The festival of Meskel, which is the commemoration feast of the finding of the True Holy Cross of Christ, is celebrated across Ethiopia on the 26th September.
It’s believed that a piece of the True Holy Cross Saint Helena has discovered. Then was brought to Ethiopia, and is housed in the mountains of Amba Geshen.The celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches decorated with green grass.
Meskel is celebrated nationwide regardless of age, gender, language or ethnicity. Participants are believed to receive spiritual rewards from the celebration and blessings from the Holy Cross. The celebration was conducted in Addis Ababa in the presence of hundreds of thousands of people from diverse communities and the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, higher government officials, and diplomatic communities residing in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church priests, deacons, choir and worshipers from different churches presents an elaborated procession to the Demera place singing about the power of the cross and its findings.
The celebration culminates after the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church lights the bonfire. Meskel, the commemoration feast of the finding of the True Holy Cross of Christ, was inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
