How Ethiopian and Chinese people celebrate the coming of spring season
In China the month of February ushers in the onset of spring season that replaces a snow ridden cold summer. The spring Festival is a welcoming ceremony for the spring season, which symbolizes a willow tree as a signal for onset of the season. After staying dry during the summer, a willow tree becomes light green and shiny that bewitches many people. People collect water on a vessel and sprinkle it on those who gathered to celebrate with twigs of tree or grass. This practice is believed to be an act that offers blessing or healing for the celebrants. The Spring season in China immediately follows the New Year which starts on the Month of February each year according to the Chinese Lunar calendar.
When the Chinese celebrate their lunar New Year, the date shifts from January to February every year, for example, it falls on the day of the February 5th in 2019. Chinese People set off firecrackers in the open air and smokes can be heard and seen everywhere. This so called the “festival atmosphere” in China. During the festival, Chinese people will absolutely enjoy delicious food.
The practice somehow is reminiscent of the celebration of Timkat or Epiphany in Ethiopia. Followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church gather annually around a bath that contains holy or blessed water and rally to get a drop or shower of the water which is sprinkled by a priest. The holy water is believed to give blessing or healing for the laity. Irretcha is a traditional thanksgiving holiday in Oromia State observed every year at the end of the month of September. Oromo People gather around a river or lake to attend the annual ceremonies that include prayer and blessings by elders.
They offer thanks to God for delivering them peacefully from the cold summer to the warm and sunny Spring as well as for blessing them with good harvest and urging to keep them well and together for the coming year. In different regions of China, there are different ways of celebration. In general, there is a 7-day vacation but in other places, the vacation can be as long as 15 days. People exchange good wishes of “Happy New Year” everywhere.
People can feel the full energy of this old country and the effective measures to keep good order taken by the government. Tsegab Kebebewa Director General, MFA, used to work in the Ethiopia Embassy in Beijing in the 1990s. He was very much impressed by the “CHUN WAN”, Annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala Evening which attracted millions of People. Dashan Mark Henry performed Chinese cross talk in fluent Chinese and became a TV star. Two decades later Ethiopians are able to enjoy a lot more of Chinese products to enjoy in their home land. Mr. Gissila Shawel, a Deputy Chief of Protocol, MFA, who returned from China two years ago said, now, people are going back hometown by high speed rail ( the maximum speed is around 360 km per hour), which is faster and more comfortable than it used to be.
He himself tried the HSR and visited Tianjin and Ningbo and found it very convenient. In order to share the culture with friends, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China send performing art troupe to all over the world including Ethiopia. In 2019, a troupe from Inner Mongolia region will be performing in the Ethiopian National Theatre, with the Ethiopian artists. The cultural exchange program between China and Africa is also ever growing formally in a bid to uphold the long standing strong cultural and emotional ties of the two peoples. The governments of both China and African states have given due attention to bringing the two peoples close to each other through promoting the performance of cultural troupes, among others.
Herald January 5/2019
BY YAN XIANGDONG AND ZEKARIAS WOLDEMARIAM
