NEBAB #14: The Ethiopian New Year- እንቁጣጣሽ/Enkutatash

 NEBAB #14

The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine

THE ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR- እንቁጣጣሽ/ENKUTATASH

The Spiritual Education Unit

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America

Ethiopian New Year: Enkutatash

In this issue:

    1. Enkutatash Traditions and History: Ethiopian New Year

    2. Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed

    3. Faith and works

    4. “Ask Abba/Kes”

    5. A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam

    6. Children’s corner

    7.ይበል ግዕዝ 

    8. Orthodox Q&A

 

Enkutatash Traditions and History: Ethiopian New Year

Enkutatash is what the Ethiopian New Year is called and it means “gift of jewels” in Amharic. It is also called Ri'se Awde Amet which means the Head of the Holy days. 

Enkutatash is celebrated on Meskerem 1st in the Ethiopian calendar.  Ethiopians follow a 13-month calendar similar to that used in many Eastern Orthodox churches. Enkutatash falls on September 11th in the Gregorian calendar. 

The origin goes back almost 3,000 years to the Queen of Sheba, Queen Makeda of ancient Ethiopia, who was returning from a trip to visit King Solomon of Israel in Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Bible in I Kings 10 and II Chronicles 9. She had gifted Solomon with 120 talents of gold and many unique spices and jewels. When the Queen returned to Ethiopia, her chiefs welcomed her with enku or jewels to replenish her treasury. Her return to Ethiopia coincided with the New Year celebration in September, and hence the name Enkutatash came to be. The celebration is both religious and secular. It comes at the end of the rainy season, and the foothills surrounding Addis Ababa are covered with yellow daisies (adey abeba), reflecting the start of new life within the country. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church always hold a special service on the New Year. When the holy liturgy comes to an end, the chief priest in each Church reads the calendar of the year. The Church uses its own mathematical system for calculating the times of festivals and the beginning and end of fasting days. After the church service, there is the traditional family meal of chicken stew and injera, with traditional honey-based wine and specially prepared Ethiopian coffee. Young children will receive small gifts of money or bread. More traditional families welcome guests with bouquets of the yellow flowers. Groups of young Ethiopian girls go around performing a song called ‘Abebayehosh.’ Families visit friends. As night time approaches, they gather and begin building a bonfire, which is lit once night descends. 

Righteousness And Peace Have Kissed

Here we are today, bringing in the new year of 2017, the year of St. Matthew! The Apostles ordered the years to be named after the four gospel writers. May He take you safely from the year of St Mark to the year of St Matthew!  The feast of the new year is named after St John the Baptist- “Rse awdamet Yohannes | Head of the feasts of St John”. This is mainly since his beheading took place during this time. He’s also the last of the prophets and is the bridge between the Old and New Testament. He conveyed the New Testament from the Old Testament by announcing the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:1-19). Therefore, the Saint is seen as a symbol of transition from the Old Testament to New Testament.  In this New Year, we want to embrace the message of “Righteousness and Peace” from our psalmist King David – Psalm 85: 10 Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.

In beautiful terms the psalmist describes the salvation God brings to His people. In its broader context, this verse also holds a prophetic significance, pointing towards the ultimate reconciling work of Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ is often interpreted as the embodiment of both mercy and truth, as well as the reconciliation of righteousness and peace. In the New Testament, the Apostle John states that “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17, KJV), highlighting the fulfillment and harmonization of these vital concepts through the life, death, and resurrection of Our Lord  Jesus Christ. The message of this verse is not only relevant to individual believers, but also to our society at large. It serves as a reminder of upholding principles of mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace in our interactions with others and in the way we govern our communities. The attributes of righteousness and peace are linked in Isaiah 32:17 as well: “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.” God

promises “peace to his people, his faithful servants,” but urges them to stay away from folly, for the Lord will save those who fear Him (Psalm 85:8–9). 

God comes every year looking for us to bear fruit in our lives, and whenever we fall short, we should always look to “fertilize” our lives spiritually. 

Speak with your spiritual father, enrich your prayer life, seek and learn the word of God, and dwell in the house of the Lord!   

All glory to God for where He has brought us and may He bless us with a year full of happiness, peace, and love!

Faith and Works:

Give it a year

Spiritual growth is a term we hear all the time, but it can be hard to know what it looks like practically. Spiritual growth means having and working towards spiritual goals- which requires Christians to be goal-directed people. Let’s see how we can use the new year to make some spiritual goals.

In a year- Find some aspect of your church life or your individual relationship with God that you want to improve and write down what you want to have achieved by the end of this year (e.g. learning a certain prayer or number of Psalms)

In a month- Break it up into 12 pieces small enough to complete in one month, and track your progress each month

In a week- Establish a weekly routine to practice/learn. It should be every day, it’s just a matter of finding out where the time is in your day, and devoting it to your spiritual growth

Ask Abba/Kes

"Why does Ethiopian New Year start in September but in the western calendar, it starts in January?"

The Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash) Ethiopian calendar is based on the older Coptic calendar, which is itself derived from the ancient Egyptian calendar. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church calculates the birth of Jesus Christ differently than the Gregorian calendar. The Ethiopian New Year is celebrated on Meskerem 1, the first day of the Ethiopian calendar year, which falls on September 11 (or 12 in a leap year) in the Gregorian calendar. 

BIBLE QUIZ!

The second article on righteousness and peace was a commentary on one of  the Psalms. Find the verses and the Psalm where this type of synonymous parallelism is found. Continue to reflect on the verses!

 

A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam

[This is] a miracle [performed by] of Our Holy Lady Mary, the Two-Fold Virgin, the Mother of God, may her prayer and blessings be with us forever and ever, amen.

A church named after Our Lady Mary had a priest who loved Our Lady Mary with all his heart and with all his strength. That priest didn’t celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy with any prayer other than the Anaphora of Our Lady Mary. 

On the day of Our Lady Mary’s Dormition feast, the 21st of Ṭerr, that priest began to celebrate the liturgy as was his custom with the Anaphora of Our Lady Mary. Many people, rich and poor, were gathered there for the feast. Among them was a rich man who trusted in his wealth and was proud of his strength. When this rich man heard the Anaphora of Our Lady Mary rising from the priest’s mouth, [its opening] saying “A good word gushes forth from my heart! I speak the Anaphora of Mary”, the rich man insulted the priest, saying “May you gush forth blood!” Having said this, the rich man immediately left the Church in the middle of the Eucharistic Liturgy of that great feast day. Satan, humanity’s enemy, prompted the rich man to do this [sacrilegious thing]. When that haughty and greedy rich man reached his home, he immediately began vomiting blood until he was dead. Even before the people who had gathered for the feast were dismissed from church, they heard the terrifying news that the haughty and greedy rich man had died. He perished because he had despised the Anaphora of Our Holy Lady Mary, the Two-Fold Virgin, the Mother of God, [forever] separated from the Lord’s banquet of the Eucharist.

Because of this news, the people were petrified with terror. They trembled, those who heard what the rich man had said against the Lord’s priest, before left the church during the Eucharistic Liturgy. [The truth of] the Holy Gospel, which says, “One who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this world or the coming one,” was confirmed. Because of this incident, the death of the rich man, the gathered people who saw it were shocked. All the rich man’s relatives wept for him bitterly, most of all because he was separated from the love of Our Holy Lady Mary, the Two-Fold Virgin, the Dwelling of the Holy Spirit. My dear brothers, the Lord’s beloved, who heard about Our Lady Mary’s great miracle, live judiciously, loving one another strongly. When you hear Our Lady Mary’s anaphora, or chanting or praise in her honor, don’t dismiss it as something contemptible. [The story of] this rich man’s death was written as a warning for us and also to make known the Our Lady Mary’s great miracle.

May her prayers and blessings be with us, forever and ever, amen.

O Holy Virgin Maryam, pray for us!

LIJOCH! The Children's Corner

Memory verse : 1 Kings  10 : 10

And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold,and of spices very great store,and precious stones;

Draw a picture of how you celebrate New Year's with your family

ይበል:ግዕዝ (yibel Ge’ez)

Let's reclaim our forefathers’ language

Today, let’s take a look at our first pronouns.

If we want to say that something belongs to the person to whom we’re talking, we can add a suffix. -ከ (ke) and -ኪ (kee) are the masculine and feminine versions of this suffix.

ምስለ መንፈስከ

misle menfesike

And with your spirit (said to the priest- a man)

ስምኪ ጥዑም

simikee ti’ume

Your name is sweet (sung to the Virgin Mary- a woman)

Quiz: Which of these is said to our Lord and which is said to His Blessed Mother?

ለከ ኃይል ወስብሐት (leke hayle wesibhat)

POWER AND GLORY BE TO YOU

ይትፌሣሕ ልብኪ (yitfesah libikee)

LET YOUR HEART REJOICE

ORTHODOX Q&A

What is the Main Difference Between Protestantism and Orthodoxy?

From a Protestant perspective, salvation is directly related to forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness transpired on the cross when Christ ransomed humanity. This view of salvation is usually seen from a purely judicial perspective and therefore Protestant Christians are taught to believe in this act of forgiveness—the cross—and, as a result, they will find salvation. 

But the crucial difference between the two traditions is that Orthodox Christians understood that this judicial aspect is only one facet of salvation.  An additional crucial facet of salvation for Orthodox Christians, is humanity’s recreation or the healing of the human condition.

The purpose of the mysteries, or sacraments, is to continually give us access to this recreation which leads to sainthood when practiced piously.

Send us your questions at: seu.eotccarla@gmail.com

References

Short message on behalf the Spiritual Education Unit:

His Grace Abune Thaddaeus, Head Administrator Archimandrite Abba Gebreyesus, and all clergy and faithful- thank you for the opportunity to share this labour of love with you. Thanks also to the team of the Spiritual Education Unit for their hard work.

-Liqe Teghuan Tekle Mariam Greene

Orthodox Q&A 

What is the main difference between Protestantism and Orthodoxy? | Coptic Orthodox Answers

Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam: pemm.princeton.edu/en-us/stories/351

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