Melkam Addis Amet 2005!

Happy New Year.....in Ethiopia!! 

While the majority of the world celebrates New Year on January 1, the country of Ethiopia celebrate their New Year on September 11. It marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of spring. While we use the Gregorian calendar, Ethiopia uses the Orthodox Julian calendar which is 12 months of 30 days and then a 13th month of 5 days. That leaves a 7 to 8 year gap between our calendar and their calendar. So while we are very much in the year of 2012, Ethiopia is celebrating the New Year of 2005.....just think about how old you were and what was going on in your life 7 years ago :-)

This past weekend we went to an Ethiopian Festival (Enkutatash) to help celebrate the New Year with the Ethiopian community. It was an all day festival. There were a group of Ethiopian girls that did several dancing/singing routines throughout the day.

There were 2 tables that sold Ethiopian clothes, jewelry and home decor. But the best part of all was lunch!! Doro Wat. Red lentils. Yellow lentils. Salad. Cabbage and potatoes. Rice. And most important...injera. In traditional Ethiopian custom, we had some kaffa (coffee) afterwards. Strong, smooth tasting, and oh-so good!

I think what really made the celebration special was that other representations of countries were there as well: Burma, Nepal, Cameroon, Eritrea, Somalia. It was really beautiful to see the support and love. We all had a wonderful time. It was important for us to attend this year as this will be the last year we will celebrate Enkutatash here with our friends. Our prayer is that by this time next year we will be in Florida celebrating with a whole new Ethiopian community and group of friends.