One of our favorite signs that Capitol Hill’s summer is coming played out again Saturday as hundreds of members of Seattle’s East African community filled Volunteer Park’s amphitheater meadow for a celebration of Eritrean Independence Day.
The annual celebration marks the 1991 arrival of Eritrean People’s Liberation Front forces in the capital Asmara following a 30-year-long battle against Ethiopia’s military regime. 2010 estimates put the Eritrean population of Seattle at around 6,000 to 8,000 residents.
In Seattle, the Eritrean and Ehtiopian communities remain tied. “Though the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities are two distinct groups in Seattle, as East African immigrants they face some of the same issues in their communities,” historylink.org writes. “Both groups seek to help their first generations of immigrants retire, to help their children become good citizens, and to preserve their culture and identity as the community assimilates into American culture.”
Assimilation and integration don’t necessarily mean leaving culture behind. Saturday’s event featured plenty of traditions, food, drink, dancing, and song.
We’re not certain of how many years the celebration has taken place in Volunteer Park. In 2016, the community marked the “jubilee” anniversary of independence in Eritrea with one of the largest celebration’s the park has seen. “Seattle Eritreans have made this park a shrine for our annual Independence Day Picnic for the past several years,” the Eritrean National Holyday Organizing Committee wrote about the park.
Meanwhile, next weekend brings more fun and good times in the sun in Capitol Hill parks:
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