IT’S 1928 IN ABYSSINIA

Northern Advocate, 26 October 1935, Page 9

IT’S 1928 IN ABYSSINIA

NEW YEAR USHERED IN WAR FORGOTTEN IN CELEBRATIONS. DANCING AND SINGING IN STREETS. l United Press Association.-By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright J LONDON, September 1. There was dancing and singing in the moonlit streets of Addis Ababa tonight, .for it was New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year 1927 according to the, Ethiopian calendar. Tiny lights flickered over the doors of the native huts, and in the streets and courtyards ghostlike figures in white chammas were dancing with upraised torches supposed to be made from wood similar to that of the true Cross. The dancers sang songs of praise of their masters and friends, and presented each other with gaily-coloured hand-painted cards of traditional design, and scented paper flowers. Inside the huts were decorated with more paper flowers and Christmaslike decorations. The shadow of war was forgotten by the mass of the people. Only here and there a group of soldiers who had celebrated too well were singing the latest Ethiopian song, which translated literally means: “When the sun is hot and the. ground is parched in the future I shall be a killer of Italians.” Then, the sun rose on the first day of September of the year of St. Matthew, 1928, the most fateful year in the history of Ethiopia if not of the world.