 | World Fellow Gidon Bromberg, who is from Israel, lights candles to celebrate Rosh Hashanah while his mother, Hannah Bromberg, looks on. The fellows also celebrated the Ethiopian Millennium and Ramadan. |
It was a first-of-its-kind event for the World Fellows Program when leaders
from 18 different countries gathered around one table on Sept. 12 to celebrate
three religious holidays observed by billions of people globally.
T H I S
World Fellows share in a night
of ‘intercultural understanding’
Around a table piled with delicacies from Israel, Malaysia and Ethiopia, the
members of the 2007 class of World Fellows came together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah,
the new Ethiopian Millennium, and the beginning of Ramadan.
The event was organized by the 2007 World Fellows themselves, a multicultural
group of individuals who only a few weeks ago had never met. It took place at
Betts House, home of the World Fellows Program.
At the beginning of the festivities, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New
Year, the World Fellows lit candles, shared wine and challah bread, and ate apples
dipped in honey — traditions that celebrate community and the desire for
a sweet year ahead.
“I work with Palestinian, Jordanians and Israelis to protect our shared
environment,” said Gidon Bromberg, director of Friends of the Earth Middle
East and a 2007 Yale World Fellow, “so this multicultural celebration seems
not only natural to me, but a wonderful continuation of my work and life at home
in Israel.”
Against a background of traditional Ethiopian music and dancing, Muluemebet Hunegnaw,
a World Fellow from Ethiopia, spoke about the uniqueness of the Ethiopian New
Year. “The Ethiopian Orthodox calendar is based on the old Coptic and Roman
calendars and falls almost eight years behind the Gregorian calendar. It has
12 months of 30 days each, plus five or six days usually called the 13th month,” explained
Hunegnaw. “Those setting foot in Ethiopia for the first time will be happy
to know that all of a sudden they are eight years younger.”
The Ethiopian New Year usually falls on Sept. 11 except on the “leap year.” This
year’s Ethiopian New Year landed on Sept. 12 — coincidentally also
Rosh Hashanah and the start of Ramadan this year — and ushered in the new
Ethiopian Millennium.
Held immediately following the rainy season, the Ethiopian New Year is believed
to symbolize the end of Noah’s biblical flood, explained Hunegnaw. The
festivities accompanying the New Year, traditionally known as “Enkutatash,” have
their roots in the return of the Queen of Sheba from her visit to King Solomon
in Jerusalem. The word “Enkutatash,” meaning gifts of jewels, is
derived from reports of the queen being welcomed back by her chiefs and priests
with praises and extravagant gifts of jewels. Despite its Christian roots, noted
Hunegnaw, the Ethiopian New Year is the one holiday in that country that brings
together all Ethiopians from different religions, traditions and cultures.
Ashraf Swelam, a Yale World Fellow who advises the Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, explained that for Muslims all around the
world, Ramadan is the most venerated and spiritually beneficial time in the Islamic
year. “It is the month when the first verses of the Quran were revealed
to Prophet Mohamed,” he said. “It is the time of ‘sawm,’ which
in the literal sense means abstaining, not only from food and drink, but also
from all that is wrong and evil. It is a time of self-accountability and control
and dedication and devotion to God.”
Swelam told the other World Fellows about life in Cairo during Ramadan, describing
the month as the most intense social experience of the year. Families and friends
visit each evening for “iftar” (the breaking of the fast) or “sohour” (the
last meal before fasting). After watching television soap operas — a distinct
feature of Ramadan in Egypt and the Arab world, said Swelam — people hit
the streets: Mosques fill with worshippers who recite the entire Quran by means
of special daily prayers known as “Tarawih,” and Cairo coffee houses
are open through the night into the early hours of the morning, serving “shisha” (hookah
or water pipes), as well as special Ramadan drinks and delicacies.
Dr. Michael Cappello, director of the World Fellows Program, described the Sept.
12 event as “a tremendous night of intercultural understanding and celebration,” adding, “This
is what a global university is all about: mutual respect, learning, and the sharing
of values and traditions.”
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Campus Notes
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