💭 Ethiopian Church Congregation in Sioux Falls Looks Forward After ‘Earth-Shattering’ Fire
A day after a fire heavily damaged their “second home,” a Sioux Falls church congregation shifted through the ashes for anything they could salvage.
Less than a dozen bibles were recovered, still covered in ashes but not completely destroyed.
Downstairs at the 610 S. Dakota Ave. building, the Styrofoam cups remained filled with coffee from the moment the members of the St. Michael’s Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church had to flee the building Sunday morning. Forks left behind still stuck on pieces of bread the members were eating.
Solomon Gebremariam, the church’s pastor, said the congregation had just finished up a service around 11:30 a.m. and were in the basement enjoying coffee, tea and some bread when the fire started.
“A big sound came from the roof — big boom,” Gebremariam said, “We all came outside and (the building was) burning.”
About 50 members of the church were present in the basement as a fire started on the first floor. The church normally sees between 50-90 members, not including children. Gebremariam said some members went upstairs to see what was going on and found the church pitch black due to heavy smoke. It then became a dash to the doors as members tried to find each other and the exit.
There were no injuries.
“This already is maddening, sad because that’s our second home,” Gebremariam said, “Everybody’s coming to hear the praying, different people are coming in happy all Sunday.”
In a video posted on Youtube of the incident. Many people are seen running out the front door of the church. As police arrive there’s heavy smoke coming from the front door of the church. Police ask the person videoing if anybody else is still inside, but he said “I don’t know” as firefighters prepare to go in
Monday afternoon, Gebremariam spent his time at the church with a few members reliving the experiencing as they surveyed the ash covered worship area that is on the first floor of the building. A single ray of sun came in from a broken window. Everything else was covered in darkness.
Fire was ‘earth-shattering’ for church
Lema Symegn, 72, has been a church member at St. Michael’s for “more than 20 years” with his wife. He wasn’t present on Sunday but was one of the first people notified of the incident.
“Somebody who is a neighbor saw what happened and then he told people to get out and they made it out,” Symegn said.
He described the scene as “earth-shattering” when he arrived.
“Kids were crying and people were crying and everybody was sad,” Symegn said.
Symegn, like the rest of the church members, is from Ethiopia. He said it’s not that easy to find a church like St Michael’s. It’s an important part of their lives both spiritually and culturally, the 72-year-old said.
“It’s your faith,” Symegn said, “That’s where you come and worship every Sunday, so it’s part of your life. It’s very important.”
What’s next for the church?
Monday afternoon Gebremariam along with Symegn and other members were still debating what to do next as they waited for someone from the insurance company to visit the church.
“We don’t know still now,” Gebremariam said when asked where they’d be celebrating their services after the fire.
The first floor of the building is heavily damaged as well as the second floor. The basement received less damage but is still unusable. Gebremariam is looking for a temporary church, if he can’t find one he said the small garage behind the church could work.
Gebremariam said he was unsure the cause of the fire..
A press release sent out by Sioux Falls Fire Rescue didn’t give a definite cause for the fire but did note a reminder to homeowners and businesses to ensure candles were placed a safe distance from combustible materials. The release also said not to leave burning candles unattended.
St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church setup a gofundme to help with repairs. Updates on the church and services will be posted on its Facebook page, according to Gebremariam.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 19, 2021
❖❖❖ ቡሄ!ቡሄ!ቡሄ! ❖❖❖
የታመሙትን፣ የታሰሩትን፣ የተደፈሩትንና የተሰደዱትን እንጠይቅ፣
የተራቡትንና የተጠሙትን እናብላ እናጠጣ፣የታረዙትን እናልብስ፣
ለተበደሉት፣ አድሎ ለሚደርስባቸውና ፍትሕ ለተነፈጋቸው እንቁም!
Buhe (Ge’ez: ቡሄ) is a feast day observed by Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on August 19 (ነሐሴ/Nähase ፲፫/13 in the Ethiopian calendar). On this date, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor (Debre Tabor Ge’ez: ደብረ ታቦር). People of the neighborhood tie a bundle of sticks together to make a CHIBO, and set it on fire while singing songs. The main song is called “Hoya Hoye” with one singer singing while the others follow in a rhythmic way. It involves young boys singing songs of praise outside of people’s homes, in exchange for fresh bread called MULMUL. The boys then bless the family of the home for the following year.
For weeks in August, Ethiopian boys dress up and perform songs from door to door in neighbourhoods across the country. In return, the boys get ‘Mulmul’ – bread freshly baked for the occasion in each house.
Known as Buhe, the festival – like most cultural celebrations here has its origins in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It marks the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor.
“I started participating in Buhe when I was 14. I get very excited when the time for Buhe comes around because it is the commemoration of Jesus appearing in a supernatural light. We celebrate Buhe with very interesting activities,” said Kirubel Sibhat, one of the young performers.
Buhe is also a tradition where young people are reminded to value older generations. The songs are written and performed in praise of adults and elders.
But over time, the tradition of Buhe has struggled to stay alive, especially in urban locations like Addis Ababa – a city undergoing its own transformation as the capital of one of Africa’s fastest growing economies.
Churches are trying to revive the celebration to its old glory. The boys can now also receive gifts of money in place of fresh bread – a sign of the times where people have less time to prepare for such festivals.
“The new generation has the responsibility of learning and continuing the traditions of its fathers, as we age. It has the responsibility of upholding national traditions instead of following foreign traditions,” Said Kassaye Gutema, an Addis Ababa resident.
The boys crack a whip made of braided tree fibers to signal their approach into a neighbourhood. Traditionally the whip was cracked by shepherd boys.
Buhe also marks the last days of the rainy season.
Religious leaders and Orthodox faithful take the time to give thanks and pray for a good harvest. They also take time to reflect on the biblical significance of the events.
According to Wosanyu Zewdie, a deacon and teacher at St. Yohannes school, Buhe is a culmination of tradition and religion.
“The meaning of the whip being cracked is to imitate the sound of the thunder that was heard in the sky. We later light a bonfire to represent the light that was illuminating when Christ appeared. The bread signifies the fact that mothers took bread to their shepherd boys who stayed out late because they thought it was still daylight, but it was Christ’s supernatural appearance. So all the cultural activities you see in relation to Buhe have their origin in religion,” he said.
After sunset, celebrations move to the streets where large bonfires burn well into the night and hundreds sing and dance in anticipation of the new year – marked in Ethiopia according to the Orthodox Calendar in September.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the pre-colonial Christian denominations in sub-Saharan Africa and is estimated to have between 40 and 45 million followers. The overwhelming majority live in Ethiopia.
Two years ago, around this time, we arrived early Sunday morning in Armenia. Soon after, my son Hovsep and I attended badarak at the Saint Gregory The Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan. The festivities of celebrating Vartavar on the streets of the Armenian capital had already started as church services were over. We witnessed a joyous day filled with the tradition of splashing water dating from the pre-Christian era of Armenia, honoring the goddess Asdghig as some say. Others claim that this tradition goes further back to the days of Noah and a remembrance of the flood.
The feast of transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the five prominent Tabernacle feasts of our church, is celebrated today. We read about the events of the transfiguration in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). I invite you to focus on the details from the Transfiguration narrative according to the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus reveals His divinity through a sequence of events and actions that includes His face shining like the sun; his clothes became dazzling white, Moses’ and Elijah’s appearance, a bright cloud overshadowing the scene and the voice of God testifying: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with Him, I am well pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5).
I would like you to pay attention to the dazzling white garment of Jesus. White garments are an expression of heavenly beings. In the book of Revelation, John speaks of white garments worn by those who have been saved (Revelation 7:9, 19:14). We find the practical inclusion of this notion in the life of the church in the sacrament of baptism, as we clothe the newly baptized child with white garments. Think about it; everyone baptized in the church has put on dazzling white garments of salvation. In other words, it is through baptism that we are united to the glory of Christ, and He reveals His glory to us through His passion and the crucifixion. The self-sacrifice of Christ is the purification that restores to us the original garment lost through sin. Through baptism, God clothes us in light, and we become light.
So, after all, the splashing of water and the popular mode of celebrating Vartavar, the feast of the transfiguration may not be fragments of pagan Armenia. Maybe it’s a powerful and practical way of reminding us that we are baptized and garmented with the dazzling white clothing of angels and the elect. God continues to administer His grace to us through our active participation in the life of the Church. God restores our old, dirty and torn garments into dazzling white clothes and prepares us to participate in the divine banquet.
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