p. 13 | Abyssinian Women by Alice Grundset

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 6, 1911

Abyssinian Women

By Alice Grundset

MRS. ALICE GRUNDSET

THE women of Abyssinia enjoy full liberty, having no social customs that confine them to their homes. Their clothing consists of a short dress, with the shawl-like nuttzela over the shoulder. They wear no hats nor shoes. The hair of the married women is nicely braided, but the unmarried women wear the hair cut short. All oil their heads abundantly.

In the early morning we see them going to the market-place with their milk, eggs, chickens, and grain, a good load being carried on the head. The infant up to a year or more is carried in a leather sack strapped to the shoulder.

These people live very simply, in huts of small stones and mud. Their home is also a shelter for goats, donkeys, etc., the live stock sleeping in the same room with the family. With the old-fashioned grinding-stones the women grind the grain from day to day, in just such

quantities as they require at the time. Bread is baked in clay ovens.

The Abyssinian women seem to us untidy, having apparently no thought nor understanding of the first principles of cleanliness. The older women are deeply rooted in their customs, as well as in their religious views, and it is somewhat difficult to give them instruction. They are inquisitive, however, and will ask all manner of questions; and through this avenue we hope to turn their minds to better things. A great work needs to be done for the women of Abyssinia.

Asmara, Eritrea.