The spring festival has been celebrated since these early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green country side. After dark on New year’s Eve People light fires outside their houses, and rush around with flaming torches, celebrating the passing of the old year and the coming of the new year. Traditionally young girls would pick a special kind of grass, called Engicha or Enqwtatash in honor of the event, and would go round singing new year messages of good will, and presenting the grass t whomever they met and would be reciprocated with a modest gift. New Year’s Day in Ethiopia as in many other countries is thus a time of tradition.