Eritreans are religiously diverse. The Eritrean government officially recognizes four religious bodies: the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Sunni Islam. Christians and Muslims each make up a large share of the population. Other groups, including Pentecostal and other evangelical Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses, have faced arrest and detention, and even leaders of recognized churches have been imprisoned. For some Eritrean Minnesotans, faith is one of the reasons they left. In Minnesota, Eritreans may belong to Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal or other churches or to mosques, some of them shared with Ethiopian or other East African communities, and some people are not religious.
Faith can shape daily routines. Orthodox Christians in the region often fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and during longer fasting periods, especially before Easter, avoiding meat, eggs and dairy. Muslim Eritreans may fast during Ramadan and pray at set times. Practice varies widely from person to person. If a meeting involves food or falls on a major holy day, it is fine to ask about preferences, and it is kind to be flexible when someone mentions a fast or observance.
Naming follows a pattern shared with many Ethiopians. A person has a personal given name followed by their father's given name, and sometimes their grandfather's name. There is no shared family surname. A woman does not change her name at marriage. This means that a mother, father and children usually have different second names, and a child's second name matches the father's first name. On American forms, the father's name is typically entered as a last name. Staff who expect a shared family surname may think records are mismatched, or may address people incorrectly.
Families are often closely connected across countries. Many people support relatives in Eritrea, in refugee camps, or in other countries. Extended family and elders carry weight in decisions for many families. As always, these are patterns. Ask how a person wants to be addressed, which names appear on their documents, and who they want involved.
