Up until Easter last weekend, most Ethiopians had been fasting for the previous 55 days…kinda like Lent, but stricter and longer… they basically don’t eat anything until 6pm each day (some break their fast at 3pm), and then even after that they won’t eat any meat or meat by-products. I haven’t really understood the reasoning – some say that it is to remember Jesus, others say it is to Thank God for food for the rest of the year, while others say it is simply to learn self-control – the reality is that the reason is probably a mix of all of the above.
but now that Easter has passed, meat is back on the menu – about 4 new butchers have opened up on my street alone and you see a lot more goat herds running around the street… don’t know where the goats were for fasting perious, presumably on the outskirts of town getting fed to be fatter… but their respite is gone now… just like Ramadan, where after sunset, half the people fasting turn into a bunch of glutons, everyone here has turned into a bunch of carnivores… there are goat and cow heads all of the streets (I’ll post a pic tomorrow….) well at least the animals still got Wednesdays and Fridays, where throughout the year, the religious still fast from meat… good luck to ya goat…