On Sunday, Sept. 15, students from EMU, JMU, and other members of the community gathered to celebrate the beginning of a new year: 2017. Unlike most of the countries in the world, Ethiopia does not use the Gregorian calendar. Instead, they use the Ethiopian calendar, or Ge’ez. EMU’s International Student Organization (ISO) collaborated with JMU’s International Student Alliance (ISA), as well as EMU’s College Activity Council, Center for Interfaith Engagement, and Student Government Alliance to make the event enjoyable for all the attendees.
The EMU Ethiopian New Year celebration is entirely ISO based, starting four years ago when the Ethiopian population at EMU increased, and has continued ever since. The event consisted of a couple of hours for most people, but the organizers had to invest a lot of their personal time to make it happen. “The most challenging part was time,” said Fiker Yigsaw, co-president of ISO, “contacting ISA, arranging the food delivery while trying to get homework done.”
Another challenge that organizers encountered was food logistics, which they had to bring all the way from Maryland. “We get the food from Maryland, and they give us a lot, just as requested, but it is never enough for the amount of people who come to the event,” said junior and member of ISO, Sarah Prroj, who says food is an important part of the event, since it is a way of sharing Ethiopian culture with everyone. Despite the challenges, everything went smoothly the day of the event. Many people arrived at EMU’s Discipleship Center to join the celebration, where they found circular tables surrounded by chairs, elegant balloons placed around, loud music playing, and Ethiopian representatives dressed in traditional costumes.
Food was served by members of the ISO dressed in traditional costumes, and a row of different dishes were displayed as people passed with their plates selecting what to eat. “I learned how Ethiopians eat with a little thing they roll up and their hands,” said junior Jean Betancourt, describing the injera, a spongy pancake Ethiopians use to eat spicy stews, vegetable curries and raw meat.
Next, coffee was served. This was not arbitrary; Ethiopians have a tradition that consists of processing the coffee from scratch. “You are there during the entire process of blending it and every person in the room has to smell the beans as it is cooking. And then we do rounds, the first round and serve it to people, and then do another one and serve it to people, and it ends with the third,” explained Yigsaw. The coffee is served in traditional cups with colorful shapes, and during the ceremony incense is lighted, filling the place with its singular smell mixed with the aroma of coffee.
Overall the event was a success, ending with people on the dance floor. But what people enjoyed from this event was more than food, coffee, or dancing; it was connecting with this beautiful culture and other people. “My favorite part is seeing some returning students that came to the event,” said Micah Shristi , ISO’s staff advisor. For many Ethiopian students, this shortens the distance between them and their families. Junior Dibora Mekonnen enjoyed seeing everybody coming together and celebrating this new year because “it is so hard when you are away from your family.” Yigsaw agreed, saying, “I love New Years, this is just like back home, we don’t cook ourselves, thank God, but gathering to eat food, and listening to music together makes it feel like home.”
