Melkam Addis Amet 2006

This week we celebrated the Ethiopian New Year on 11 September. We are now in 2006 according to the Ethiopian calendar. The whole country came to a standstill in the last few days as celebrations were under way. As New Year’s Day fell on a Wednesday, which is a fasting day in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, many people celebrated on Thursday instead.

This is now my third New Year celebration in Ethiopia, so there is not much I can add to the posts I have written in previous years. In fact, I didn’t celebrate but went for a swim instead. It is still alien to me to celebrate the New Year in September, although psychologically, a new year starts every september, when we come back to Ethiopia after a long summer break and my children start in a new class at school.  As in the previous years, not much happens in Addis in September until after the new year has begun. So just as last year, I start this blog slowly again waiting for more to happen and write about.