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Martyrs’ Day, one of Eritreans’ more revered days, was like always passionately remembered last Friday, June 20, 2008.
That day my friend and I sat at Modern Café, one of the busiest cafés in downtown Asmara, for a late brunch. We were still chattering when we heard one of the waiters telling the customers to stand up.
It was one o’clock the time where the entire nation would join for a one minute of silence in honor of Eritrea’s fallen heroes. At that moment, the deafening noise in the room came to a halt with everybody standing, bowing their heads, removing their hats and ceasing to speak or move places for the duration. Some had their eyes closed, probably remembering long gone dear ones.
Outside in the street, solemn saxophone music played over the loudspeakers installed in the lampposts for the occasion.
The moment of silence reminds me of a funny anecdote.
One day during recent political sensitization classes at my workplace, the speaker asked us what we thought about when we stood for the one minute observance of silence. Seeing that there were no volunteers who could come up with a tangible answer, the speaker pointed to a colleague, known for his loud mouth, and repeated the question.
Caught off-guard, the colleague’s answer was simple. “I recite Our Father…,” he said, followed by a thundering laughter from the hall.
I kept pondering about the question ever since. What is it that we think or should think about during that moment of silence? Remembering those that sacrificed their lives for the greater good of their people and nation? Or simply praying for mercy on their souls?
“I remember the friends I left behind in the fields,” said Abeba, my aunt and an ex-fighter. A point shared by her fellow combatants.
“I think about my two brothers who went to get freedom but never came back,” goes a neighbor. The responses vary.
Surely, Eritreans always keep their martyrs close at heart and don’t need any particular occasion to remember them. But still, similar to flying a flag at half-mast, I would say that a moment of silence is an additional gesture of respect. Having no specific religious formulation, it is a way of creating reflection and respect without endorsing any particular sect.
That moment of silence, which Eritreans hold in every occasion, is therefore just an extra point in time to pay tribute to those who fell for the world’s noblest of causes.
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