Each ethnic group has its own know-how
The best-known Harari handicrafts are multicolored baskets, including the mesob, a kind of circular table basket for injera, and amber and silver jewelry. Harari goldsmiths' jewelry is renowned throughout the Horn of Africa. Wool weaving is the preserve of the Konso, while the Dorze are renowned for their cotton work: these ethnic groups supply most of the demand for traditional clothing, kemis (women's costume) and shammas (shawl worn by men), decorated with colorful borders (tibeb). The impressive Afar daggers are a temptation, but can cause problems at customs. Also skilled weavers, the Guragé are renowned for their horn work, from which they make spoons, cups and combs. Among decorative ornaments, those of the Arsi, made of multicolored beads and worn as necklaces, tiaras or earrings, are the most elaborate.
From the forest-rich Jima region come impressive one-piece carved wooden armchairs and three-legged stools, very popular in the country. Dabra Birhan is renowned for its production of carpets, most of which are small-scale. Basketry, goldsmithing (renowned for its multi-patterned crosses), pottery (influenced by Falasha craftsmen) and leatherwork are widespread throughout the country. Pastoralists produce a wide range of containers in a variety of materials and techniques (gourds, wood, sisal, skins or plant fibers), often decorated with glass beads, cowries, brass... These gourds, milk and butter pots, or the traditional agelgil, a small skin-covered basket used to carry food, are all extremely decorative in their simplicity. Finally, in the range of everyday objects, neck rests, inseparable from the nomadic tribes of the South, are highly prized by tourists. The oldest ones, carved with decorative motifs, have long been the object of collectors' envy, and are therefore increasingly rare.
Silver thalers bearing the effigy of Maria Theresa of Austria
The Oromo women of the region can be recognized by their colorful scarves and dresses, embellished with superb silver pendants adorned with coins with a distinctly European profile. This is the effigy of Maria Theresa of Austria, whose thalers were at one time used in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa as official commercial currency. This currency was undoubtedly introduced from the Arabian Peninsula - where it was then in circulation - through the slave trade, before becoming widely accepted in the Horn of Africa around the middle of the 19th century. It is not advisable to offer to buy it for money from someone who wears it around their neck, and thus encourage them to part with this symbol of pride and prestige handed down through the family. They're easy to find at the Bati market, in copper or silver - the real thing!
