Saturday, October 04, 2014

Finding of the True Cross (Meskel) - Ethiopia (Africa)
JedySaturday, October 04, 2014 0 comments

Finding of the True Cross (Meskel) - Ethiopia (Africa)
Bonfire, chanting and flame-lit parades characterize Meskel

The first big festival of the Ethiopian religious calendar commemorates the finding of the true cross by St Helena in the fourth century AD. Today this great religious feast is fused with older, traditional rites in honour of the return of sunshine after the gloom of the rainy season -just as the bright yellow Meskel daisy reaches full bloom. A riot of colour, hope and joy, the Meskel Festival is Celebrated with bonfires, parties, chanting, flame- lit torch parades and public celebrations. Tradition dictates that people return to the bonfire the following morning to etch the sign of the cross on their foreheads with ash. St Helena is said to have given fragments of Christs cross to all the churches of the world - the Ethiopian Church still claims to have theirs in the remote monastery of Gishan Mariam. This festival happen at late September.

More info: Ethiopia Tourism
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