Meskel is celebrated by Ethiopian Orthodox believers as an important religious event, as it is believed that a piece of the True Cross was brought to Ethiopia. It is kept in Amba Gishen, which itself has the shape of a real cross. Celebrations take place indoors with family and outdoors, with the entire population wearing enormous robes. Meskel is simply the holiday commemorating the finding of the True Cross.
The festival is celebrated on September 27, or September 28 in a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar, at a time when the country is at its most beautiful after the rainy season, when flowers are in full bloom and yellow, daisy-like blossoms cover the hills around Addis Ababa.
It is a special event held on the eve of Meskel to commemorate the smoke that supposedly led Empress Helena to the site of the True Cross.
The True Cross, on which Christ had been crucified, was thrown into a ditch or well and then covered with stretchers until Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, discovered the spot where three crosses presumably used in the crucifixion of Jesus lay, as well as two of the crosses on which the two thieves had been executed with him.
The celebrations begin in earnest on September 26, the eve of the feast, when families across the country prepare the Demera, a tall prism of branches meant to commemorate the burning fir tree that led Helen to the cross. Once this is prepared, a cross-made of Demera flowers is placed on the pile and the families return home full of anticipation for the celebrations to begin.
As a sign of goodwill, believers paint their foreheads in the morning with the ashes of the burnt bone fire.
Meskel means “cross” in Amharic and is now on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Meskel square festival takes place every year on September 26 (the date may vary by one day every 4 years)
The festival is celebrated on September 27, or September 28 in a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar, at a time when the country is at its most beautiful after the rainy season, when flowers are in full bloom and yellow, daisy-like blossoms cover the hills around Addis Ababa.
It is a special event held on the eve of Meskel to commemorate the smoke that supposedly led Empress Helena to the site of the True Cross.
The True Cross, on which Christ had been crucified, was thrown into a ditch or well and then covered with stretchers until Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, discovered the spot where three crosses presumably used in the crucifixion of Jesus lay, as well as two of the crosses on which the two thieves had been executed with him.
The celebrations begin in earnest on September 26, the eve of the feast, when families across the country prepare the Demera, a tall prism of branches meant to commemorate the burning fir tree that led Helen to the cross. Once this is prepared, a cross-made of Demera flowers is placed on the pile and the families return home full of anticipation for the celebrations to begin.
As a sign of goodwill, believers paint their foreheads in the morning with the ashes of the burnt bone fire.
Meskel means “cross” in Amharic and is now on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Meskel square festival takes place every year on September 26 (the date may vary by one day every 4 years)
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