ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR—Fundraising and Fun Times

The Ethiopian calendar was taken from the Coptic (or Alexandrian) calendar, which was itself based upon the Egyptian calendar. There are 12 months of thirty days and a 13^th month for the leftover 5 (or 6 days in a leap year). It all seems to work out I suppose except its only 2003 in Ethiopia. Everyone seems to have their requisite time travel joke (“Wow, I’ll still be in my 20’s when I travel there!”) for this odd anomaly. In fact this discrepancy is not due to some unexplained suspension of the space-time continuum in that area of the world but rather to the alternate calculations used to mark the Annunciation of Jesus.

For those of you who would like to convert any date on our calendar to the date used on the Ethiopian calendar here is a link for you. http://members.shaw.ca/ethiocal/

Phew. What a long-winded way of getting to the point that it was recently Ethiopian New Year. The date is usually September 11, 2010 as it was this year, or in a leap year it would be on September 12^th. We commemorated this date with not one but, yes, two events.

First we held the second, of what may be come our attempt at a Guinness World Record, Fund-raising Yard Sale Day! Following on the heels of our first (and very successful) event in Richmond, Maine we are now practically professionals. So, the preparations were made, materials were gathered, signs were produced, Craigslist ads were posted and then . . .we prayed that people actually came and bought our stuff! In the end we were not forcibly removed from the common area within our community (and thus far neighborhood property values have not decreased as a direct result of this covert reproduction of Sanford and Son). We would be remiss if we didn’t give a big shout out and thank you to the whole Berne family for allowing us to help them de-clutter their basement in anticipation of an upcoming renovation. Thanks for the donations.

As you’ll see by these pictures a good time was had by all and as suspected the general public (eventually) recognized the inherent value in our soon-to-be second hand treasures, helping us raise some travel funds. We were left with a few items, some of which certain members of our small family (not Mabel) now actually don’t want to part with. Oh, well there is always the next yard sale.

Speaking of the next yard sale, we will be heading to lovely Summit, New Jersey for Fund-raising Yard Sale Day #3. This historic event is now set for Saturday, October 9, 2010, at the Levine’s place.

Brett, Rachel & Ryder Levine

Mr. Jackson Levine :)

After breaking down the display of goods and making the all important offerings to the refuse Gods we were tanned (yes!), rested (not!) and ready for our second event that day. This one was more specifically related to celebrating the Ethiopian New Year and decidedly much less work. The Mid-Atlantic Group of Ethiopian Adoptive families was having a get-together at Dukem in Baltimore. We headed up with our friends, excited for our first real opportunity to meet and socialize with other families who had already adopted, or soon would be adopting, from Ethiopia. It was really great to see the kids decked out in cool embroidered shirts and cute traditional dresses to commemorate the holiday. It was our first coffee ceremony as well. The kids all sat around and watched the staff prepare the beans as we breathed in the heady aromas, vaguely reminiscent of the parking lot at a Grateful Dead show. The kids (and adults) listened to stories, sang a few songs and learned a few traditional dance moves. All in all a good time was had by all, all the children were absolutely adorable, and it was really special for us to be able to envision what our family will look like, hopefully, very soon.