Today, Sept. 11, 2010 on our calendar is New Year's Day in Ethiopia. The Amharic word for New Year's Day is Enkutatash.
Remember that the Ethiopian calendar is TOTALLY different than ours! Their calendar is 7 years and 8 months behind ours. So today's date is the first day of 2003 in Ethiopia.
Since traveling to Ethiopia I have not posted about their holidays and traditions because while in country I found that many of the things I thought I knew from on-line/book research were somewhat incorrect. (Things like popcorn being spicy, the popcorn we had was sprinkled with sugar!) But the truth is, the best source of information I have about Ethiopia is from books and the internet at this point. I have decided that even partially incorrect information is better than no knowledge.
So, here is what I have found about Enkutatash.
Enkatutash means "gift of jewels." It's orgin goes back to Biblical times. When Makeda, the Queen of Sheeba, returned to Ethiopia after her famous visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her with gifts of jewels or "enku."
Enkutatash is not just the celebration of the New Year, but it also celebrates the end of the rainy season - which lasts about 3 months. (We do not have weather to celebrate Jan. 1st way up north!) I can not imagine how yucky the rainy season is. When we were in Ethiopia there was a sudden downpour one afternoon. My mom and Krissy were out shopping at the market, and in just a few minutes of rain the mud was running. Krissy reported mud and water up over the top of her shoes. Imagine months of these rains, with the ground saturated, mud everywhere. In the city there is not a lot of pavement/sidewalks, in the villages there is none. Mud in and on everything, while having to haul water by the bucket to do your laundry and bathe your children. Talk about messy and yucky! Not to mention all the extra work it represents! The rainy season truly slows all of life. The courts in Addis Ababa close during the rainy season because with power being so unpredictable due to heavy rains, scheduling court appointments is pointless. (Courts are set to reopen Sept. 28 this year.)
At the end of the rainy season, the SUN comes out and the air is clean and fresh. The highlands burst into color as the beautiful and fragrant golden meskel daisies bloom everywhere. What a super reason to celebrate!
To celebrate, torches of dry leaves and wood bundled in the form of tall sticks are set on fire in front of houses while the young and old alike sing. Early in the morning everyone goes to church wearing the traditional clothing. After church there is a family meal of injera and wat. The girls goes house to house singing songs and the boys deliver pictures they have drawn. In the evening families go to visit their friends and elders discuss their hopes for the New Year.
Traditionally bouquets of flowers are given as gifts. Recently, the more well-to-do in the city exchange New Year's Greeting cards rather than flowers.
I found the following video which shows many of these traditions being practiced.
