ENKUTATASH ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR

TIME AND DATES IN ETHIOPIA

Enkutatash or Ithiopian (Ethiopian) New Year is celebrated on September 11th according to the Western or Gregorian calendar. Ithiopia still follows the Orthodox Julian calendar which consists of 12 months of 30 days and a 13th month, Pagume, of five or six days, depending on whether or not it is a leap year. The Ithiopian calendar is seven years and eight months behind the Gregorian calendar, so September 2012 is Meskerem 2005 in  Ithiopia.

The way Ithiopians measure time is also different from the West. The clock starts at 6am western time and runs until 6pm. Therefore 8o’clock in western time would be 2o’clock Ithiopian time. Because Ithiopia is close to the Equator the sun rises at around 00.30 Ithiopian time and sets at around 12.45 in the evening (6.45 western equivalent) all year round. Ithiopia is 3 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

The years run in a four year cycle bearing the names of the Gospels with the year of John or Yohannes being the leap year.

Meskerem : 11th September

Tikimt : 11th October

Hidar : 10th November

Tahsas : 10th December

Tir : 9th January

Yakatit : 8th February

Maggabit : 10th March

Miyazya : 9th April

Ginbot : 9th May

Sene : 8th June

Hamle : 8th July

Nehasa : 7th August

Pagume : 7th September

Enkutatash is an important festival in the lives of Ithiopians. After three months of heavy rains the sun comes out creating a beautiful clear fresh atmosphere. The highland fields turn to gold as the Meskal daisies burst into flower. When Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, returned to Ithiopia after her famous visit to King Solomon, her chiefs welcomed her forward by giving her “enku” or jewels. Enkutatash which means “gift of jewels”‘ has been celebrated ever since in spring. Meskerem is seen as a month of transition from the old year to the new. It is a time to express hopes and dreams for the future.

ORTHODOX ENKUTATASH CELEBRATIONS

The largest religious celebration is in the 14th-century Kostete Yohannes church in the city of Gaynt in the Gondar Region. For 3 days the sounds of psalms, sermons, prayers and hymns can be heard as colourful processions welcome the New Year. There is a large celebration nearer to Addis Abeba, the capital, at the Ragual Church on Entoto mountain.

ENKUTATASH CUSTOMS

On New Year’s Eve, torches of dry leaves and wood bundled in the form of tall and thick sticks are also set on fire in front of houses as the young and old sing. Early in the morning everybody goes to Church wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing. After Church there is a family meal of Injera (flat bread) and Wat (stew). The girls go from house to house singing New Year songs for money and the boys sell pictures that they have drawn. In the evening families go to visit their friends and drink tella the traditional Ethiopian beer. While the elders discuss their hopes for the New Year the children go and spend the money they have earned.

In more recent times it has also become usual for well-to-do city dwellers to send each other New Year greetings cards instead of the more traditional bunches of flowers.

ETHIOPIAN EASTER

HOLY WEEK

In accordance with the chronology of the Gospel account of the last days of our Lord’s mortal life it is natural that the sacred Triduum of Thursday, Friday and Saturday developed. A special “Holy Week” became established in which all the faithful re-lived and received graces from the fundamental mysterious of redemption.

Palm Sunday or Hosanna is celebrated with proper ceremonies with palm, processions and special services. Then follows Holy Week, the week of Pains, the Himamat. For some, from Thursday afternoon until Easter morning no morsel of food nor a drop of water enters the mouth and three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly. No absolution is given.

MAUNDY THURSDAY is a special day on which in the Mass unleavened bread is used. For those who can, it is spent out of doors. When the fast is broken late in the afternoon no one eats ordinary bread, a mixture of special flour is compounded and boiled. A solemn Mass is celebrated on that day. The ceremony of washing the feet is conducted the same day in imitation of what our Lord did to the twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. All the faithful with clean souls should communicate on Holy Thursday.

GOOD FRIDAY. The solemn liturgical service of Good Friday is attended by thousands of believers. There is a sense of sorrow and desolation. All the symbols, images and instruments used in the passion of the Saviour are publicly exhibited in the church. Men and women go to church to prostrate themselves, remaining there from early morning till 3 p.m. the hour of the death of Jesus Christ. Believers confess their greater and lesser offenses to the confessor or sit reading their Psalter. It is believed that on Good Friday blood fell from Christ on the cross and dripped into the grave of Adam beneath and there rose up from the dead about 500 people; the thief on the left was sent into darkness but the one on the right went before Adam into Paradise. On this Friday the Devil was bound with cords and Christ descending to purgatory (seol) sent forth to paradise all the souls that were in darkness (Seol). Good Friday is a special day for confession.

HOLY SATURDAY is Qidame shur on which the good news went forth. Everyone who fasts passes the day and night in expectation. On this night before Easter many go to the Church and pass the night in making prayers and in prostration on clenched hands. Confession is heard on that day.

EASTER, the feast of feasts, is celebrated with special solemnity. The church is filled with fragrance of incense and myriad’s of lights. The clergy are arrayed in their best vestments. All the people hold lighted tapers. Greetings are exchanged, drums are beaten, hands are clapped and singing is heard everywhere: “our resurrection has come, hosanna.” Men are heard saying “O Lord Christ have mercy upon us.” They pray for a blessing “O God make it to be a festival of our good fortune and of our well being! Let us have another threshing floor and another year if thou wilt.” Letters or messages are exchanged between friends and the whole day is one of spiritual and physical feasting, a commemoration of the holiest occasion of all history – a truly blessed time when Christ rose from the dead.

Edited by Aymero W and Joachim M., The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, published by the Ethiopian Orthodox mission, Addis Ababa 1970.

GENNA ETHIOPIAN CHRISTMAS

The Ithiopian Calendar is seven years behind the Gregorian Calendar now used in the west.  Ethiopia, having never been colonised, still uses the Julian Calendar. The year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each, and a 13th month of five days (six days every leap year).

Ithiopian Christmas day is on January 7th of the Gregorian Calendar or Tahsas 29th of the Ithiopian Calendar. This is the date that Christmas was originally celebrated and still is in most Orthodox Christian troditions.

Ithiopian names for Christmas are Liddet, Genna and also Qiddus Bala Wald.

Lidet is preceded by a fast of 40 days. There are many fast days in the Orthodox Christian Calendar. Christians fast every Wednesday and Friday all year round. On fast days Ethiopians eat only one meal in the evening. This must not contain meat or dairy foods. Sometimes fish is also avoided.

After a large meal on Christmas Eve, Ithiopian Christians go to Church and spend the night praying. Modern Churches are designed in three concentric circles. Men and boys sit separately from women and girls. The choir sings from the outside circle. As the people enter the church they are given candles which are then lit. Everyone then walks around the church three times. The congregation remain standing for Mass which can last up to three hours.

Food eaten at Christmas is the standard Ithiopian menu of injera, a pancake like bread made from a local grain called tef, and wat, a spicy stew. The injera is used to scoop up the wat. The meal is served in beautifully decorated baskets.

Only the children receive presents. This is usually something simple such as clothes. Children also play a game at this time of year called Genna. It  is similar to hockey.