RELIGIOUS EVENTS
MESKEL CELEBRATION

Meskel celebration is one of the most recognized and colorful religious festival in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. It has been celebrated in the country for over 1600 years. The word actually means “Cross” and the feast commemorates the discovery of the true cross upon which Jesus was crucified by the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. The original event took place on 19 March, AD 326, but the feast is now celebrated on 27 September when all the colorfully dressed priests, dickens, and quarries are moving to the Meskel Square escorting by the local Christians by singing, chanting and dancing religious songs. Meskel Square is the special place for the celebration where the big bonfire is built and decorated by seasonal golden yellow Meskel flowers and crosses.

            
 
Negash

Muslim Religious tours are also designed on your request to Harar (the fourth most sacred center of the Islamic world) Negash Mosque, the thumb of 1st Muslim inhabitants who arrived in Ethiopia around 7th century AD. History has it that the early followers of Prophet Mohammed were granted asylum to the land of Abyssinia by then king Nagashi who eventually converted to Islam, making him the first Ethiopian and even the first non-Saudi Muslim in the world. Negash is considered by many as “the second Mekkah.”
 
   
TIMKET CELEBRATION

Timket is the greatest festival of Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrated on the 19th of January. It is a three-day festival beginning in the eve of Timket with dramatic and colorful processions, in the eve, 18 January, around 3.00 p.m the priest take away the tabots (symbolizing the Ark of the covenant containing the Ten commandments) from each church accompanied by priests with, drams, prayer sticks and sistra to bless the water of the pool or a river where the next day’s celebration will take place. The tabots rest in their special tents in the meadow each hosts a proud banner depicting the church’s saint in front. Everyone; men, women and children appears resplendent for the three-day celebration. Dressed in dazzling white traditional dress, velvets and satins of the priests robe and sequined velvet umbrellas. The priests and the dickens spend the whole night by praying and singing religious songs. The following morning, the great day itself, Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River by John of Baptist the mass and until 11.00 a.m the singing, chanting and dancing of religious songs continue. At 11.00 a.m all the tabots except St.Michael remove from their resting places to their respective churches escorted by mass Christian population. The third day is devoted to the Feast of St.Michael, the archangel, one of Ethiopia’s most popular saints.