ENDAY IT’S GALENTINE’S

MERON

While we were living in Ethiopia building our fashion brand, @Endaydesigns, Mahlet and I had the chance to celebrate both Galentine’s and Valentine’s Day with our younger cousins. We watercolored, snacked on Kolo, and sipped our Buna. Witnessing their creative expression brought us so much joy! For my art piece, I created an Ethiopian cartoon-style cupid draped in a lavender toga. The bottom of the toga was embellished with a heart border, inspired by the Enday Designs heart. 

Throughout the remainder of my time in Ethiopia, I continued to evolve my Ethiopian cupid through different art forms, first as mixed media digital illustration, and another time as a Batik print I created at @HanuBet. 

MAHLET

This Galentine’s Day, our friend, Trahas, hosted and we themed the party, “Enday! It’s Galentine’s Day”. The crafty activity for the night? Handmade cards to give to your loved ones. I gathered every art supply you could think of, from gel pens, iridescent watercolor supplies, markers, fabric scraps, cardstock, ribbons, gems, and heart-shaped doilies.

Meron was making chocolate-covered rose strawberries, as Trahas and I were decorating the strawberry blondies. Meron blessed me and Trahas by baking gluten free sugar cookies. 

MERON

I wanted my Ethiopian Cupid to take on cookie form for the party. With the help of Yared from @EthiopiaSkate, I created 3D-printed cookie cutters of my cupid and the Enday heart.  

Trahas’ kitchen was constantly full of laughter, the oven beeping to signal it was finally time for the sushi bake (after we kept delaying dinner to decorate our goodies just a little longer), and we had the TV playing Black rom-coms all night: Just Wright, Rye Lane, and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. 

MAHLET

While I was adding pearl sprinkles to the desserts, we were all sharing why we loved celebrating Galentine’s Day, which made me reflect on my first Valentine’s Day away from home during freshman year of college. As I started unboxing my surprise care package that was full of handwritten cards, heart-shaped sugar cookies, homemade Ethiopian spices, heart mugs, a teddy bear, chocolates, and roses; I felt overwhelmed with love through my mom and younger siblings’ thoughtfulness. That day marked the beginning of my mom and I’s annual tradition of mailing each other gifts or fresh flowers for Valentine’s Day.

Today, this would be considered a form of Galentine’s Day. 

The way Kellyn (Àrokò steering member) shows love to their community is by hosting their Sinners and Saints art show, “getting in the mood for fellowship and love,” co-curated with friends, to bring their art to be displayed, sold, and/or traded. 

MERON

As we were driving back home (at 3 am oops lol) from our, Enday It’s Galentine’s Day event, we were tired but delirious with joy. All we could talk about in the car ride was how much fun we’d had. Being in a space full of good energy, curated just for our enjoyment and dedicated time for our creativity, definitely made up for the exhaustion.

MAHLET

It’s always a good idea to go all out. Whether it’s three people getting together or three hundred people, you deserve to show up for your desires as much as you show out for others. 

Nourishing your heart stabilizes and regulates your nervous system. By sustaining one another, we melt systems of harm. 

Remember back to elementary school when everyone received a Valentine’s Day Card, well, why don’t we bring that back?

But in these cards, what would you write? Letters of affirmations? Gluten free baking recipes? How to melt ICE? How to build a revolution? Culture and design skillshare? Tips for the best Galentine’s Day event? In co-creating with our communities, we practice putting our values in action.  

I hope this weekend is full of quality time with those you love. 

May you feel loved today and everyday.