1st January - Part 3

Happy Christmas!

There are two lines in the Band Aid song that have always really annoyed me. One of the offending lines is 'And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time', like that's a problem. Yeah, that's exactly what they need in Sudan – a debilitating civil war, genocide, and snowfall.

The other line that annoys me is 'Do they know it's Christmas time at all?'. Well, for a start, much of Africa of Muslim, so quite frankly they don't really care whether it's Christmas or not. And even countries that do celebrate Christmas aren't really bothered about December 25th. Ethiopia, for instance, don't celebrate Christmas until January 7th, so when I was celebrating my Christmas day, everyone else in Lalibela was getting on with their work, completely unconcerned. It was the first time I've ever been able to post a letter and go to the bank on December 25th!

In fact, my Christmas holiday was reasonably multicultural, all things considered. U. came from Addis to spend the holiday with me, and as she's Austrian, she celebrates on Christmas eve. So we had a nice candlelit dinner (Weds eve, so no electricity!) with Ab, my driver, and then we came back to the house where we opened presents whilst seated around the little wooden Christmas tree I brought from the UK.

We tried to make it as traditional as possible – I even had crackers (which U. had never heard of, much less seen!) and amused everyone by making them wear the paper hats and read out the jokes (note to self: cracker jokes do not translate successfully to Amharic). Due to the lack of electricity, there was no Cliff Richard singing 'Saviours Day', but I did light my 'cinamon apple and Christmas spices' candle in an attempt to get that festive feeling going!

Presents this year were interesting! Love to all family who sent me stuff through the post, and U. brought me some much needed supplies from Addis. No fancy video games or DVDs for me. Oh no! Instead I was getting excited about unwrapping a tin opener and a jar of chocolate spread! And who knew I could be so happy about getting a big bottle of shampoo and a half empty tub of U.'s deep conditioner! Woo hoo! Trust me, my joy was real!

We spent Christmas day walking around the beautiful rock hewn churches of Lalibela. In my role as the Ethiopian tourist board, you must go and see Lalibela churches at least once in your life. I swear, if they were anywhere else, they were be overrun by tourists, but not many people venture here. That's changing, though, so get here quick!

The churches were built by King Lalibela – with the help of Angels, depending on who you talk to and what your beliefs are. Divine helpers or not, the sheer craftsmanship of the churches is breathtaking. All of them were carved from rock rather than built from the bottom up, and each Church has a story and a specific purpose. There are 11 churches in the centre of Lalibela, and there are a few outside the town which are well worth going to. We were lucky that Abiy worships at one of the Churches a small hike up a mountain, and could tell us everything about the building. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful mornings I've ever spent.

In my opinion, that's the best thing about these churches - they are not just memorials or tourist attractions, they are living churches. Every day, Ethiopians file in to pray or take part in Mass, and at Ethiopian Christmas thousands of people walk for miles (often in bare feet and with little more than the clothes they stand up in) just to be in such a Holy place.

It was an unusual and very spiritual way to spend English Christmas. Did I miss the turkey, watching the Queen's Speech and playing Uno? Yes, very much (the pizza we had for Christmas lunch didn't really cut it!). But it was worth it, just for this year.

And of course, on January 7th, I get to celebrate it all over again!