Ethiopian Cardinal’s best wishes for Ethiopian New Year 2013
Ethiopian Cardinal’s best wishes for neighboring
countries for the Ethiopian New Year and repeats Pope’s Appeal for
Dialogue over the Abay River Dam, the GERD
Ethiopia has its own calendar and celebrates Ethiopian New Year on 11 the September 2020 when the Ethiopian month of Meskerem ushers in and hails the Ethiopian New Year of 2013. Therefore, the New Year starts 1 st Meskerem 2013.
The New Year begins at the end of the rainy season of Ethiopia: June to September. The end of the rainy season brings in the sunshine, flowers, and ends hibernation for many animals, birds, and insects. The “Adey” Abeba, the
yellow flower associated with New Year, covers the valleys and hills. Young girls pick the yellow flowers and go around singing best wishes and offering the flower to their families, relatives, and neighbors. The darkness of the rainy
season is replaced by the beauty of the flowers and the brightness of the sun.
It is a time of hope and joy. A new beginning!
I want to wish all our neighboring countries: Happy Ethiopian New Year! May it be a blessed year of good neighborliness, peace, health, and prosperity!
I especially would like to convey my New Year’s best wishes to Sudan and Egypt. As it is known, Ethiopia is building a dam, called the Great Renaissance Dam of Ethiopia (GERD), on the Abay River, known also as the
Blue Nile, which flows to join the White Nile in Omdurman (Khartoum) and continues its journey to Egypt and ends in the Mediterranean Sea. Water is life and, as such, it is right that the three countries: Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt are giving it high value.
I want to quote Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who pointed out on 15 th August 2020, the importance of “dialogue between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt, urging them not to let the dispute over the dam lead to conflict” but to understanding and collaboration for the common good of all concerned.
I am grateful for all the efforts of the international organizations, especially the African Union, which are facilitating such dialogues. The African Union’s
stand: African problems with African solutions are encouraging.
May God continue to protect us from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Happy Ethiopian New Year!
God bless Africa!
(Cardinal Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel CM, Archbishop of Addis Abeba, President of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Ethiopia, and Chairman of the Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission)
