Today is Enkutatash, Ethiopian New Year 2019. For a lot of homes, the day is not only about the date. It is about the table.
Families put fresh cut grass on the floor and stick yellow adey abeba in a vase or on the coffee tray. Someone starts roasting green coffee beans, walks the smoke around for guests to smell, then grinds the beans and brews them in a clay jebena. The coffee comes in three rounds: abol (the strong first cup), tona, and baraka (the blessing).
Next to the buna sits doro wat, the slow berbere chicken stew with hard boiled eggs, scooped up with injera. It takes hours, so cooking often starts the night before. Friends and relatives drop by. People say Melkam Addis Amet and stay for a cup.
It is simple hospitality. On New Year day, coffee and food are how Ethiopians welcome each other into Meskerem.
Short clip of a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
