On a day of local Ethiopian elections last Sunday, some people saw a halo around the sun and interpreted it as a sign from God or a miracle of some sort.
( Above is a painting in a church in an Ethiopian town called Bahar Dar. Here is information about that town. It seems an interesting place to visit.)
Here is information about religion in Ethiopia.
Some say that a 1991 Ethiopian sun halo led to a change in government
Here is a story about this most recent halo. Regretfully, it didn’t have the same effect as the previous halo sighting because the same corrupt bunch has been returned to office.
If I were running for office, and people believed a cloud formation had spelled out my name as a sign to vote for me, I would do all I could to encourage such speculation.
On the other hand, if people saw such a cloud formation as the devil’s work, I would call for reasons to prevail and for a campaign based on the issues.
And here is story of a man who says he saw the image of Jesus in a frying pan.
This is all fine by me. It is not hurting anybody. Sometimes I’m a bit envious of people who feel they see these things, but I don’t believe in any miracles. Maybe life is easier if you do. In any case, I’m not judgmental about this stuff. People are just trying to get by.
Here is a story about what was stake in these Ethiopian elections. It seems democracy still has some ground to gain there.
Click here for a BBC overview of the current state of Ethiopia.
Here is the Ethiopian Reporter newspaper.
Here is the Ethiopia page from the excellent Global Voices.
( The bloggers below are not people who saw the sun halo as a sign. I’m taking this post as a chance to link to some of our blogger friends around the world.)
Here is the Ethiopian blog Addis Journal.
Here is the blog My e-Shoe Box.
Here is the blog Meskel Square. It is by a journalist who spent time in Ethiopia and is now in Sudan.
Below is a picture of last Sunday’s sun halo in Ethiopia.
Here are the reasons a sun halo would occur.
