By Yelibenwork Ayele Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning Hawassa was in a festive mood as the Sidama, one of the tribes in the south, celebrated Fiche their new year. While the Sidama celebrated their New Year in the rural areas some of them travelled to Hawassa to join their relatives in the town. The unique traditional dressing style of those from the country, as they danced in groups along the main roads, was a breath-taking spectacle. Old men wielding spears and shields performed war dances while riders brought their country-traversing horses to the town and did a show of fine horsemanship. The Sidama have their own unique calendar in which a week has five days and a month twenty-eight days. Each of the twenty-eight days has its own name. And a year is thirteen months long. However, their New Year does not fall on the same day every year. The day is determined by elders who practice astrology and announce it to the communities. The Ethiopian New Year falls on September