Is there a big holiday in the middle of September? Well…yeah! Actually, there is and a very big one! On 11 September, it’s an Ethiopian New Year! And probably Ethiopia is the best place to celebrate it. But I’m sure that the second best place to do that is Sweden! Of course if you have a company of Ethiopians around.
I’m lucky to have Ethiopian friends who also study and live in Örebro. So, on 11 September we celebrated the new 2006 year. Exactly, in Ethiopia it’s 2006 now. The Ethiopian calendar is behind the one familiar to us for seven years and eight months. What’s more they have 13 months in a year, but the total number of days in a year is the same – 365…Well, it’s a bit complicated, just check this page if interested.
The New Year’s day marks the approximate end of the rainy season. To celebrate it Ethiopians do the same thing as probably the majority of other people do during the New Year – they eat a lot! But the difference is that they eat Ethiopian food.
The basis of Ethiopian food is a flat ‘pancake-like’ bread made of teff flour. It’s called Injera.
It has a light beige-grey colour, sour taste and a bit spongy texture. Injera is eaten with meat gravies, which have very bright colours and an intensive taste.
You eat like this. You put injera on your plate and pour several sauces on it. Then don’t be shy, use your hands and just pick a piece of injera together with some sauce and eat. Personally, I really like it, but should say that it’s quite spicy. The teff flour bread has a rather strange taste. So, if you are going to try injera for the first time, you may not understand the taste if you’ve never tried it before. But the more you eat – the more you like it!
We were lucky eating the real injera and sauces that my friends brought directly from Ethiopia.
But to eat without drinking – it’s not a holiday. Ethiopians drink alcohol. Some of my Ethiopian friends like to mix wine and Coke. It’s just a matter of taste and it’s really not a tradition.
Plus, of course Ethiopian music! Some pieces of it you can find below.
So, take a pancake if you don’t have injera, make some spicy meat-sauce, mix Coke with wine and switch on one of the songs below… But, maybe it’s just better to find some Ethiopians around!
I’m lucky to have Ethiopian friends who also study and live in Örebro. So, on 11 September we celebrated the new 2006 year. Exactly, in Ethiopia it’s 2006 now. The Ethiopian calendar is behind the one familiar to us for seven years and eight months. What’s more they have 13 months in a year, but the total number of days in a year is the same – 365…Well, it’s a bit complicated, just check this page if interested.
The New Year’s day marks the approximate end of the rainy season. To celebrate it Ethiopians do the same thing as probably the majority of other people do during the New Year – they eat a lot! But the difference is that they eat Ethiopian food.
The basis of Ethiopian food is a flat ‘pancake-like’ bread made of teff flour. It’s called Injera.
 |
| Injera |
 |
| meat sauce |
 |
| meat sauces |
We were lucky eating the real injera and sauces that my friends brought directly from Ethiopia.
But to eat without drinking – it’s not a holiday. Ethiopians drink alcohol. Some of my Ethiopian friends like to mix wine and Coke. It’s just a matter of taste and it’s really not a tradition.
Plus, of course Ethiopian music! Some pieces of it you can find below.
So, take a pancake if you don’t have injera, make some spicy meat-sauce, mix Coke with wine and switch on one of the songs below… But, maybe it’s just better to find some Ethiopians around!
Happy New 2006 year!
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