The Baha’i calendar consists of 19 months, each having 19 days. If you do the math, this means there are 361 days in the year. 365 – 361 = 4. Oh no! What are we to do with these 4 extra days in the year? Fill them with service, gift giving, socializing, feasts, and fun – of course! It gets even better: since Ayyam-i-Ha falls on February 26th-March 1st, whenever there is a Leap Year there are 5 days of Ayya-i-Ha!
Althought I have spent my last four Ayyam-i-Ha’s away from home at college, this is my first Ayyam-i-Ha overseas. Since my whole family is now going to Dubai for Mona’s wedding (YAYYY!!!), the trip is basically our giant Ayyam-i-Ha (and Naw-Ruz, and birthday) present. So there wasn’t a package (or 4), but I did receive sweet messages from friends and family back home.
Kyle had recently returned from his 3-day visit to the Baha’i Holy Land in Haifa, Israel. He missed his flight from Istanbul to Addis, and so he spent a day exploring the city. He stopped at the giant bazaar and found some wonderful gifts for me! I received (in order) a beautiful handcrafted wooden jewelry box, a really nice cashmere scarf, and a glass hanging lamp. They’re all really beautiful and now I have things from Turkey!
When I was in the States over Winter Break, I brought back a lot of Ayyam-i-Ha gifts for the kids (Amares and Grants) and some things for Kyle and Galen. I even made little cloth gift bags for each kid (and boy) with the first letter of his/her name on it. I got this idea from Marie, a Baha’i in my community back home, who gave me my journal in a reusable cloth gift bag. This way you’re not wasting paper and you can use it over and over again! Everyone loved their presents (or at least pretended to) and it felt really nice to bring a little bit of “home” back for the boys.
My first night of Ayyam-i-Ha (days in the Badi calendar begin at sunset; Ayyam-i-Ha begins at sunset on February 25th), was spent in the Old Airport neighborhood with Marilee and David at their neighborhood party. It was May’s last night, and since she was going to be traveling during all of Ayyam-i-Ha, I figured it would be nice for her to celebrate just a little! There was a nice devotional and then we had a potluck dinner, followed by a white elephant gift exchange. It was held at Sister Asnaketch’s (Sister means she is a nurse; she’s actually a retired nurse) house and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, the power went out in the middle of the devotional, but it’s Ethiopia. We make it work.
At our Family Night on the second night of Ayyam-i-Ha, the Amares gave us each a gift. Mine is a nice Ethiopian purse with a matching scarf. I’m really excited because I don’t actually have a purse here, so now I have something I can dress up with! We also made it a “house decorating & cookie decorating” event, so we had a lot of fun and delicious cookies. Jasmine Amare and I (the dynamic Jasmin/e duo) made snickerdoodles (my favorite!) and they were actually 1) really easy to make 2) delicious! I’m going to get the recipe off Gail before I leave for the States. Definitely making those cookies once every 2 weeks.
On the third night of Ayyam-i-Ha, Galen, Kyle, and I headed over to Gavin & Linda’s for a dinner and movie night. The food was delicious (they had real corn chips and Doritos from the Embassy store!) and the company was great. Nothing beats a bunch of ex-pats hanging out, reminiscing about our luxuries back home like consistent running water and electricity. We watched Ice Age outside via projector and there were so many cute kids (that we didn’t have to take care of). I love being with my family!
The third day of Ayyam-i-Ha was Unit Convention. I ended up being a teller, which was an interesting experience. I’m having trouble remembering if Baha’is back home are as fun and awesome as my Ethiopian Baha’is. Just kidding, I know everyone back home is awesome!!! I was kind of exhausted from party hopping, so we ended up not going to the Ayyam-i-Ha party in the Amare’s neighborhood that day.
The fourth day of Ayyam-i-Ha was a school day so nothing eventful happened. That night was the first night of the last month of the Baha’i year (Ala – Loftiness) so we had Feast. This Feast was the first Feast with the entire Addis community since December and it marked the beginning of our month of fasting. I love being with the Ethiopian Baha’is. I love that someone has to translate everything for me and that everyone is always happy to see me. If I’m ever down, I could just hop on over to the National Baha’i Center and there would be someone there who knows me and is willing to have a conversation.
In conclusion, even though I’m thousands of miles away from home, I still had a great Ayyam-i-Ha. I wonder how my first Ayyam-i-Ha in medical school will compare.
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