Meskel

On the eve of Meskel we went up to a hill near the church at around 6:00 pm. There were two priests, a monk and Endale (my translator’s father) were building a bonfire our of tree branches. The bonfire was about 3 meters tall. At first there were only six of us, all men except for Nigist. More and more people began slowly showing up, most carrying a branch with them. Then a small ceremony began to bless the bonfire. In the end there were around thirty men. The ceremony lasted about thirty minutes and then the fire was lit. People began to walk around the fire while singing and dancing. This lasted for another thirty minutes until the fire died out and people walked home with candle torches.

When we arrived at home the father takes fire from the torch and lights a piece of wood. With this he lights a piece of wood carried by each of his male children, they then create their own bonfire in their yard.

Blessing the fire

The priests

 

The next day I had an interview with a woman about Zay food culture. We talked about cultural foods and when they were served. Most of the foods are served during visits related to weddings. The drinks were quite nice as well and I had the opportunity to sample some of them.

In the afternoon we went to the other side of the island to visit a small village. Someone had died from that part of the village a few months ago and Nigist needed her respects to the family. I joined her but did not go to the house, her brother and I went to the lake and visit with other friends.

Tef terraces on the island

Looking at the village of Mesno

I woke up in the morning to the sound of children running and playing. After I woke up and ate breakfast Nigist’s mother asked if she could braid her hair for her. Nigist said she would and I would go on a walk around the lake with her brother.

Nigist’s sisters and cousin

Nigist

Left: Oldest daughter, mother, and youngest daughter

 

When I arrived at the beach to begin my walk I came across a man who had just finished building his papyrus boat. He made a point to show me how it would work in the water.

Walking around the lake we came across Nigist’s other two brothers (her family has 10 children) who were keeping the cattle.

The next morning we were invited to climb the mountain on Debre Tsion to an old abandoned village called Wayzero where Nigist’s father was born and where an old church is. There was a crew there filming a documentary about the Zay people and I spoke to the producer a little. It took an hour and a half to reach the village. When we arrived at the top we could see in all directions. In Wayzero we found our way to the old church, now it is nothing more than the foundation.

View from the top looking at Tsedecha

When we came back to Nigist’s village we found her family making corn bread. First it is pounded, then ground to make a dough.

 

The crew filming the documentary wanted to film the Meskel ceremony again, as the had missed the original one. Many people came and dressed very nice for this. The bishop even came from Asela.

Photos of the second ceremony

 

 

 

The morning after the ceremony we took a boat back to Zway. We missed the original boat as it had too many people but luckily the bishop let us go with him in his contract boat back to Zway.

Abraham Festival

These past 10 days I was on Tsedecha (Aysut in Zeinya) to celebrate Mary’s Day (the 21^st  of every month by the Ethiopian calendar) and the festival for Abraham Church on the island.

This month the Mary’s Day celebration would take place in Wolde’s mothers home. As the host she was expected to provide tella (ale) and food for all the mothers who came. When I entered the home in the evening there were around 15 to 20 women praying. The praying was to thank Mary for the food and tella. After this the woman sang songs and then began to dance. This went on for another 30 minutes all the while the women were drinking and making small donations for the church.

The next day I had an interview with a woman about Zay funerals and a man about the Balabot system (the old governance system, very feudal) and during the second interview I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Haile Selassie had once visited Tsedecha, landing an airplane on the small island.

The following day Nigist (my translator/assistant/cook) and I went to the lake to buy fish to cook for lunch and dinner. Lunch would be tibs, essentially fried fish, while dinner was to be shorba, a spicy fish stew.

 

 

As Nigist prepared the fish I chatted with Ato Dabi while he was weaving. It takes him about a day to make 12 meters of cloth.

After lunch we interviewed an extremely old man about the Zay conflict resolution system known as Jarsa. The aim of the system is less to punish people and more to restore peace and harmony to the community. It is still used today.

In the morning we ventured in a small rowboat across the channel to the mainland to a village called Herrera, where both Zay and Oromo live. Nigist has an aunt there so we decided to spend the morning there.

When we arrived in Herrera we walked up a small cliff and at the top the land was flat with rolling hills. From here we walked about 1k to the home, passing a small primary school and clinic on the way. At her aunt’s home there was one more traditional home and one more modern. They kept some cattle and grew wheat and corn. They surprisingly did not fish. At the home we drank coffee and talked about my research and how life was living in Herrera.

Nigist making coffee

Her cousin making a fishing net to sell

They invited us to stay for the afternoon but we wanted to go back to the island. We walked back to the lake and took another rowboat back to Tsedecha.

The great thing about these boats is that they are not water tight. While you row you have to constantly keep pouring water out of the boat so it does not sink. Luckily there were no hippos that day.

When we arrived back on Tsedecha we were greeted by the boat owners preparing for the Abraham festival by painting their boats. Many boats would be needed to bring all the people from the mainland towns, especially Zway and Meki, to the island.

The day before the festival I awoke to the island preparing for many guests. Cow dung mixed with straw is used for the floors of the homes, and a fresh layer was being added. Clothes were being washed and hung out to dry. I decided this would be a good time to wash my body since it had been a few days. I went to the lake with Edane, one of Wolde’s brothers, to wash. After deciding I was clean enough we decided to fish, however I only caught one very small fish. I’m sure it would have been funny to see an Ethiopian and an American fishing in their underwear. In the afternoon many guests started to arrive in the various homes.

The day of the Festival everyone went to the church to celebrate. The festival essentially consists of lots of praying, bringing the tabot into the church, and then asking everyone to donate money to help finish the church. The bishop was also there who speaks English and French quite well.

After the festival ended everyone went home and after taking the boat back to Zway I took a nice long cold shower in my house.

More to come later

Tsedecha

I went on a two-day trip to the island of Tsedecha last week for some preliminary research. I stayed with my friend who is also a teacher at the local primary. As a guest on the island I was given his brothers house to live in during my visit and will live there during my subsequent visits as there are no rooms to rent on the island (essentially a large room with a bed and some farming supplies in it).

After taking the hour and a half boat ride from Zway to the island we were greeted by family, friends, injera and tella – a home brewed beer - in his mothers home. The rest of the evening was dedicated to making me drink coffee then me trying to sleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of footsteps outside my door. When I finally went outside to use the bathroom (the cornfield) I found Wolde’s father walking back and forth with cotton thread.

Wolde and I decided to take a walk around the island to see some parts I had not seen before. We climbed one of the three hills on the islands to get a better view and Wolde showed me the land that belonged to his family. Here is a view from the top of the hill.

After we walked up the hill we curved around the island and back to the village via a small beach. It was when we returned that I finally found out what Wolde’s father was doing with the cotton thread. He was preparing the thread to make a gabi, an type of blanket that is either worn or used as a normal blanket. I promptly commissioned my own, which should be ready sometime next week.

Some friends and neighbors came over to greet us and ask what I was doing on the island. One man, who is considered one of the island elders invited me for arake, which is like a homemade Grappa or Ouzo. After drinking what was probably too much, we set off to see the church which has been under construction for around 3 years. This is where, according to local legend, the arc of the covenant was kept for around 40 years sometime in the 13th century.

Returning to the house we were greeted by the sound of beating drums, dancing and women singing. It was the day of Mary (the 21^st  of every month on the Ethiopian calendar). This day they were to end their procession in the house of Wolde’s mother. As I approached the door I saw women dancing the Zay dance, where one stomps their feet and claps their hands (next time I will take a video). As I was about to enter the house one of the women came running out to get some air and I offered her some of my water, of which she drank about half a liter. Being the farenji (foreigner) that I am I wanted to go inside to see what else was going on. Wolde said he would wait outside since he hadn’t been to the island for about 4 months and didn’t want to have to greet each of the about 25 women individually.

Finally Wolde’s father, Ato Dabi (Mr. Dabi) arrived and forced him to go inside where we were given more tella, arake and some bread. The dancing had stopped but the women were still singing and enjoying while drinking tella and forcing Ato Dabi to drink as thanks for hosting the event. Wolde’s mother is the second woman from the right.

After the event ended we quickly ate dinner and went to bed. The next morning we awoke early to take the boat back to Zway, however we missed this boat and would have to wait an hour for the next boat, not to Zway but to Meki. However when we went back to Wolde’s house to wait and have coffee it began to rain. So what was initially an hour wait turned into a 3 hour wait while we waited for the rain to stop and the driver to tell us he was ready to leave. Ato Dabi decided to spin cotton as he could not weave anymore due to the rain.

When the rain finally stopped we went down to the beach to catch the boat. This boat, however was not only a passenger boat, it was also carrying fish. The whole front of the boat was filled with fish and two young boys working to gut them and throw the guts overboard. A few seagulls (or something like seagulls) followed us all the way to Meki. When we finally arrived in Meki we walked 20 minutes to the highway and caught a bus back to Zway.

Tags: Zay, Zway, Tsedecha, Aysut