Tsom Guide

What may you eat today?

Tsom Guide answers the question every fasting member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church asks each morning — not just "is today a fast?", but exactly which foods are permitted: strict vegan, fish permitted, or no restriction at all.

A TRUE FASTING-RULE ENGINE, NOT A DATE LIST

At the heart of Tsom Guide is a genuine per-day engine for the Ge'ez calendar. It computes the moveable feasts and fasts from first principles — Fasika (Easter) and everything that hangs from it: the Great Lent (Hudadi), the Fast of Nineveh, the Apostles' Fast, Peraklitos — alongside the fixed observances: Advent, Genna, Timkat, Meskel, Filseta (the Fast of the Assumption), the weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts, Gahad, and the great feasts of the year. Because every day is computed by the same engine, the calendar, the season countdowns and the daily verdict can never disagree.

YOUR OBSERVANCE, YOUR RULING

Choose Strict or Standard observance in Settings, and every ruling follows it — including the contested question of fish on the Wednesday and Friday fasts. Switch observance and watch the same day re-rule itself.

EVERYTHING THE FAITHFUL NEED, IN ONE PLACE

• Today — this morning's ruling at a glance: the fasting level, the reason the day is kept, and plain lists of what is permitted and what to avoid.
• Day Detail — every fast explained: its meaning, its hours (one meal after 3 p.m. where the canons ask it), and the foods that belong on the table.
• Calendar — the whole Ge'ez month at a glance, every day colour-coded: green for no restriction, ochre for fish permitted, crimson for strict fast, gold for the great feasts.
• Seasons — the year ahead in order, counting down the days to each coming fast and feast, from Enkutatash to Fasika.
• Daily reminder — a quiet morning notification carrying the day's ruling, at the hour you choose.
• English and Amharic together — every observance named in both tongues, as it is in the life of the Church.

Tsom Guide is dressed as a page from a Ge'ez manuscript: parchment, ox-blood and gold, serif lettering, and the hand-drawn cross of the Ethiopian tradition. Reverent, calm, and made to be opened every morning.

The fasting rules encoded here are drawn from public sources on the Tewahedo tradition. Where practice varies between parishes and households, follow the counsel of your priest.