Easter

            This post is a bit late seeing as how Easter was over a week ago, but better late than never right?

            Easter is one of the biggest holidays for Ethiopians (that is, the Christian ones). The majority of Christians in Butajira are either Protestant or Ethiopian Orthodox. About a week before the celebrations began I could tell Easter was going to be a pretty important day. All the chickens and the sheep in my compound between my landlord’s family and the renters came out to seven chickens and two sheep. For a week they were in our compound making a lot of noise, waiting to be slaughtered the night before Easter. I had yet to watch a chicken get killed. After ten months in country however, I felt prepared to watch a chicken get its head cut off. So when they began preparing for the holiday Saturday night, around 8pm (my landlord and landlady were sitting right next to my house), I stepped out of my house and sat with them. That day they had also made kineto (non-alcoholic homemade barley drink that the children drink) and tala (homemade beer) so they started drinking while preparing the chicken. Women are not allowed to kill the animals. As I’ve been told plenty of times, that’s the man’s job. So my landlord began cutting the neck of all these chickens with a huge knife. Once dead, my landlady proceeded to tear them apart, either with a knife or her bare hands. I watched her rip apart that entire chicken, pull off all the feathers, take out all the insides for the dog, clean the good parts and man is it a lot of work. She was out there until past 11pm. On top of that the power had gone out, so she was doing all of this by candle light. I was more than impressed. I know why Ethiopians only eat chicken a handful of times a year. It’s so much work. But doro wot (the chicken stew/curry Ethiopians make) is delicious! I love it. It’s made with a lot of berbere (similar to chili powder) and they add hard-boiled eggs to it. For two days I had doro wot probably four times a day.

            A week earlier my host mom had told me to be at her house at 8am so I woke up early Easter morning to meet my host family. As soon as I got there I was offered a plate of doro wot and two glasses of tala. When Ethiopians offer you food and drinks it’s very difficult to say no so I found myself drinking beer at 8am. We then walked over to my host grandmother’s house and had more chicken. Again I was handed a glass of tala and each time my glass was empty it was refilled immediately. I probably had at least six glasses by 11am. The rest of the day was full of more food and drinking. In the evening I had dinner with my landlord’s family which meant more doro wot and tala. I wasn’t complaining. As I said I love doro wot and I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d had chicken. Safe to say when I go home this summer I want A LOT of chicken wings.

            The next day I had lunch twice. My first lunch was with my landlord’s family. They had killed the sheep on Easter so had prepared dulet (sheep dish) on top of the doro wot. Then I went to the house of one of my teachers and had more chicken. In the evening, I went over to my neighbor’s home with my landlord’s family and had more tala, doro wot, and dulet. By the end of dinner I was exhausted from the two day celebration. It was a lot of fun though and I’m glad I got to spend it with some really great families. Being away from home during the holidays is always more difficult, but being accepted and welcomed into all these homes was wonderful and Ethiopian Easter is unlike any Easter I’ve ever spent. It was a great experience and its moments like these that make the many struggles of living in Ethiopia worth it.