Christians of Ethiopia Celebrate the “Feast of the Holy Cross”

Oruba News-Addis Ababa – By Sultan Hattab – The Government of Ethiopia invited me to attend the celebrations of the country of the Feast of the Holy Cross which is a major religious and national feast which is perhaps the most important in the country. Hence, theEthiopianswere keen on registering it in the list of the world heritage sites, and gave it a global dimension and invited tourists from all corners of the world.
I was one of those invited, and I may mention that my relations with Ethiopia began more than a year ago when I was called upon to write a book on Ethiopia in the wake of extensive tours which were arranged by officials in the Ministry. My tour included cities in the north, south, east and west, which I visited and whose foremost landmarks and features I photographed, and I also wrote about them.. These cities included Addis Ababa, Maqala, Axum the village of Najashi, Ghandour, Larlbila, Bahr Dar, Jima, Harar and others.
The result was a huge book of (510) five hundred and ten pages interspersed with photographs in all its pages. I chose a name for the book, namely “Ethiopia as I Witnessed it”. Actually, I wrote about what I observed and about the history of the place. The book was of a comprehensive and encyclopedic scope which treated all aspects of Ethiopian life, as well its history and geography..
Yesterday 26/9/2017 was a special and beautiful day.. I was invited to the celebration and my hosts honored me by letting me sit on the major platform near to the leading officials. On the platform was the Pope of the Indian Orthodox Church BasiliusMartoma and father Mathieu the pope of the Orthodox Church, and also on the platform was the head of state Mulatto Tshomi and a number of ministers, and the Mayor of Addis Ababa, DiribaKuma. The celebration lasted for three hours and was attended by more than fifty thousand people who sat in the stadiums of the Revolution Square, amid an astonishing religious exhibition in which participated churches, religious schools, the Federal Police and religious musical troupes. Religious and civil officialsdelivered speeches and the solemn celebration culminated with the burning of the tree that carried the cross after the officials present circled the burning tree whereby its ashes produced signs of crosses drawn on the foreheads to entreat forgiveness.
This day is followed by an official holiday where all governmental departments suspend work and all the Ethiopians resume their religious celebrationsdistinguished by adorned attire, particular white, and assorted kinds of food are exchanged.
Actually great numbers of delegations and tourists visit Ethiopian coming from all parts of the globe, for Ethiopia is the leader of the Orthodox Church in Africa as the most notable center, where around 47% of the population are followers of the Orthodox Church, and Christians in Ethiopia represent around 60% of the population followed by the Muslims who are presently fairly represented in the government and in public life after long years of deprivation, thanks to the governments which ruled after the revolution, and particularly in the era of the departed MelesZenawi.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, held, in the evening of Tuesday, a celebration of the Feast of the Holy Cross, locally known as Meskel, with the participation of the Pope of the Indian Orthodox Church BasiliusMartoma, and the Ethiopian President MolattoTshomi.
The celebration that took place in Revolution Square at the center of the capital Addis Ababa involved the presence of the mayor of Addis Abba, Mr. DiribaKuma, and the deacon anabaMatius, the Pope of the Orthodox Church.
Meskel is actually one of the extremely important occasions in Ethiopia, and it occurs on the 14th (Wednesday) of the month of Maskram which is the first month of the Ethiopian year. The Orthodox Ethiopians actually believed that it is the day in which the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified was discovered hundreds of years ago.
In an emotional speech, the Pope of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopian called “upon all to strive to spread love, peace and tolerance which Christ preached.”
On his part, the mayor of Addis Ababa, underlined the necessity of maintaining peace and stability. He also said that peace and love are the means for promoting unity and working together to develop Ethiopia.
On his part the Pope of the Indian Orthodox Church (there are no announced details of his visit) said that he came to Ethiopia to share with its Christian community celebrations of this feast. He called for the necessity of complying with the teachings of Christ advocating peace and love.
The celebration was held in the middle of the Ethiopian capital, included lighting a big flame named “Damera” among huge crowds of Christians, particularlyfollowers of the Orthodox Church, in their quest for spiritual fulfillment and satiation through listening to religious hymns.
After the extinguishing of the fire the adherents of the church draw the sign of the cross on their foreheads, and someof them believe that drawing the cross with the ashes of the wood of the celebration signifies complete atonement of their sins.
Moreover, some believe that the direction of the smoke and the manner of the formation of the ashes are indicative of the future path of people.
The participants presented artistic performancesincluding religious hymns through which the zeal of the multitudes is aroused who gathered on this occasion which Ethiopians consider a religious and national event concurrently.
The celebrationalso witnessed musical performances by the Federal Police juxtaposed with a substantial presence of diplomatic missions, particularly western missions.
It may be noted that Christians represent 62.8% of the population of Ethiopia which numbers around 102 million, where the Orthodox account for 43.5%, followed by the Protestants (18.6%), the Catholics (0.7%), according to an official census conducted in 2007.