Celebration

My favourite traditional holiday ever has to be the Habesha New Year, which is celebrated on the 11th of September almost every year. I love this holiday because it lasts for over a week full of festivities. On the 10th of September, we celebrate Hoyohoyo where every family lights wooden torches and crosses over them to symbolize a year of sunshine. The next day is filled with all kinds of food, music and joy. Every Habesha family celebrates it uniquely and in this paragraph I will share how my family celebrates it.

My husband usually goes out the day of or the day before and gets us just enough beef to last us for over 3 months. My kids and I wake up really early to start prepping for the beautiful day ahead of us. While I am in the kitchen making all kinds of food that my family loves, my kids are usually decorating our house with loud festive habesha music playing in the background. My husband is out getting drinks and desert for the day. After an hour of cooking, I set the dining table and we all change into our traditional clothes just to sit and enjoy the holiday with family and friends. We then set the house for our traditional coffee ceremony right after lunch. This tradition doesn't usually involve exchanging gifts but it definitely is filled with a lot of smiles and laughter.