Last weekend, I went to attend one of the biggest religious events in Ethiopia. The Feast of St. Gabriel is celebrated twice a year in Kulubi (December 28th and July 26th). Kulubi is a small town about 50km away from Haramaya University toward Addis Ababa. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians gather to celebrate the arch-angel Gabriel. I should first say that every day of the month is a "saint day" or a "feast day" for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. These "saint days" are according to the Ethiopian calendar though, not the Gregorian calendar. St. Gabriel's feast day is on the 19th of each month, so in December, it falls on the 28th and in July it falls on the 26th (of the Gregorian calendar).
The town of Kulubi has a huge church built on the top of a hill. Apparently, there was a church there since 1880, but it was rebuilt in 1962 by Emperor Haile Selassie. Since the new church was built, people have been making a pilgrimages to Kulubi twice a year. People walk from as far as Addis (400km) while others take vehicular transportation. Originally, I had planned to walk the 50km from campus, but since I had been feeling under the weather, I opted to take a mini-bus. My friend Solomon walked the entire way by himself; I am disappointed that I wasn't able to join him, but I just wanted to feel better after being sick for several weeks.
Solomon started walking on Thursday night to ensure that he would get to Kulubi before the main ceremony started Friday afternoon/evening.
The town of Kulubi has a huge church built on the top of a hill. Apparently, there was a church there since 1880, but it was rebuilt in 1962 by Emperor Haile Selassie. Since the new church was built, people have been making a pilgrimages to Kulubi twice a year. People walk from as far as Addis (400km) while others take vehicular transportation. Originally, I had planned to walk the 50km from campus, but since I had been feeling under the weather, I opted to take a mini-bus. My friend Solomon walked the entire way by himself; I am disappointed that I wasn't able to join him, but I just wanted to feel better after being sick for several weeks.
Solomon started walking on Thursday night to ensure that he would get to Kulubi before the main ceremony started Friday afternoon/evening.
The thousands of people that walk to Kulubi mostly sleep outside around the churchyard. For the event, many vendors show up to sell souvenirs (t-shirts, cross necklaces, hats) and food (lots of fried bread and traditional dishes). There is also an area near the church set up as a marketplace for animals; cattle, sheep, and goats are sold to be sacrificed. Besides animals, people bring other gifts to set outside the church. In front of the church, there was a huge pile of colorful umbrellas. These velvety umbrellas are often seen during church services and processions; they are usually held over the head of the priest by a church deacon or other high ranking official.
The actual celebrations begin late on Friday even though many people arrive a day or two before then. The praying and chanting goes through the entire night and finishes in the late morning on Saturday. Mark (volunteer from Uganda) and I headed to Kulubi as early as possible on Saturday morning. The first mini-buses start running as soon as the sun rises. We were lucky to find a mini-bus going directly from campus to Kulubi. The ride took about 1 hour and was very slow at the end due to the heavy traffic. We were dropped off on the main road and had to walk a mile or so to get to the church. It was exciting though to see all of the pilgrims making their way toward the church. Since the church is located on a hill, you could see the road all the way up flooded with white heads - the white being from netela, a traditional white scarf worn by both men and women. While women must cover their heads before entering an Ethiopian Orthodox church, men are not required to do so (but many do anyway).
The actual celebrations begin late on Friday even though many people arrive a day or two before then. The praying and chanting goes through the entire night and finishes in the late morning on Saturday. Mark (volunteer from Uganda) and I headed to Kulubi as early as possible on Saturday morning. The first mini-buses start running as soon as the sun rises. We were lucky to find a mini-bus going directly from campus to Kulubi. The ride took about 1 hour and was very slow at the end due to the heavy traffic. We were dropped off on the main road and had to walk a mile or so to get to the church. It was exciting though to see all of the pilgrims making their way toward the church. Since the church is located on a hill, you could see the road all the way up flooded with white heads - the white being from netela, a traditional white scarf worn by both men and women. While women must cover their heads before entering an Ethiopian Orthodox church, men are not required to do so (but many do anyway).
It took us a while to get to the church because of the crowds and because we stopped to look at some of the vendors' stalls along the way. At one point, we left the road and walked through the grassy area where the animals were being sold and where some people had set up temporary shelters to sleep in. To get back to the main road, we had to go on a narrow, muddy path. Turned out that this path must've been the designated toilet area; there were piles of human feces as well as random body parts from slaughtered animals (i.e. a cow's ankle/hoof and a goat's intestines). I was wishing that I had worn close-toed shoes! After a little adventure through the path of nasties, we made it back to the main road. The remainder of the way to the church was very slow-going. We ended up going to the back entrance of the church by walking through one of the colorful gates (national colors: red, green, and yellow).
Once we were in the vicinity of the church, it felt like we were in a mosh pit at a concert. The crowd was packed in around the church so tightly and moved ever so slowly. Eventually, we made it to the fountain where people were filling up water bottles and using them to splash the crowd. I heard that thousands of babies are baptized at Kulubi, but I didn't notice any baptisms going on when we were there. It took us at least 30 minutes to get to the other side of the church, but it was fun to people-watch and be a part of the craziness!
When we made it to the front of the church, we were able to hear some of the praying and chanting and see a few of the priests. There were some people sitting down and others laying on the ground near the church; they probably arrived a day or two early to reserve themselves a spot so close to all of the action. While we were making our way around the church, we randomly saw three of our friends from Haramaya...what a serendipitous encounter considering the masses of people!
When we made it to the front of the church, we were able to hear some of the praying and chanting and see a few of the priests. There were some people sitting down and others laying on the ground near the church; they probably arrived a day or two early to reserve themselves a spot so close to all of the action. While we were making our way around the church, we randomly saw three of our friends from Haramaya...what a serendipitous encounter considering the masses of people!
It took us a while to get away from the church because so many people were still pushing their way toward the church. We were not in a hurry though, so we just enjoyed the atmosphere. On the way back to the main road, we checked out more vendors' stalls and bought souvenir t-shirts and beads. We had a long walk back to the area where we needed to catch a ride back home, but the views were gorgeous. In the picture on the right, you'll notice the little boy and his "big stick". It is actually sugar cane. A lot of people were selling sugar cane at the festival. I don't know whether or not it has any special significance; perhaps it was just in-season. On our ride home, Mark and I each received a foot-long chunk of sugar cane from a generous man. I was excited to try raw sugar cane for the first time. After peeling the outside "bark" off, you simply take a bite and chew. The juices are as sweet as you can imagine and the center core has a bit of a coconut-y flavor. After sucking out all of the juice, you spit out the leftover fibrous solids. Yum!
More Kulubi photos here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113203084550986862848/albums/5963634556073000097
More Kulubi photos here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113203084550986862848/albums/5963634556073000097