I absolutely LOVE Hanna's hair when it's out of braids - just down and curly. But it gets tangled very easily, and she HATES (aka- crying, screaming, wailing, etc, etc) having her hair combed, so up in braids it goes.
Today, I successfully put in my first corn rows. I've tried before, but between a squiggly toddler and my lack of experience, I've never gotten a row longer than about a centimeter. But today, we achieved 12 full rows! Tigist said my "shurba" looks good, but I think she's just being nice. It already looks frizzy, so we'll see how long it lasts. Now if I can only get my parts straight....
I'm having problems getting pictures to post, but I think you should be able to access them here: photos of Hanna's braids
Timket is a very colorful festival within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which this year occured 12 days after Orthodox Christmas (next year it falls the day before Christmas). It is full of liturgy and colorful robes and bright tapestries. The reason for celebration is to commemorate Jesus' baptism. While many churches in the
West celebrate Epiphany, I had never experienced an Epiphany celebration like this!
All around the country there are large meeting places where people from a number of churches will gather to
celebrate. At Jan Meda (near Sidist Kilo) where we joined in the celebration, the members of about 10 churches gathered at the same place for the purpose of celebration. Our friend's estimate was that there were at least 100,000 people at Jan Meda. We think there were at least 200,000...either way, its a lot of people in the same field.
On Timket Eve (known as Ketera) the festival begins with a mass held at each of the local churches by the priest. Then the Tabot (a replica of the Ark of the Covenant) is carried on the head of one of the priests, covered by very colorful cloth. *A side note: each church has a replica of the Ark of the Covenant which are
kept in the Holy of Holies within the inner sanctum of the church. Because the priests are the only ones who can see the Ark uncovered and whom can enter the Holy of Holies, it brings huge celebration to Ethiopian
Orthodox members when The Ark is brought out.
The procession then starts to the gathering place through the streets. People dance and sing as the accompany the priests and the Ark. The Ark is also kept covered by a brightly-colored cloth-covered umbrella carried by another priest or deacon. It is a scene full of bright colored robes, bright umbrellas and an electric excitement. There is much singing, dancing and clapping...but perhaps the most spectacular scene is the drummers who lead the singing by playing a drum strapped around their necks with one hand on each end while spinning in circles.
Each of the processions will arrive at a different time at the gathering place, however most of the liturgy begins just prior to sunset. Most of the liturgy is conducted in Ge'ez which is a language dating back to the 4th Century. Unfortunately, the language of the mass is only really understood by the priests and other trained
religious people, since the only way to learn Ge'ez is through an apprenticeship with a priest over years of
training. The liturgy throughout the next 24 hours and the preaching will focus on Jesus' baptism, The Father's
voice of approval from heaven and The coming of The Holy Spirit upon Jesus. According to our one friend, the general feeling for many lay people is that in celebrating Timket they will experience God's blessing...so while they do not understand the words being said, there is a sense that God will bless them in the celebration. After leaving, the streets are filled with people dancing, singing and chanting - proclaiming that they are feeling blessed and that they are proud to be Orthodox. One of our friends said that these declarations have become more pronounced as Islam has begun to grow in influence within Ethiopia.
The liturgy is a mixture of prayers, songs, and chants. Much of it is choreographed in incorporating groups of
priests and deacons directing the music with their prayer sticks as well as the use of a metallic ratte-like
instrument named a sistrum. The chants and songs are based on a 5 note scale that traces the whole way back to Saint Yared who wrote Orthodox music using a notation that predates western musical notation in the 6th century. The celebration of Timket is full of centuries old tradition with the hope of calling the church to remember,learn and participate in the significance of Jesus'baptism.
There are liturgical elements which will last throughout the whole night, but the most anticipated event occurs
around midnight when a priest will sprinkle holy water throughout the crowd as a celebration of Jesus' baptism. Many have claimed to have been healed or experienced a sense of blessing when the holy water is spread. At some Timket celebrations, people will also enter a pool of blessed water for baptism or for healing.
Some of the faithful will stay for the whole festival (well over 24 hours) and then in the afternoon they accompany the Arks back to the local churches where they are from. Where we joined in the festival of Timket, there are also government officials who came to celebrate as well as Patriarch Abune Paulos (Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church). As you can imagine, this is a huge celebration, when you consider that approximately 40% of the population of Ethiopia is Orthodox and therefore it is a national holiday. In some ways the celebration appears to be a nationalistic celebration, too. There are Ethiopian flags and colors everywhere. It is uniquely Ethiopian.
We had the privilege of being able to have a front row seat with the Western press...so it was quite the
experience. If you're ever in Ethiopia during Timket, don't miss it. It is an important part of the culture.
Went outside and found that the kids had used chalk to make an entire city covering our entire compound, and were having a blast wiht the Fisher Price Little People in their town. There were houses, barns, roads, a gym, a church, fields...you name it. They had fun for days in their city (until it got washed away). Ahhh, a clean slate for yet another town to be born.
So, I'm a bit behind on blogging. But Ethiopian Christmas was celebrated on January 7. We had a wonderful day. Tigist worked all week to prepare a traditional Ethiopian feast for us, and filled the house with flowers Christmas morning. Our friend Mekebib came over, and we all had lunch together. Tigist had made doro wat (a spicy red wat with chicken and hard boiled eggs in it) and fit fit (a white wat with sheep meat and injera in it).
After lunch, we had a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony complete with popcorn, kolo (roasted barley), and dabo kolo (little pieces of dough baked into crunchy bits). It was a wonderful day of great Ethiopian food and great Ethiopian friends!
On Christmas morning, a cat showed up at our back door meowing like crazy. Tigist gave the kids some injera to feed him, and he was quite happy to take it out of their hands. Well, he has continued to show up, and from what we can gather, he belongs to the owner of the house. He's a sweet guy, and waltzes into our house announcing his presence with his loud meows. He never sticks around for long, but we enjoy seeing him. Of course, he needed a name, so Jerry named him "Chesterton", and it stuck. Even Hanna can say "Chesterton" quite clearly. Meet the newest member of our household.
Everyone thinks it's fun to send us photos of the snow and cold from home, so I thought it would be fun to send you all some photos of what winter looks like in our compound. Wrap up in your boots and hats and scarfs and mitts, and enjoy!
Here are some photos from Timket (Epiphany) celebrations at Jan Meda near Sidist Kilo in Addis Ababa. It is a huge, colorful celebration remembering Jesus' baptism. A video and some color commentary to come in the days ahead. These photos are from Timket Eve, otherwise known as Ketera. Enjoy.
Check out our blog chronicling the journey of adopting our daughter Hanna from Ethiopia from 2007 through the present. http://onelessorphan.blogspot.com
