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• The Rift Vally and Nature
• The People of Mago and Omo Vally
• Festivals
• Erta Alle And Dalol

MAJOR CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS

There are many great national and local holidays and celebrations throughout the year and all over the country. Every one of the 54,000 parish churches and the 800 monasteries of the Orthodox Tewahido church all have at least one minor monthly and one major annual festival.

These may share origins with Christian, Moslem and tribal festivals elsewhere in the world but have unique indigenous characteristics in Ethiopia.
If you can, try to plan your trip around one of the following spectacular festivals.

MESKEL

Meskel (the finding of the true cross) (on 27 September as Ethiopian calendar) festival is one of the land mark events in the Ethiopia culture and spiritual life. Meskel which means ‘cross’ in Geez ( the classic language of Ethiopia now used predominantly in Ethiopian Orthodox church) is a revered symbol. Ethiopia claims more than a thousand types of elaborate cross designs to its treasured heritage and uncontested world record.

The Meskel festival commemorates the finding of the True cross on which Jesus Christ of Nazareth was crucified in Gologotha. Church chronicle has it that the Ethiopian monarch, Zara yacob brought the remains of the True cross to Ethiopia in the 15 th century AD.

The festivities of Meskel are mainly lighting of the fire (Demera) symbolically mimicking the rituals of Queen Eleni (Helena) the mother of Emperor Constantine of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) who was instrumental in finding the True cross.

GENNA

Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) one of the major religious celebrations in Ethiopia but unlike many parts of the world, Christmas Day is celebrated on 7 January and not 25 December. Also unlike other parts of the world, the emphasis is on the religious aspect of the day.

The Ethiopian Christmas, also called Lidet, is not the primary religious and secular festival that it has become in western countries. Falling on 7 th January, it is celebrated seriously by a church service that goes on throughout the night, with people moving from one church to another, traditionally, young men played a game that is similar to hockey, called Genna, on this day and now Christmas has also come to be known by that name.

TIMKET (EPEPHANY)

It is one of the greatest festivals in the Ethiopian Orthodox church calendar. It commemorates Christ’s Baptism by st. John in the Jordan River. Timket is celebrated in Ethiopia on the 11 th January Ethiopian calendar (19th January Gregorian calendar), two weeks after Genna (Ethiopian Christmas), beginning on the eve of Timket with colorful processions and ceremonies ending on the 12 th January (20th January Gregorian calendar).

In Timket, Tella and Tej are brewed, special bread is baked called “HIMBASH” (in Tigrinya) “AMBASHA” (in Amharic), and sheep are slaughtered to mark the three-day celebration.

Fasika is celebrated after 55 days severe lent fasting and it falls mostly in April. Orthodox Christians do not eat meat, diary products or Breakfast for the whole 55 days. The fist meal of the day is taken after 3 pm (9 o’clock in the afternoon Ethiopian time) during the fasting days, except Saturday and Sunday, where a breakfast is allowed after the morning service. On Easter eve people celebrate and go to church with candles which are lit during a colorful Easter mass service which begins at about 6 pm ( 12 o’clock in the evening Ethiopian time) and ends at about 2 am ( 8 o’clock after mid-night Ethiopian time ). Every one goes home to break the fast with the meat of chicken of lamb, slaughtered the previous night after 6 pm., accompanied with Injer and Traditional drinks (Tella or Tej). Like Christmas, Easter is also a day of family re-union, and expression of good wishes with exchange of gifts.

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KULUBI (FEAST OF SAINT GABRIEL)

The feast of st. Gabriel (Kulubi Gabriel) celebrated twice a year, the archangel, is celebrated on the 19 th December Ethiopian calendar ( 28 th December Gregorian calendar ) and in July which culminates in a pilgrimage to the town of Kulubi, about 68 kilometers from the town of Dire Dawa.

Orthodox Christians mark the celebration with colorful processions and ceremonies. Pilgrims walk up the hill to the church to fulfill a vow and give gifts to the church. Some pilgrims carry heavy rocks on their back up the hill to the church.

SHEIK HUSSEIN.

This is similar in many ways to Kulubi, but even more extraordinary with its dramatic setting in the remote southeast corner of Bale at the edge of the Wabe Shebelle River Gorge. As usual with Moslem holidays, dates for the celebrations are not on a fixed date, but take place twice a year around March/ April and August/ September.