Epiphany Celebrations
By Ethiopians in the United States, January 22, 2006
Seble Demeke
Several Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox
Churches celebrated Epiphany in a
very colorful manner in the United
States. There are about 12 churches
in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., including
Maryland and Virginia and many more in
other States. I was told that altogether there
were about 50,000 people who participated at
the celebration. An Abuna (a bishop) from
Jerusalem conducted one of the services. The
services were in Amharic and all the twelve
churches filled with men, women and children.
I was informed by a friend, who is a regular
church attendant, that this pattern and crowd
is repeated throughout the year for the different
religious celebrations including Ethiopian
Christmas, Easter and New Year.
It was rather striking for me to see so many
Ethiopians outside of their country who have
comfortably settled in the United States and
doing exactly what has been done in their
country since thousands of years ago. It was
also striking to see and rather comforting to
observe that for Ethiopians no matter where
they reside, the Coptic Orthodox religion is
one of the unifying factor of the nation.
This type of religious celebrations and
activities are also one means of introducing
and promoting the Ethiopian culture to the
outside world. In addition to the religious
aspects there are also several well-known
Ethiopian Restaurants, grocery stores, small
and big businesses owned and managed by
Ethiopians. Amharic, the official language of
Ethiopia is the third widely spoken foreign
language in the Washington, D.C. area next to
Spanish. I won’t be totally wrong if I predict
that in a long run it will be the second foreign
language of the United States.
All these developments lead to the conclusion
that the Ethiopian people given the
opportunity and means are certain to succeed
as the Asians, the Latin Americans and other
nations who migrated to the United States
searching for a better living.
© 2006 UN Special |