Eve of Easter in Ethiopia

During Easter, the most important holiday by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians; the daily routines usually encountered across the country change into the happy and colorful ones for most people. The neighborhoods of Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) look extremely different than they usually do; people dress different, most in white cultural clothes but all to impress. Everyone, the young and old, the poor and rich, all look happy and celebrate the holiday spending as much as their wallet allows them. During the eve of Easter, it is a religious custom to spend the night in a church praying and learning the word of God until 3:00pm, the time when people who fast break their fasting, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. People from my neighborhood and other surrounding neighborhoods come to pray in a church called Ledeta, which is located close to where I lived in Ethiopia. Here in U.S. after the three years I have spent, I can still picture the images of the holiday as if I'm there. It is like I have a stamp on my heart for all of my childhood memories, which are unforgettable regardless of the time that has passed.
The first thing that comes to my mind, when I think about Easter is the amazing eve people spend with their family and friends. During the eve of Easter, starting around 8:00 pm, people start walking to go to churches in big masses. One, two or even more families walk together. The elders, pressing up on their walkers on their right hand and most of the time holding a little kid with their belongings on their left, walk very slowly. Their back bent forward as if the gravity has a unique effect on their foreheads and also shaking their right hand on their walkers every time they push up on it, the elders ... Click here to read the full version