The Easter preparations and celebrations begin with Palm
Sunday. This year I felt like it really came to life as we walked up our dusty
coble stone streets to church, past palm bushes and herds of goats eating grass
on the side of the road and a mother donkey and her colt just outside of our
gate. Throughout the week there was a spirit of anticipation as everyone was
excited and preparing for the Holy day. The market was buzzing and extra
markets were set up along the road. We shopped for new traditional outfits for
Easter and like most people we had a doro (chicken) running around in our yard.
As the weekend neared the little shops were running low on onions, tomatoes and
garlic as everyone wanted these items to prepare the traditional dishes. People
would talk about doro wat (traditional Ethiopian spicy chicken stew) while
their mouths would water with the thought of this spicy meat as most people
have been fasting from meat for the past couple of months. It is the Orthodox
tradition to fast from all animal products for the 2 months before Easter and
since the population in predominately Orthodox all the meat shops have been
closed since we have arrived and most people just eat veggie dishes.
By Friday if you walked down the street every other person
seemed to be carrying a live chicken under their arm and numerous vehicles had
a goat either tied in the back or to the roof, even on semi-trucks.
Friday was an exciting day at our house as we had our first
chicken kill. The kids were all excited and anxiously waiting for this event,
me not so excited. Brad had the honor of the big kill and all 5 kids were
hovering over every move of learning to kill, pluck and gut the chicken. The
dog enjoyed chewing on the feet as a treat! Saturday we spent chopping onions,
peeling garlic and preparing our doro wat and other dishes. I even got to learn
how to make injera from a friend. Another great friend of mine baked us the
huge (15 inch diameter) traditional bread and dropped it off. Everyone was full
of anticipation for Sunday to come. The churches here do all night prayer and
worship services starting later Saturday night, but we were told most little
children do not attend so we decided it was best for us to stay home also
considering we do not understand the Amharic service. Sunday morning we were
all up by 6:00 am though to get dressed in our new white outfits and start out
on the 4km walk to Joshua Field where all the people from the Churches were
gathering to praise and worship God and our Risen Savior. As soon as we opened
the door we saw the huge vulture sitting on the post eyeing up our little dog,
or maybe even the kids, it was quite the sight. There were about 5 vultures
hovering close by and we realized there was blood draining onto the road from a
few homes which probably slaughtered a goat for their Holy Day feast.
So great to share in worshiping on an open field with so
many of our Ethiopian brothers and sisters in Christ.
We returned home and had the honor of having our sponsor
family over (Tigist, Filimon, Belean, and Mesewet) for a coffee ceremony and
Easter Cake, games, a movie (a treat for them), and a delicious feast of doro
wat, kitfo, salad, traditional cheese, injera, bread, and mango punch. It is
common to just eat meat on this special day as they are tired of the veggie
dishes they have been eating the past two months. It was definitely a special day to have our
families together celebrating this holiday, we have been their sponsors for 7
years and watched God work in many ways beyond our imaginations, now today we
could play games, have our boys sit with Filimon and watch a movie and Zariah
playing with the twins outside. Even though the language barrier exists between
us we enjoyed a special day together.
After they had gone, of course we thru in some traditions
from home and had a little Easter egg hunt and relaxing time together as a
family. What a blessings to be here and that we can celebrate a great God who
loved us so much that He sent His one and only son to die on the cross and pay
the penalty for our sins. He conquered death and rose to life again so that we
can have eternal life. Halleluiah!
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