My Epiphany

Last Tuesday was a holiday in Ethiopia (see here), so I went to join the masses in a large gathering up on the north side of the city. One of my co-workers, M, said he would join me, but when I called him in the morning, he said he would catch up with me later (I suppose he'd seen the celebration last year, so wasn't as eager to wake up early). To get there, I grabbed a taxi as far as I could go, and then walked about 5 minutes to the gathering spot, where hundreds of people were already congregating. Dereje told me that I would also see a lot of foreigners there and some of the locals might be able to explain to me what was going on during the ceremony. Since I was probably on my own for the day, I hoped I might be able to meet some people there, and to do so, I figured it was time to let down the usual walls.
By "walls" I mean when people from wealthy nations are in a poor nation and we tend to put up all our defenses; we switch on the radar, throw up a forcefield, dig a moat, keep one hand on the pepper spray, enter stealth mode and anything else we can do to make sure that no one tries to deceive us. To some degree, you have to keep up your guard, but living your life behind a wall while overseas can make it feel like a prison.
So, when two young Ethiopian guys waved to me, I didn't brush them off. Tariq and Zererum turned out to be extremely nice guys, and seemed to enjoy showing me around. Tariq took a small wooden cross that he was wearing around his neck and tied it around mine. Then the three of us headed to the front of the crowd, linking arms so we wouldn't get lost. As the abbots and the onlookers were engaged in prayer and chants, the guys were participating and not paying much attention to me, but at one point Zererum told me, "Everyone is saying thanks to God. Help me God." When it was time to be blessed by holy water, we all moved to a better spot and threw our arms in the air as the droplets wet our hair and faces. A moment later, Zererum and I looked at each other and began laughing.
For the next hour or so, we walked around the grounds. I tried to buy Tariq a new cross, but he hurried me past the shops and on to where people were playing a piñata-like game. Tariq paid one birr and the attendants blindfolded him, and led him toward a spherical object at which he swung a stick (and unfortunately missed). Then we went to play another game where we threw 10 cent pieces trying to land them inside a small bowl.
After we'd made the rounds, the guys suggested we walk over to St. Markos church nearby. There, they showed me how to bow and make the sign of the cross three times before entering the gate. We approached an abbot who blessed us with a large wooden cross, putting it once to our lips and then to our foreheads. Inside the grounds of the church, standing there with Tariq and Zererum, I realized how much I was enjoying the day. Maybe it is necessary to keep up one's guard when in a foreign country, but it's best keep a gate open lest you miss the good stuff.