this is a holiday weekend. Meskel: the discovery of the true cross in the orthodox christian tradition of ethi0pia. Today kids with daisy crowns were running all over the place with bundles of sticks. Everyone else was dressed in their Sunday best - the women gorgeous in embroidered white cotton dresses, strolling the streets to see and be seen.

Tonight i heard drumming and chanting and leaned way, way, way over the balcony of my hotel room to see what it was all about.

in the distance i could see a long line of fire zig-zagging up the mountain... i squinted and realized it was moving. Miles and miles of people coming down the mountain holding sticks lit on fire. i've never seen anything like it; like ants on an anthill (but on fire, never mind).

we tried to get there, but the procession went on forever.
i wondered out loud (only half joking) if there is an NGO out there promoting "meskel alternatives", since this festival has to seriously denude the wood supply out there. but that's no fun. it was beautiful.

3:22 a.m. - 2010-09-27