Hirut Yoseph is an Ethiopian-Israeli artist bringing her love of art and her cultures to classrooms around New York City. This Sigd, Hirut used her talents to create a set of Sigd coloring pages for Be’chol Lashon, displaying and describing images significant to this ancient Ethiopian Jewish holiday.
For thousands of years, the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel, has gathered 50 days after Yom Kippur to celebrate Sigd. The holiday is a day of reflection, renewal, and connection to community and to Jerusalem. As members of Beta Israel have made their homes in Israel and around the world, they’ve carried this beautiful tradition with them, keeping it alive and sharing its meaning wherever they go.
Hirut carries the memories of Sigd with her in her artwork. The images Hirut chose for her coloring pages are especially meaningful because they capture special moments with her mother, whom she lost when she was 13. She remembers watching her mother prepare buna, the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and taking in every detail.
“It was mesmerizing for me,” she shared. “I used to just love sitting and watching her and talking to friends. It was a very special moment. It’s important to me to capture that. In the moon I see the image of my mom. My mom is guiding me and protecting me. She brings me home.”
As time passes, Hirut continues to have a growing appreciation for her ancestors and for Sigd. “I remember happy memories of loving being surrounded by my community.” Having immigrated to the United States, Hirut says she now understands in a different way the generations-long yearning of the Ethiopian Jewish community to return to Jerusalem. “For so long, thousands of years, my community was yearning for Jerusalem, yearning to go back. Now that I’m here in New York, and that place is away and so far from me, I have that same yearning as well.”
Through her art, Hirut continues to hold onto those memories, sharing with her children and her community the traditions, love, and sense of home that make Sigd so meaningful to her.
Learn about and celebrate Sigd in a colorful way by downloading your own Sigd coloring pages here!
