27 months.: Fasika, Friends, and Family

Easter, which in Ethiopia is called Fasika, is one of the biggest holidays and celebrations in the country, with the exception of the New Years Celebration. According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, fasting (consuming no animal products) occurs many times throughout the year, and the longest consecutive fast is for the approximately 2 months prior to Easter. During this time the diet consists mainly of vegetables, lentils, beans, and injera (the staple food in Ethiopia).

A summary in pictures of my Fasika in |Mezezo!

S’alot Hamus is the Thursday before Easter, and on this day a special food is eaten: Gulvan. I was fortunate enough to be able to try this food, as I went out for lunch at a local restaurant and ordered a Bayanet: injera with a variety of cooked vegetables for the equivalent of 50 cents, and afterward, gulvan was brought to the table. It consists of barley and beans that are cooked in water and then is served with burberry (the main spice in Ethiopia, which is handmade and contains a variety of different spices including chili powder). Good Friday is called Sickalet in Ethiopia, and it is a time of prayer, and people go to church wearing white clothes and the women wear white net’elas (cultural thin white scarves) and people spend time praying on this somber day.

Then comes Saturday, which is a time to prepare the Fasika feast on Sunday. I went to the Saturday market for the first time in Mezezo, and it is the big market for the week, where people travel for hours on both bus and foot to buy and sell goods. There is a huge selection of food, spices, clothes, scarves, shoes, kitchen products, tables, and more. It was quite an incredible sight; crowded with hundreds and hundreds of people, and so crowded that you could barely even walk! On this Saturday there were also hundreds of chickens for sale, as the traditional food for Easter is Doro Wot (Chicken Stew). Live chickens were everywhere, of all sizes, as people selected the perfect one for their special celebration.

A traditional buna ceremony!

The Fasika foods that are eaten traditionally in Ethiopia include: ibe (cheese-similar to cottage cheese), siga wot (meat stew), kitfo (raw meat), and doro wot (chicken stew with hard boiled eggs), tibbs (meat and onions and peppers cooked together) all served on injera and enjoyed with t’ela (a local beer made at home from barley). Buna Ceremonies also are important on this day, and consist of fandisha (popcorn) and difo dabo (a traditional loaf of bread).

Upper left: kitfo, upper right: doro wot, lower middle: t'ibbs

My Easter day started at 3 am, when my compound father returned from Church and had not eaten in two days (which is common for the two days prior to Easter). It was now time for him to break the fast. First we ate shankora (sugar cane), which I learned is very important to consume before food is eaten after a fast. This is done to prepare the stomach because doro wot can be a shock to the system as it contains butter, chicken, and eggs, especially since no animal products have been consumed for the weeks leading up to the big holiday. After the sugar cane, we ate doro wot with injera; it was very delicious! At 4 am I went back to bed for 2 hours, and then dressed in my white habesha libs (white cultural dress with a colorful pattern) and headed to a friends house, as I was invited for breakfast. We had cheese and doro wot with injera for breakfast, followed by a coffee ceremony with popcorn. It was quite a deluxe and a great way to continue the celebration.

I headed back to my home afterward to celebrate with my compound family. My dad and sister were preparing the raw meat. My job was to use a homemade fly swatter to keep the flies away (I was glad to be able to help in even the smallest of ways, since generally I feel so helpless here and rely on others!). Then I ate breakfast again, and had siga wot, doro wot, and kitfo with injera, followed by a coffee ceremony with popcorn and difo dabo.

My compound father cutting the loaf of difo dabo!

The day continued and anytime I would walk to someone’s house for a meal or visiting, without fail someone I knew or didn’t know along the way would invite me into his or her home for coffee, which meant doro wot, injera, popcorn, soda or coffee, and difo dabo. This illustrates the extreme hospitality I experience daily in Ethiopia! Needless to say, I ate SO much food, but it was all extremely delicious, and it was incredible to get to experience this special holiday! Doro wot is a very important food in Ethiopian culture, and just seeing all the hours that are put into making it, I understand why! This day again reinforced how kind and hospitable the Ethiopian people are, wanting to open their homes to me, and share this special day with me. Also, I have a new perspective for what fresh meat is; literally purchased alive in the afternoon and eaten a few hours later!

Throughout the day, at several homes, the families in Amharic would ask if I needed anything else and I learned a new phrase which translates as “Be Free,” as people were wanting me to feel at home. Many men, women, and children told me that they were my father, mother, sister, or brother, and it was truly an incredible feeling to feel so loved and welcomed! After living here for only a week I have made so many new friends and had so many invitations into people’s homes that I had to take a rain check on some of them until Monday and others until Tuesday or Wednesday; the people here have been amazing and there is no way I can ever repay them for their kindness. I can already tell these relationships are ones I will never forget and that I am so grateful for; each day learning lessons about what it means to be hospitable, patient, and value relationships.

There is a joke with some of my new friends and family in Mezezo about arriving at “insert time in Amharic” SHARP, because in American time this is generally how time works, but I am learning to adjust my sense of time. People will say in Amharic, see you at “1” SHARP Hana, and we will all laugh as we go on our separate ways! For those of you who know me… I take time a little too seriously; so this has been a very valuable lesson for me!

A look at Mezezo!

My Fasika Weekend was extremely memorable, as I saw a chicken killed and prepared from start to finish for the first time, ate many new traditional Ethiopian foods starting at 3 am, and experienced hospitality that is unparalleled.

The Process of Doro Wot (Do not try this at home folks):
1. Cut up/dice approximately 50 onions or more depending on how much doro wot you will be making.

2. In a traditional clay pot over a wood fire cook the onions, and add some oil and some butter, and then a lot of burberry (the traditional spice in Ethiopia). Add some water also, and stir it periodically.
3. After an hour or two, kill the chicken using the following procedure (this happens in the evening on Saturday). Killing a chicken (the man of the household kills it, and then the women clean and prepare it):
i. Hold the wings together; then using a sharp knife, slit its throat.
ii. Place the chicken under a bucket for a few minutes.
iii. Place the chicken in a bucket of boiling water.
iv. Pluck out the feathers.
v. Hold the chicken by its feet and place in an open fire for about 30 seconds.
vi. Using a cutting board, cut off the feet and then skin the chicken using your hands.
vii. Cut the chicken into the 12 parts, and discard the intestines and other parts that are not eaten.
viii. Clean the 12 parts of the chicken that will be put in the doro wot: warning; this is a long process.
ix. This is done approximately six times or more, changing the water after each time: Using fresh lemon or lime juice, salt, and Ajax soap, clean the chicken meat by hand.
x. Finally place the 12 chicken parts into the traditional pot and stir it using a large wooden stick
xi. Finally, add more water and then add 6-12 hard boiled eggs.
xii. Enjoy with injera in the morning!