Enkutatash

tomorrow is 70 yeah and i

was gonna say happy new year but happy new year guys if you guys don't know it's ethiopian new year so ethiopians is it I don't know.

But anyway, Ethiopian New Year's.

Yeah.

Sorry.

You're the bro, Busi.

I'm looking for if they use the same calendar sequences as us, but the name of, um, the Ethiopian New Year is called Enkutatash, which means gift of jewels.

Oh.

And when is it?

People don't understand how much of an uncomfortable pain it is, only you do.

September 9/11 is Ethiopian New Year, LOL, believe it or not, Jesse.

I was-

Is that true?

This is Focus on Africa from the BBC World Service.

[instrumental music] Did you know Ethiopia is about to welcome the year 2019 on Friday? Tonight, on New Year's Eve, Ethiopians across the country and around the world will celebrate Enkutatash, the start of a new year in the Ethiopian calendar.

You may be wondering what Enkutatash is and how Ethiopians celebrate it.

My colleague, Fana Negash, explains.

[instrumental music] The Ethiopian New Year, known as Enkutatash, means gifts of jewels.

It marks the start of a new year and is a time for families and communities to come together in celebration.

Food plays a central role in the festivities.

Another important tradition is the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

Now that we're all sawn it up, Christina, what's on for the rest of the weekend?

Well, we have Ethiopian New Year at Footscray Park on Saturday from 11 till 5.

So that looks fantastic.

It's one of the community's biggest annual gatherings.

It is day seven of my thirteen days in Gondar, and the city is holding its breath.

In eight days it will be Enkutatash, the Ethiopian New Year, but right now all eyes are turned towards September twenty-seventh.

The meskel fire is being built, the procession routes are marked, and the whole plateau feels charged with a quiet, anticipatory energy.

You can feel it in the way people move a little faster, a little more purposefully, as if they are waiting for a signal that has not yet been given.

The city is transitioning from the rainy season to the dry months, and the air is beginning to clear.

In Kudatesh, the Ethiopian New Year is only nine days away, and the markets are already starting to stock the yellow astroflowers that symbolize the season.

It is a time of renewal, of new beginnings, and it feels appropriate as I reflect on my time here so far.

Gondor has challenged me, inspired me, and welcomed me in ways I did not expect.

I saw an osprey circle once, twice, and then drop like a stone, came up with a fish, and flew off towards the island.

I looked for the Ethiopian New Year Enkutatash which is in fifteen days, and I tried to imagine this place in the dry season when the land would be cracked and the lake lower.

I'm glad I saw it like this.

I walked up the hill to where Mussolini’s stele stands ,that twenty meter monument the Italians left behind.