A young Ethiopian girl dragging red, green and yellow balloons across a stretch of grass in Mosswod Park yelled “Melkam addis amet!”—“Happy New Year!” in Amharic—as she made her way to decorate a stage at Oakland’s Mosswood Park in preparation for a host of African bands that would perform later that day. Ethiopian flags were draped across tents offering community services and selling Ethiopian food, t-shirts and Ethiopian Orthodox religious merchandise on Saturday as Ethiopians from all over the Bay Area gathered to mark the new year on the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, known as Enkutatash in Amharic. (Continue reading Mark Anderson and Charles Berkowitz's report at Oakland North)
Watch:
