This is a religious festival celebrated in Ethiopia on 27th September on the Gregorian calendar. It is a vibrant national holiday that has been observed throughout the country by Ethiopian Christians for over 1,600 years. The festival commemorates the day the true cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified on was found.
That is why this day is also called finding the true cross. A lady by the name Helena, popularly known as EmpressEleni found the cross. She had searched for long without any success until one day when she received a dream. In the dream, she saw herself lighting a big fire that produced a lot of smoke. The smoke led her to where the cross was buried. After finding the real cross on which Jesus was crucified, she lit torches to celebrate her success. This explains why celebrations in Ethiopia today involve lighting of torches. Half of the cross was given to emperor Dawit of Ethiopia in the middle ages as an appreciation for the protection he had given to Christians. On the eve of Meskel, there are celebrations known as demera.
Demera involves eating, drinking, dancing and other joyful celebrations. During this celebration, participants plant trees in marketplaces and in their homes. The name Meskel comes from daises that are put on tall branches that are tied together. Those branches are then stacked together and set ablaze using the torches that participants are carrying. The procession encircles the burning branches which are called demera and chant special Meskel songs. A patriarch from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church presides over the burning festival.Faithful’s who cannot make it to the public celebration create their own small demeras at home. Once the demera burns to ashes, they give interpretation depending on the direction in which it falls. On the same day, it is expected to rain to signify a prosperous year. The burning of these branches often goes on into the night. The following day which is the actual Meskel festival, they go to the place where they burnt the demera. They pick up the ash and draw the sign of the cross on their foreheads. There is a lot of feasting and celebrations that follow as it is considered they have found the cross.It is without doubt, a festival which you won’t see anywhere else in the world.Addis Ababa, Bahirdar, Gondar, Lalibela, Aksum are best places to attend to this Festival.