Melkam Fasika!

I awoke Easter morning at 6am to loud noises drifting in through my open window.  The sound of bells, women exuding “lululululu”, and men shouting and clapping heralded the beginning of the day.  Ethiopian Orthodox Christians spend a period of six weeks leading up to Easter fasting from meat-so for many Ethiopians the Easter feasts and celebrations begin very early in the morning.  Fasika (‘Easter’ in Amharic) is considered to be the biggest holiday celebrated in Ethiopia, even bigger than Christmas, and the day certainly did not disappoint!

One of the newest additions to Ebenezer Grace Children's Home

As is the case in the U.S., the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection  here in Ethiopia centers around church worship services, celebrating with family and close friends, and of course delicious food!  I spent the day with my friends in Awassa, and we had a huge celebration.  I was blessed to celebrate with over 40 children (the majority of them orphans from my friends’ ministry) and nearly 30 adults.  We had everybody over and started the day with a worship service with the kids.  Argo led the kids in singing worship songs, and then Argo’s brother shared a short message.  I love the joy expressed by little children singing worship songs, and even in Amharic you can’t miss the beauty and truth of their praises.

Easter Sunday worship service

After church came the Easter feast!  For such a large crowd we had a ton of delicious Ethiopian food…it was amazing.  To give you idea of the scope, five chickens, a goat, nearly 40 pounds of onions, and about 50 fresh injera were all involved in the preparation of the meal.  The most traditional Ethiopian dish for big holidays and large celebrations is doro wat.  Doro wat is a spicy red dish made with chicken, onion, spiced butter, and berbere (a traditional Ethiopian spice).  Nothing says special occasion here like doro wat!  The doro wat was delicious, and I couldn’t help but get my fingers soaked in the spicy red juices as I ate it by hand with injera :)

Cooking doro wat and other dishes on Saturday

Injera!

Tucking in to the food

After the meal we had coffee for the adults and desserts, and the kids did an egg hunt!  Don’t be confused-an Easter egg hunt is certainly not part of Ethiopian culture and tradition, but we farenji have no problem mixing traditions :)  The kids had a blast, and of course loved the candy.

It was a fun and joyful day celebrating the truth of Christ our Risen King!  It was a blessing for me to be surrounded by so many friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, and to get to celebrate Easter for the first time here in Ethiopia.

Tenestwal (‘He is Risen’ in Amharic)!