Addis Amet: New Year - 1995

Well, Addis Amet festivities began before the 11th, with groups of little girls coming to the house singing New Years songs. There was generally a leader, an older one who led the song to whom the little ones responded. One usually had a drum slung over one shoulder that she played. They were really cute, I took pictures of many of them. They were then paid for their talents, depending on the size of the group.

New Year’s eve was full of work, going to the market to buy the food needed for the New Year. We went a little outside of Addis to find both a bg and doro. We passed many ppl on the way with large herds of bg. In the cases where 2 or more farmers were traveling together sheep were marked in the forehead with different colors to differentiate them. After much bargaining and asking different farmers, some of whom wanted to charge over 300 Birr for their sheep, we finally found one for 160 Birr, even tho at the last minute the man tried to change the price to 170 Birr. Into the back of the pickup went the bg, all legs tied together. No luck with doro. The next day a neighbor brought 2 for us. There was a bit of trouble tying them together, it involved chasing them around the yard: an art not to be underestimated. One has to spend quite some time inching toward the chicken, sometimes it would catch on & move away. Then all of sudden pounce on its tail feathers. Sometime you end up with just feathers and no doro tho. Anyway finally they were attached by a long string at the legs, giving them limited freedom of movement. The sheep was allowed to roam the backyard after a barrier was put up between it and the front yard. Imagine my surprise then when quietly reading a book at the front of the house the sheep, standing no more than 5 feet in front of me interrupted my reading with a loud “Baaa!!!” I nearly fell off my chair, after which I returned the greeting then hastily let the others know the sheep had found its way through the barrier. The sheep and I exchanged many such greetings during the course of the next 2 days. The sheep lived to see the New Year because it fell on Wednesday, a day of fasting, so no animals were killed or eaten on the actual day of the New Year.

Later on in the day, the house was cleaned from top to bottom, windows shined, floors mopped, etc. The singing girls provided a welcome respite from our work when they came. Grass was bought to spread on the floor along with Meskel flowers (yellow flowers that bloom at this time of year) to decorate the house. Long bundles of sticks were bought as well. As it got dark we prepared to have ppl over. All of the chairs, stools and anything that could be passed off as something to sit on was put outside in the front of the house. Grass was spread on the verandah. The big humongous dabo (bread) that had been baked the day before was put out on display. Popcorn was popped before the coffee was made during the coffee ceremony. This is not usually done b/c as was done that night, all the popcorn might be eaten before the coffee is served.

Ok! I confess! I’m guilty! I ate about 2/3s of the popcorn. My hand took on a mind of its own really.

Anyway, soft drinks were brought out and the coffee ceremony began. The coffee beans were roasted over the natural charcoal. Incense was burned and a white candle was lit. When the coffee beans were ready, they were put into a small container and passed around for ppl to smell them. It smelled wonderful. Then the beans were put into a grinder and ground (usually it is ground with a large mortar and pestle, but we have a grinder so…). During this time water was boiling and a bit of this was added to the traditional coffee pitcher. The pitcher was put onto the natural charcoal and heaping teaspoons of coffee were added to it. The charcoal was fanned to keep it hot. Forgive me any experts out there if I have described anything inaccurately or left out some parts. I will be required to do one before I leave so by then I will have it down. When it was ready it was served in tiny teacups.

During this time many neighbours had come over and there was an audience of roughly 12 ppl watching. The dabo was then cut by the heads of households and shared out to the neighbours, along with the apparently ever-important soft drinks. Ethiopian holiday music was playing the entire time. A group of ppl got up to dance. After not much insistence I got up and joined them. This dance consisted of a bouncing of the shoulders, up and down, back and forth. I basically just copied what the sister I was dancing with was doing and held my own to the surprise of the neighbours and my hosts. I got a few lo-lo-los which was cool. Truth be told this dance is not unlike whatever the name of the bounce was that was out a few years back. If you can do that, you can do this. my dance partner then thought she was flipping it on me by changing the movement and concentrating on the neck only, she pulled it back then released. This too, is not unlike dances black folks do in the U.S. so it was a piece o’ cake. We had a great time, dancing and clapping. Finally it got dark and it was time for the highlight of the night: The Chibbo ceremony.