Festivals and Events

• Enkutatesh (New Year Celebration)

  it is the celebration of Ethiopian New Year which falls every year Meskerem 1st (September 1st Ethiopian Calendar) or September 11th or 12th (Gregorian calendar) depending on the leap year.

  Meskel (the finding of the true cross)

  Maskel is said to be in memory of the finding of the true cross by Empress Eleni of Ethiopia.

  The eve of Meskel (26th of September) is called Demera. A huge bonfire is built, topped with a cross to which flowers are tied. The patriarch of the Orthodox Church leads the lightening ceremony. After the bonfire is blessed dancing and singing begins around it and an inner feeling of brightness spreads through all those around it.

  The day after Demera is Meskel. The festival coincidences with the mass blooming of yellow Meskel daisies, which are a symbol of a new beginning after the rainy season. In every major city the ceremony is celebrated colorfully, however the best place to celebrate Meskel is the capital Addis Ababa.

  Hidar Tsion (St. Mary celebration in Axum)

  It is colorfully celebrated every year November 30. The celebration takes place for the coming of the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. It was also on this day the first historical St. Mary church was built with 12 sanctuaries.

  Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) 

  Officially known by the Church as Baal Lidet (Ethiopian Christmas) is on the 7th of January.

  The Ethiopian name for Christmas is Genna, which comes from the word Gennana (eminent) and expresses the coming of the Lord to free mankind of its sins. Genna is also the name of a hockey-like game which is said to have been played by the shepherds when they heard of the birth Christi. Men and boys in villages now play the traditional Genna game with great enthusiasm in the late afternoon of the Christmas day – a spectacle much enjoyed by village communities and elders. Genna begins early in the day, around 6 AM, when people gather in churches for mass.

  Timket (Ethiopian Epiphany)

  Timket (Ethiopian Epiphany), which falls on the 19th of January is the day when Christians celebrate the baptism of Christ. It’s a three-day festival and all the ceremonies are conducted with great pomp. The eve of Timket (18 January) is called Ketera. On this day the tabots of each church are carried out in procession to a place near a river where the next day’s celebration will take place. A special tent is set up for each tabot, each hosting a proud manner depicting the church’s saint. The ceremony is accompanied by hymns and dances of the priests, drum beating, bell ringing and blowing of trumpets.

  The next morning (19 January) around dawn ecclesiastics and believers go to the water and attend the praying. A senior priest dips a golden processional cross in the water to bless it and extinguishes a consecrated candle in it. Then he sprinkles the water on the people in commemoration of Christ’s baptism.

  The next day (20 January) is the feast of the Archangel Michael, Ethiopia’s most popular saint. This morning, his tabot is returned to his church, again accompanied by singing and dancing of priests. This marks the end of the three-day celebration. The best place to attend the event is Lalibela, Gondar or Addis Ababa.

  Gishen Mariam Festival around Dessie 

  Gishen Mariam Festival around Dessie; October 1 While the whole country celebrates the finding of the True Cross on (September 26th & 27th ), the commemoration of the deposition of the right arm of the True Cross at the remote mountain monastery of Gishen Mariam (in the present Sothern Wollo Zone, Amhara Region), makes the celebration there especially colorful. The occasion is observed with the largest and most spectacular intensity on October 1st each year.