So With Coffee Comes Celebration

Last month was the month of Estr!  Here in Camel Land we celebrated this most important of hly days twice.  Camel Land follows the Eastern calendar, so they celebrate the hly days about two weeks behind us.  However, those of us living here from other areas of the world celebrated together during the Western calendar Estr and then again with our national friends according to the Eastern calendar. 

The hly time begins here with everyone fasting for Lent for a month before hand.  This mostly means that people don't eat meat, milk, eggs, chocolate, chicken, or any other dairy for a month.  Everyone eats vegetables, lentils, and water for a month, so by the time Estr comes everyone is more than ready for meat.  On Palm Sunday everyone goes to ch celebrating by taking palm fronds and branches and decorating the roads, themselves, and their houses in memory of the triumphal entry.  Then on Good Friday you can feel the pallor in the air as everyone remembers this day.  On Good Friday everyone wakes up, eats a special meal made of chick peas, hot pepper powder, onions, tomatoes, oil, and corn.  That is the only food they will eat all day.

This Good Friday I went down to the tea shop I have been frequenting to wait for my language teacher to meet me there.  While I was there I partook of this special meal with everyone there because they were all eating, and when you are eating and you have guests they must be served food  too.  Then later my language teacher/s arrived and we walked over to the orthdx ch in our neighbourhood.  The Orthx people do not go into the building here.  Typically the building is way too small to hold half the crowd, so the first ones to arrive will enter but everyone else is outside surrounding the ch.  However, on Good Friday the people are outside with the prsts on the porch of the ch building.

Everyone in the courtyard is wearing white, and everyone is standing up.  No one is allowed to sit down while the prst speaks, and everyone waits to hear the prst announce the time after he has recounted the Estr story orally.  However, the story is told in a language  no longer spoken, so most people have no idea what they are listening to.  If the older folks get tired they have special canes to lean on to rest their muscles, but sitting down is out of the question.  If you sit or squat you get wacked by the monks and nuns walking around with wooden "hitting" sticks. 

As the time begins to tick down the priest begins to chant/sing and the people begin to pr.  This means they make the sign of the cross and bow repeatedly.  They cross their arms, touch their shoulders, bend at the waist or go all the way down to their knees, then stand back up, and repeat the process all over again.  Once the priest announces the hour as that of J breathing his last, the "pr-ing" stops and everyone becomes still and quiet. 

Once this is over everyone continues to listen to the prst, they go and make pennance for their "sins" during Lent by making the sign of the cross however many times the prst tells them to, and then once the day-long service is over everyone goes home.  On Saturday pretty much everyone stays at home and sleeps, and then on Sunday the celebration begins.  People get up at the crack of dawn go back to ch, and then back home to cook and clean and get ready for the Estr feast.  Chicken, eggs, beef, lamb, goat are all consumed with abandon, and very little if any vegetables are eaten.  After everyone is full to popping the days ends with coffee. 

This meat eating feast continues the whole week from Sunday to Sunday until Maudy Monday when it is said that He ascended back to hvn.  I was able to participate in this "2nd" Estr feast with one of my language teachers and her family.  I ate way too much meat, had to drink 2 Cokes, and then 2 cups of coffee.  I was very full to say the least after that day

The pictures are of Good Friday.  I went with two my language teachers to watch the service on Friday at the Ortho ch in our neighbourhood.

Pr for the O people here to understand that it is important to understand the Word.  Pr that He would begin to break down barriers of fear and suspicion when the G is presented.

Serving Him with You (where ever I am),

Rachel