Ethiopia being a home country for more than seventy ethnicities with different religions, has been embracing unity in diversity for many years. Its peoples’ have come through several crucial historic times that could be described as good and bad but their unity was never under question mark under many circumstances. It is a worldwide recognized reality that our great ancestors of different ethnicities routed external enemies out of this land fighting to the end with unity.
Our African brothers and sisters proudly took that as an inspiration for their fight against colonialism. This unity has been handed over to generations but with many challenges. Some groups with unknown personal interests still allegedly try to vandalize our unity but there are somethings that they do not understand. Some of these things are expressed by the way we celebrate our holidays.
For instance we are celebrating the unique Ethiopian Epiphany or Timket with its eve Ketera beginning from yesterday. It is an out door festival celebrated on every 19th January commemorating the baptism or Jesus Christ in the Jordan river. It has been celebrated for centuries. Many tourists are attracted by the festival every year.
Once Donald Levine described a typical celebration of the early 1960s epiphany as follows; “By noon on Timket Day a large crowd has assembled at the ritual site, those who went home for a little sleep having returned, and the holy ark is escorted back to its church in colorful procession and festivities.
The clergy, bearing robes and umbrellas of many hues, perform rollicking dances and songs; the elders march solemnly with their weapons, attended by middle-ages men singing a long-drawn, lowpitched haaa hooo; and the children run about with sticks and games. Dressed up in their finest, the women chatter excitedly on their one real day of freedom in the year.
The young braves leap up and down in spirited dances, tirelessly years. The youths, of course orthodox Christian faithful, from whatever ethnicity and language come together to decorate their surroundings with different colors beginning days earlier from the holidays. During Ketera, where the Tabots, symbols of the arc of the covenant, are taken to a nearby site of baptism, escorted by singing and chanting of Sunday school students, the youths go up front rolling carpets with group efforts.
The way they do it indicate that unity can do magic if it is embraced with love and humbleness. They repeat this group effort while escorting the Tabots back to their churches on the day of Timket. This type of unity is also observed in places where no one expects to see.
The Muslim and Christian communities in different parts of the country, Wolo of Amhara state particularly, collaborate in building churches and mosques. During Epiphany and Demera festivities, the Muslim community always come riding horses to escort the Tabots and make the Christian holidays more colorful.
These symbols of unity have also been observed in different outdoor and indoor festivals of the peoples of Ethiopia with different religions and ethnicities. Such are the values we cannot afford to lose. The time has come that we inspire our fellow African brothers and sisters once again by conquering the troubles that tempt our unity. We are on the verge of effective socioeconomic and political reforms that would kick poverty and perpetrators to the curb.
The youths also need to work with the government and religious fathers in terms of defending the Nation’s unity from those who work day and night for disintegration and conflicts. Meanwhile, if we continue protecting our unity the way we celebrate our holidays, perpetrators and those who wish to see our disintegration will never succeed because united with different religions and ethnicity is what we always have been. And despite some dreadful challenges we could face, I believe that is what we will always be, united!
Herald January 19/2019
BY HENOK TIBEBU
