Christmas in Ethiopia is called Ganna in Amharic (or Genna) and is celebrated on January 7th (Ganna is on the 29th day of the month of Tahsas in Ethiopian calendar). An important Ethiopian holiday, they celebrate in a different way.
In Ethiopia, a lot of people use to celebrate this festival in the church which is one of the ways to celebrate Christmas. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers January 7th being the day of Jesus’ birth from holy virgin Mariam and, therefore, the day for major religious activity in Ethiopia church. January 6th eve of Christmas Ethiopia Orthodox people spends the night in the church praying, giving thanks to God, and sings a spiritual song. Especial in Lalibela take a place at this festival a lot of tourist use to travel to Lalibela to celebrate this incredible Festival in Bete Mariam.
Ganna is a strictly religious occasion with its own unique traditions. The giving of gifts is not central to the Ethiopian Christmas tradition; rather the focus is on ritual and ceremony. Many Ethiopians carry out a 43-day fast in the lead up to Christmas day. The fast begins on November 25th, a day known as Tsome Nebiyat (Fast of the Prophets), and is held through to January 7th. Ethiopians eat just one meal a day for 43 days, the meals should be free from meat, dairy, and eggs which are all avoided during periods of fasting. The 43-day fast is broken at daybreak on January 7th with a light meal. Later in the day a Doro Wat, a spicy stew containing meat and vegetables and sometimes topped with an egg is eaten. Injera, Ethiopian flat breads, are used to scoop up and eat the stew. The meal is accompanied by tej, an Ethiopian honey wine.
One Ethiopian legend claims that the shepherds of the Christmas story heard about the birth of Jesus, they celebrated the news with a spontaneous game using their wooden staffs that resembled hockey. For this reason, on Christmas day mainly boys and young men play a game similar to hockey with a curved wooden stick and ball. The game is called Yágenna Chewata, or genna for short. One similarity between Christmas in Ethiopia and in other areas of the world is the importance of food.
