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Celebrate Epiphany in
Ethiopian style
During the first millennium B.C. and possibly even earlier,
various Semitic-speaking groups from Southwest Arabia began to
cross the Red Sea and settle along the coast and in the nearby
highlands.
These migrants brought with them their Semitic
speech (Sabaean and perhaps others) and script (Old Epigraphic
South Arabic) and monumental stone architecture. A fusion of the
newcomers with the indigenous inhabitants produced a culture
known as pre-Aksumite. The factors that motivated this
settlement in the area are not known, but to judge from
subsequent history, commercial activity must have figured
strongly.
The port city of Adulis, near modern-day Mitsiwa, was a major
regional entrepôt and probably the main gateway to the interior
for new arrivals from Southwest Arabia. Archaeological evidence
indicates that by the beginning of the Christian era this pre-Aksumite
culture had developed western and eastern regional variants. The
former, which included the region of Aksum, was probably the
polity or series of polities that became the Aksumite state.
This is an extremely colourful three-day festival commemorating
the baptism of Christ.The night before, priests take the Tabot
(which symbolizes the Ark of the Covenant) containing the Ten
Commandments from each Church. Concealed by an ornamental cloth,
it is taken to a tent, close to a consecrated pool or stream,
accompanied by much ringing of bells, blowing of trumpets and
the burning of incense. In Addis Ababa many tents are pitched at
Jan Meda, to the northeast of the city centre. At 0200 there is
a Mass, and crowds attend, with picnics lit by oil lamps. At
dawn the priest extinguishes a candle burning on a pole set in a
nearby river using a ceremonial cross. Some of the congregation
leap into the river. The Tabots are then taken back to the
Churches in procession, accompanied by horsemen, while the
festivities continue.
Annual festivals & Ceremonies
There are diffrent kinds of ceremonies during the
year. Some of the major festivals and ceremonies are New Year
(September 11), Meskel (the founding of the true cross), Genna
(Ethiopian Christmass), Timket (Ethiopian Epiphany), Fasika
(Ethiopian Easter), for more information look at the festivals
detail information below.
Ethiopian Christmass Genna
Christmas (Genna) celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
This is a colorful festival celebrated by all Christian people
in the country. The dancing of the priest with their great drums
and sistras by standing around the edge of the cliff surrounding
the churches is so impressive. Especially at Lalibela.
Ethiopian Epiphany
Timket (Epiphany) is the final great religious
festival in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church calendar. It
commemorates when Saint John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the
Jordan River. The festival starts in the early hours of the eve
of Timket. Two weeks after the Ethiopian Christmas. The church
Tabots (the replicas of the Ark of the covenant containing the
Tabots of Law, on to which the Biblical ten commandments were
inscribed) to the near by water body. In the culmination of the
ceremony, priests bless the water and a communal baptism
follows, splashing water on everyone and, if the body of water
is large enough, the most fervent followers will immerse
themselves.
Following the baptism the Tabots are paraded back to their
churches accompanied by church members and believers, chant,
dancing, drum-beating, prayer stick waving. Axum, Lalibela,
Gondar, and Addis Ababa are the best place to experience this
cultural celebration.
Ethiopian Meskel
Maskel is celebrated by dancing, feasting and
lighting a massive bonfire known in Ethiopian tradition as “Demera”.
Maskel festival marking the finding of the true cross as which
Jesus Christ was crucified. In Ethiopia the monastery of Gishen
Mariam holds the true cross of Christ