Happy New Year or Malkom Addis Amat! Tuesday was the
Ethiopian New Year and I rang in 2005 pretty well! Yep, 2005! I’m in high
school again and Brad and Jennifer are still together. Oh, what simpler times!
Ethiopians do not use the Gregorian calendar and are oddly boastful and proud
of this fact. I love living in a country that takes pride in being seven years
behind the rest of the world.
Since
it was my first holiday in Ethiopia, I did not know what to expect or even if I
would get to experience a traditional holiday since I do not know many people
in Asella yet. As it turned out, I got perhaps too much traditional holiday
experience. I will explain the day in detail but the main take away is that
Ethiopian holidays seems just like American holidays- you are obligated to see
a ton of people and by the end of the day, you cannot move you are so full of
food.
My
day started at 9:00am. Well, that is not entirely true. My day started at
6:30am. I awoke to Ethiopian music blaring and the sounds of little girls going
from compound-to-compound singing songs for people. I would like to say I
eagerly got out of bed to experience this adorable tradition, but at 6:30 in
the morning, sleep trumps culture. I threw in some earplugs and eagerly fell
back asleep.
Anyways,
at 9:00 I arrived at my counterpart’s house. My counterpart is this fantastic
woman who is the head of the English department at my school. She was charged
with the task of being my… well, everything until I finally figure things out
on my own. She warmly invited me to her house on New Years for breakfast and I
shared the meal with her family. When I entered the house, I was instantly
given a full glass (Ethiopian hospitality dictates a glass must be poured to
the brim- practically overflowing) of tella. Tella is like an Ethiopian home
brewed beer. Just about every house makes their own and my counterpart’s is
absolutely amazing. We sat down to breakfast, which was more like a feast. The
meal consisted of many traditional Ethiopian foods. So at 9:15 in the morning,
I found myself eating dorowot (a red, slightly spicy chicken stew), sigawot
(similar to dorowot but goat instead of chicken), homemade cheese, chicken
wings/legs, and hard-boiled eggs. Just a tip, when you see people eat
hard-boiled eggs in one bite, you know it is a serious meal. By 10:00, I was
absolutely stuffed. I stayed for a little longer and had coffee with the
family. My counterpart and I then went to her mother’s house for coffee and
bread.
By
11:30, round one was done and I was heading off for round two. Luckily, I had a
30-minute walk ahead of me and was able to digest a bit of food. The second
stop of the day was at one of the best homes in Asella. The family hosted a PCV
named Lisa during the months of training, and Lisa and I were invited for
lunch. Once there, we were given more tella and I finally had time to sit and
settle into my food coma. Before long, it was time to eat again. Lunch was
pretty amazing. They had killed and butchered a sheep the night before so it
was as fresh of food as possible (as a side note, it was no small feat to avoid
seeing an animal being killed in the days leading up to New Years). I was able
to enjoy some t’ibs (as you may know by now, one of me favorite) and k’aywot (a
spicy red stew made with sheep). After more coffee and tella, I was past the
point of uncomfortably full. I was so full of food that I could not take a deep
breath- there as not enough empty space inside me to allow my lungs to expand.
That is serious-full. But, it was only 2:00 and there were more place to go and
food to eat.
Lisa
and I departed and met up with married Asella volunteers, Joe and Kelly. They
took us to a friend’s house where we were able to experience yet another
version of the New Years. We happily spent the afternoon with Telahun, his wife
and their two beautiful (and hilarious) daughters. When we arrived, we were
given glasses of arake. Arake is the equivalent of Ethiopian moonshine,
slightly like drinking fire but surprising good for digestion. To show what
good quality arake it was, Telahun poured some on the floor, lit a match, and
we all watched as it burned for a solid minute. Unbeknownst to me, Telahun and his wife are some of the best
cooks in the world. For second lunch, we had kitfo (raw meat, mixed with butter
and spices [fun fact: arake kills any worms you can get by eating raw meat!]),
k’aywot (amazingly good, I could eat their k’aywot everyday and be happy), and
homemade cheese that was a lot like ricotta. My only regret is that I was only
able to eat one plate. We again had coffee and slipped back into the daylong
food coma.
We
said our thanks and left Telahun’s house at about 5:00. The last stop of the
day was to Girma’s, a local hang out with wonderful owners. We somehow managed
to walk there (I suspect it was closer to a roll) and shared some tella with
Girma himself and his wife. We stayed for a while and had a great time. Towards
the end of the night, Girma and his wife came out with a huge plate of food.
Although we had not eaten in 4-5 hours, we were all still stuffed. We ate some
food but it was apparently clear we were just eating to be polite. Girma did
not like that. As is Ethiopian culture, if someone is not eating properly, feed
him or her! It was the only “gorsha” of the day. It started out reasonable. He
would hand feed us each, in turn, small bites. But one thing to know about
Girma, he is a funny man. By the end, he was feeding us handfuls of food so
big, it was nearly impossible to fit it all in our mouths. Remember when you
would (or still do, let’s be honest) spray whip cream in your mouth but you
would spray so much you could not really close your mouth? That is pretty much
what it was like. Except instead of whip cream, it was injerra and some sort of
wot. To make matters more difficult, we were all laughing hysterically and
could hardly eat anyways.
The
day was a fantastic time filled with good people and good food. I really feel
lucky to have been welcomed into so many homes and share the holiday with so many
people. The day was a synopsis of Ethiopian culture. No matter who you are,
there is also someone kind enough to invite you into his or her home and share
what they have.
So all in all, 14 hours, 5 different houses, 4 giant meals,
countless cups of coffee, and a solid amount of Ethiopian traditional drinks
rounded out my first Ethiopian New Years. I’m just a little scared I set the
bar too high for next year.
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