Fasika (as I saw it :-))

I wrote the following e-mail to a dear friend from Finland [who was more interested in history, and the weather, than I ever would] on February 26, 2004. It could use a good deal of editing and might sound disrespectful to some [the sister may have always seen things her own way but wasn’t always as, shall we say, “politically correct” as she tries to be nowadays?! “Politically correct”! Now that is some concept the Democratic world is shoving down the Ethiopian throat]. But I thought I might as well post it as not many articles seem to exist on the internet regarding Ethiopian holidays [except for few impersonal descriptions by tour operators, travel agents and people who live by the camera] and, ofcouse, because there is no better way to say “Melkam YeTinsae Beal” to my home-sick Ethiopian friends!

“Fasika” (“Festivity”) or “YeTinsae Beal” (Commemoration of The Resurrection), i.e. “Easter” is a very colorful and fascinating holiday in Ethiopia! Most of my relatives are either Protestant Christians or slack Orthodox Christians so I can’t tell you much about the … historical background. However, even the strictest ‘pente’ [as Protestant Christians are called here] can’t resist getting up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning to partake of the ‘doro wot’ [chicken stew, both spicy and delicious] that Ethiopian women cook for holidays after the almost 2 month’s lent. According to the Orthodox Church calendar, the lent has set in about 2 weeks ago. I believe the western [catholic?] church has got a one-month similar lent too. Why the Ethiopian one got extended by 15 more days is because of the extra time, referred to as ‘yengus tsom’ [fasting of the kings], when the Ethiopian people are said to have prayed that God return Ethiopia to Ethiopians and that their king {who was on exile somewhere in England for the whole period} return home, at the time of the 5 years Italian occupation. A tribute to a prayer-answered, so to say.

It might interest you to know that what is referred to as ‘tsom’ [fasting/lent] in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian context is eating every type of food except that which is a diary or meat product, Fish excluded, within either Wednesday or Friday or for the whole season of ‘lent’, also referred to as ‘Abiy tsom” or ‘yefasika tsom’. Ethiopians believe eating dairy product and meat would encourage the ‘flesh’ to indulge in sinful thoughts but vegetable food stuff like peas, beans, and the like doesn’t. This, ofcourse, doesn’t include those Ethiopians who are either Muslim or Protestant. They fast off food and water for whatever limit of time they want and eat what their heart desires when done. Which the Orthodox Christians do not consider a real ‘tsom’. [Fancy that! :-)]

So… after the 45 day’s ‘tsom’, and on the day when Christ was supposed to have been crucified [always on Friday, April 9 this year] most Orthodox Christians [including those who do not attend church regularly] would dress in neat white robes (what we call a ‘netela’) which is supposed to be an attire that angels wear, and go to the church close to them, without food. They worship, by kneeling down at the place of their choice within the ‘sacred’ grounds of the church {usually at a place of shade as the sun is severe}, crossing themselves all the while. And getting up and doing it all over again until they are worn out and unable to raise themselves. At which interval they’d take some breath and rest, listening to the word of God being preached, some spiritual songs by the priests and deacons, confessing their sins and thinking spiritual thoughts. This goes on from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m, straight!

At exactly 3:00 p.m., the priests [who have thus far taken refugee within the walls of the church] would come out with a leaf that’s supposed to represent, i imagine, the ones the whole town of Jerusalem took to greet Jesus with on His arrival there, in their hands and dipping the leaf in a “tsebel” {holy water} ask those struggling to get near them (and be as out of ear shot of those around as possible) what sort of sin they committed within the last year. Upon learning which, they order them to ‘mesged’ [worship] between 40-120 times [according to the severity of the “sin”] and give them absolution by sprinkling some of the “holy water” from the leaf on their face!

After that ceremony is over, everyone would go home, tired and hungry, but feeling as clean as the driven snow from his or her respective sin. On arrival home, the young ones and the ‘slack’ Christians would take a lunch of a meatless, milk-less, butter-less component and go to sleep. The strict ones, ofcourse, do not give their ‘flesh’ such freedoms. They would eat nothing but ‘qolo’ [our term for a toasted beans/peas food] and drink nothing but water for three more days until the eve of the resurrection, Saturday night, when they would go to church, spend the whole night there singing, praying and trying to remember His suffering and death.

I know it all sounds fabulous [indeed it is-for the bystander] but there isn’t much spirituality involved in it. As atleast 95% of the performers, if I can call them that, don’t really know the real significance of what Christ did on that day. I used to be taken to the same church when I were a child by my aunts, friends of aunts, daughters of aunts, for a shorter and fiercer “tsom” and knew, even then, that the girls were there because they can not be seen around town on an important time like that or to find a nice church-going boyfriend [and the deacons were always, I mean always, cute] :-). Maybe that’s when Christ [or the Orthodox Church in particular] lost me. That or when me and my young friends stole to the church’s backyard to look at the impressive tombstones and the awesome photos on them and missed out [gladly, i might add] on most of the teachings.

Anyways, the churches are ofcourse magnificent and they would look more dazzling that night, when after 3:00 a.m. and the herald of ‘He is Risen!’ is heard, everybody sort of flows out of it holding ‘tuaf’ {a burning candle sort of thing that’s made of cloth and a melting material which doesn’t go out with the wind} and singing traditional spiritual songs [about either Mary or one of the angels]. Needless to say, the streets are radiant that night [even at that ghastly hour] when people, flocking out of churches, meet on the main road with the flickering light from hundreds of ‘tuafs’ in their hands, all covered in white. It would remind one of fascinating old world phrases like “piligrims”, “nightly vigil”, “Heavenly” and dressed like that, people DO look holy :-).

When they reach their respective homes, they’d ceremoniously sit with their family (with the youngest of the house responsbile for providing & pouring water on the hands of all his elders; and the mother/wife and daughters being in charge of bringing the dishes and eatables to the table) to partake of their first ‘yefisik’ [buttered, milked, meaty} food after almost 2 months! Everyone would go to bed at the break of day and wake late in the morning! Doro wot, yebeg siga [lamb] and yebere siga {beef?} are cooked, along with difo dabo {sour dough pancake} and tela or tej [traditional alcoholic drinks] for the celebration. I’ve always told my foreigner friends that ‘Food’ is what holidays are about in Ethiopia, by which I mean that’s where all the fun lies. People usually wear new clothes or yabesha libs {traditional Ethiopian cloths} on special occasions like this, clean their houses and scatter “saar” {long stemmed grass, and sometimes the delicious smelling “tej sar” – which I love and my mom associates with ‘unholy’ tributes to God-knows who} to make their house presentable for the relatives and friends that would pay them a visit that day.. and are generally in a cheerful & hospitable mood, as Ethiopians always are or atleast meant to be when “guests” comes to their house {regardless of the debts they might have gotten themsevles into for the filling of the festive table, or what they feel about the guest :-)}.

It’s usually the same with the countryside, too, except the folks there are more in touch with their spiritual side and very religious. After all the visiting of relations, the exchanging of good wills and stuff, the more fortunate families and the young unmarried ones would take their family [or friends] to traditional restaurants, or clubs, to watch cultural dancing and to drink and feast all night long. Which is why not many come to work the day after a holiday in Ethiopia [we certainly have a day off at our office], as they’d be either too sick or too stoned too. If they do, it won’t be without a mourning head on their shoulder :).

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Both photos were taken from Flickr.com.

 

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