About ten years ago my bestfriend Temar and I celebrated Easter together. It was not on a Sunday , but it was in a Church, an Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I was ready to be enlightened. I had never attended an Ethiopian celebration.
In Temar's family the ritual was to attend church on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. The service would last all night into early hours of the morning. Although, there were similarities, the differences were intriguing. We were preached to, fed and entertained.
The Ethiopian cuisine consists of spicy vegetable and meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread, (which is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour). No utensils are used, Ethiopians eat with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes. (Wiki-Pedia)
At the end of the service, I was very tired and vowed to never attend again but I did really enjoy myself. I think the food and the love was the best part of that night.
I love this post. The Ethiopian Orthodox Easter has a lot in common with ancient celebrations of the Spring Equinox. Pre-Christian people celebrated the glory of the sun bringing life back to the earth after the misery of winter. They began the celebration the day before and celebrated ann through the night, cheering when at last the sun rose on the morning of the equinox.
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