This is my third Christmas in America. This year, I am not doing a lot besides hangout with the usual suspects -- a handful of Ethiopian men in town whose default definition of hanging out is staying in and drinking two 18 pack beers or bottles of Johnny Walker scotch. Oh, and I drove around some neighborhoods to see Christmas lights. That has always been something I wanted to do on Christmas eve night. (I will post another blog about all the things I have always imagined and wanted to do on Christmas eve night in America.)
Right now it is just before 11:00 on Christmas morning. Since I grew up learning that Christmas ("Gena" in Amharic) is the most wonderful holiday that marks the foundation of the Christian faith, I seek to go to "Bete Christian" (house of God) to celebrate it. Almost like saying happy birthday to the son of God in his sacred house, you know? Much to my surprise and confusion, all the three churches I go to have posted "closed" on their website calendar for today. Let that sink in for a minute. I thought: Could there be a better place than church to celebrate the unconditional love of God that forced him to send his only son to this world to save us in a mysterious way by becoming a man while maintaining his might of being a son of God? Is it just me and my cultural difference rants? At any rate all three Orthodox Christian churches (yes the ancient form of Christianity!) are closed in a big Midwest town in America on a Christmas Day. I wonder what my family in Ethiopia would think if I told them just this. They would never understand it, as I didn't myself.
Christmas Day is celebrated differently back home. Several weeks before Christmas, the "Gena Tsome" -- Christmas fasting season -- starts. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, fasting means you don't eat anything between 10:00 pm and at least noon of the next day. The more committed ones fast until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The church divides food into two broad categories, plant based (such as grains, beans, fruits and vegetable) and animal based (such as meat, milk, eggs, fish, butter etc.) And people only eat plant based foods in the Gena Tsome and abstain from all the animal based foods. In the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, almost 70% of the year there is some fasting going on. So it is safe to say a devout Orthodox is almost a vegetarian in Ethiopia.
The Christmas eve night is spent in such a festive way at church. There is an overnight special divine liturgy that ends in a wonderful Yaredic "Wereb" a song that starts almost like an opera-like chant and escalates and climaxes to a captivating sync of fast Drum, percussion, fast clapping and "Elilita." People attending the service hold candles to say happy birthday to Jesus and more importantly to renew their lives by going through a rebirth of faith and love. Songs address how God taught us humility by choosing to be born in the most humble place, how it is wonderful God the son became man to save us, how Bethlehem should rejoice about the birth of Kristos, how Arch angle Gabriel told St. Mary mother of God the good news that she'll conceive the son of God and call him "Amanuel" etc. It is really joyous and people do get very excited and festive that night Eyesus was born.
The service ends roughly around 3:00 in the morning. But that is not the end of Gena festivities. The liturgical service resumes around 6:00 in the morning and proceeds until 10:00ish. Families return home to a warm and colorful Ethiopian coffee ceremony and feast (remember this is the day to break the fast.) Kids play "Gena" a game similar to field hockey. Legend has it that the shepherds in Israel used to play a game very much like this. As kids we played it in commemoration of that.
Inside Lalibela. Clergy members at "Wereb."
It has been one of the clichés of commentaries about modern American culture that Christmas is highly commercialized and that it creates a lot of psychological, social and financial pressure on Americans, which sometimes results health problems such as depression, anxiety, stress, etc. Christmas stress is a thing in America. There are Christmas stress balls on the market ! (the irony :-) ) How to have a 'stress-free Christmas' is a thing. I have read from more than one source that suicide rates increase during Christmas season. People go to psychiatrists to seek Christmas therapy and organize small group talks to share ideas about "how to survive Christmas." Now, although I am from a totally different culture, given the way Christmas is popularly perceived and celebrated I can understand how people here in America could face holiday related stress. But I really don't know how to explain it to my parents. I wouldn't even try. 
Lidete Kristos. Nativity of Kristos.
This Christmas, I wish you all peace, calmness and joy. May the spirit of God's love and togetherness surround you, embrace you and warm you. I also think of those who are faced with the bitter reality of not being able to spend Christmas with their loved ones for different reasons. I think of those that are suffering from problems of every sort. I say to you all may this Gena bring you light of healing and freedom from all the challenges you are facing.
Oh rejoice believers, Kristos is born in the city of David! Amanuel, our savior is born! Merry Christmas America!
