bedding used is a piece of native-tanned leather, so that the air has free access from below.
In these hot climates, however, it is more usual to sleep out of doors; the "arat" inside of the house being used for cold or wet weather only, or for receiving visitors in the daytime. The "medeb," in like manner, is covered with a piece of red leather, unless it happens that some wealthy dame has a carpet of Egyptian or Turkish manufacture.
The pillows are mostly of wood, either a square block, about four inches long by three inches broad, a little hollowed on one side for the head; or sometimes very tastefully shaped, the stand being neatly turned like a candlestick bottom. It is about seven or eight inches high, and the part on which the head rests is crescent-shaped. Some of the latter I have seen made of ivory and stained with henna. This form of pillow is very necessary to people who, from the custom of having their hair fancifully tressed and arranged and plastered with butter, could not lay their heads on any ordinary one, as they would saturate it with grease, besides seriously deranging their coiffure: so they use the hollowed wooden pillow, just laying their ear on it, and allowing their hair to hang freely behind. It is rather fatiguing at first to be obliged to keep one's head for a whole night in one position, and that indeed not the most comfortable; but habit reconciles one to almost anything.
Parkyns, Mansfield. Life in Abyssinia. Murray, 1853.
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