A Bone and a Month - Bə T’ϊkϊmt and at’ϊnt !


The Bone-Deep Wisdom of T’ïkïmt: Ethiopia’s Meaty Pact with Winter

Have you ever imagined a connection between a meat-clad bone and a month? It seems improbable, yet in Ethiopia, the second month of T’ïkïmt (October) and the humble at’ïnt (bone) share an ancestral bond written in frost and sustenance. As the rainy season yields to sunlight, a paradox unfolds: mornings and nights plunge into Ethiopia’s deepest chill just as the sun reclaims the sky. This is T’ïkïmt—a month where breath mists in dawn air and stories begin with "Once, on a biting October day…"

In this crystalline cold, elders distill wisdom to survival: "Bə T’ïkïmt and at’ïnt!" ("In T’ïkïmt, seek bones with meat!"). The counsel is both practical and poetic. Meat becomes a shield—its fats and proteins fortifying bodies against the encroaching frost. For generations, families have obeyed this unspoken pact: chew the roasted lamb clinging to ribs, savor the marrow in beef bones, let heat bloom in your belly as stars pierce the icy night. (Vegans, forgive us—this is Ethiopia’s carnivorous covenant with winter, born long before dietary labels existed.)

Ethiopia doesn’t confine meat to feasts. It’s woven into daily resilience. Wander near Addis Ababa’s slaughterhouses in T’ïkïmt: you’ll find crowds huddled over kurt (raw beef) and t’ibs (roasted lamb), steam rising from plates like prayers against the cold. 

By the way, Ethiopia is endowed with 40 million cattle which graze in the highlands; 50 million sheep and goats dot the valleys. Though 6,000 tons of meat flow to global markets yearly, in T’ïkïmt, the only export that matters is warmth to your bones.

When the cold squeezes you into your embrace, remember that this ritual of filling yourself with meat and bone is the bet way to sustain the month Tikimit. So when T’ïkïmt’s chill sharpens, honor the pact. Find your meat (siga) with bone (at’ïnt) 

Let its heat be your compass through winter’s hush.

Chər ïnsənbϊt!
(Let’s embrace life—and T’ïkïmt—with joy!)


 


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