It’s nearly Timkat – Epiphany – and I’m just now sitting down to write about Christmas. At this rate, I am going to be one of those bloggers who set up the blog, write a couple entries at the beginning, and then leave it to wither for months on end. Peer pressure requested to make sure this doesn’t happen!

 Although the date is different, January 7 vs December 25, Ethiopian Christmas traditions are very similar to American traditions. The morning is spent at church, and the afternoon and evening eating and drinking copious amounts with family and friends. Houses, restaurants, and other businesses have colorfully decorated trees, generally fake (although see picture) since Eucalyptus quite frankly doesn’t say Christmas to anyone. Until Christmas day, brightly wrapped presents await under the tree. Santa Claus decorations abound. Incidentally, I now live next to the SantaClaus school – wonder how many days it will take until I run out of bad Jay Cutler jokes as I walk by…

In my part-Italian family, we do the (almost) seven seafood dinner. This involves calling around to local groceries to find the cheapest yet freshest lobster. In Ethiopia, the days before Christmas and Timkat are marked by an influx of live chickens and sheep, plus a few cows and goats, into the city. For several years now, our colleague Mulugeta has bought his family’s sheep at our field site and carried it back to Addis either in the back or on the roof of one of the vehicles. Those who are not lucky enough to buy fresh sheep in the countryside and do not own cars carry their sheep on the local taxis (what Ethiopians call the minivans that are the staple of public transportation; equivalent to the Tanzania dalla dalla or the Kenyan matatu). One year, Aaron and I got a full Christmas Eve afternoon’s worth of enjoyment siting in an outdoor café watching the people and sheep pour out of the local taxis.

The chickens and their eggs become doro wat, literally chicken sauce, the most traditional of Ethiopian foods. The sheep becomes tibs (delicious roasted meat chunks), kitfo (very fresh, predominantly raw, spiced ground meat), and a cooked, spiced, ground meat dish for which I don’t know the name but am quite fond. We were invited to Christmas dinner with Tekie, Bonnie’s PhD student, and his family and got to sample all of these dishes, and more! Below are pictures of the full spread, and my delicious plate. Beverages, from bottom are pineapple araki (liquor), tej (Ethiopian honey wine), and tella, and you can see the preparation for the coffee ceremony in the background. The coffee ceremony will get its own post, at some point. On my plate, you can see the food up close: injera underneath everything, the egg and chicken of the doro wat, a pile of kitfo, some cheese, the yummy spinach dish, and Christmas bread. While Ethiopian restaurant food will never be my favorite, home cooked meals are fast becoming so! And, I admit it, I genuinely like kitfo. Hopefully, this will not be my downfall.

So, after a delicious meal, lots of araki, and 3 cups of coffee, it was time for Tekie’s nieces to sing and dance for us. They are 6 and 3, and as you can see in the group picture (taken by Jordan Noret), absolutely adorable! Plus, terrific dancers already – as I’ve hypothesized for years, Ethiopians are born knowing how to dance.

Then, it was on to the next party, at our friend Mesfin’s, for dessert, Scotch, and more dancing. Americans dance far too little, in my opinion. From now on, I hope all my parties will turn into dance parties by their close!

Phew, done just in time for Timkat!