Tattoos in Ethiopia

[smurfb1ue]

 I'm trying to find out what the current cultural norm is regarding tattoos in Ethiopia.  I have a character traveling around the country--both in villages and big cities like Addis Ababa--who is highly tattooed, and I want to know what people would think and how they would react to her.  As it is, she's going to stand out as she's a single, white

Comments

[smurfb1ue]

She travels at the beginning but will eventually settle down: form relationships with neighbors, be seen by (some) people on a regular basis, etc. I'm assuming that over the course of nearly a decade people would start equating it with just being a personal (or foreigner) quirk and moving on from there.

Do you think those in Western Ethiopia would be more inclined to a more Orthodox Christian view? Would the fact that it's so close to the Sudan and has a larger Sudanese population affect that?

[atropos_lee]

I think you have to be a little more specific about *where* in Ethiopia she is travelling, as the cultural differences between, say, the Amhara and the Afar, are immense.

Tattoos

[anonymous]

As already noted, anywhere outside Addis, the tattoos would take second place to the fact that she's white (a "ferengi" in Amharic) female and single. Tattooing is not unusual in Ethiopia, but it's a) pretty much limited to a few ethnic groups, b) generally considered "rural" or "old fashioned" and c) pretty limited in colour (ie: it's blue) and area of the body. Western style multicoloured tattoos are essentially unknown, as are large tattoos like sleeves and would certainly draw even more attention

Re: Tattoos

[archangelbeth]

ferengi

You mean... like the Star Trek Next Generation species?? O_O

Re: Tattoos

[transemacabre]

The Star Trek people adopted the real-life term. Ferengi comes from the Arabic franj, which is itself a corruption of Frank (as in the Germanic tribe the Franks, used as a generic term for all Crusaders).

Re: Tattoos

[deepbluemermaid]

Huh, I didn't know that. I thought ferengi was a transliteration of 'foreigner'.