Meskel (Finding of the True Cross) in Ethiopia መስቀል
Meskel (መስቀል, "the Cross") is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo commemoration of the discovery of the True Cross of Christ by Empress Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century.
It falls on September 27 every Gregorian year (September 28 the year before a leap year), or Meskerem 17 in the Ethiopian calendar. The Meskel celebrations of Addis Ababa and Gurage country were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
Empress Helena and the True Cross
According to tradition, Empress Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, was guided by the smoke from a bonfire to the burial place of the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in 326 AD. She had ordered a small fire lit and prayed for the smoke to point her to the spot. The smoke bent toward a certain hill, and the Cross was uncovered there.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church holds that a fragment of the recovered True Cross was later sent to Ethiopia in the 4th century. It is preserved at Gishen Mariam Monastery in Wollo, an isolated mountain monastery shaped like a cross. Each year on the eve of Meskel, Ethiopians light large bonfires (demera) in remembrance of Helena's smoke.
How Ethiopians celebrate Meskel
The Demera bonfire
The Demera is a tall conical pyre of long olive-wood or eucalyptus branches, decorated with bunches of yellow Adey Abeba flowers and topped with a wooden cross. The largest one is built and lit at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa on the evening of September 26 in front of tens of thousands of people, with the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church presiding. Smaller demera are lit in every village and church compound across the Ethiopian highlands. The capital's demera is broadcast live across the country.
The Gurage homecoming
The Gurage people of southwestern Ethiopia hold the largest community Meskel celebration outside the capital. It is the central event of the Gurage cultural year. Families return to their birth villages from Addis Ababa, from European cities, from the Gulf, and from North America for the Meskel homecoming. Kitfo, the Gurage signature dish of seasoned minced raw beef, is served at every household. The homecoming is one of the largest annual cultural homecomings in Ethiopia.
An Ethiopian festival on the UNESCO list
Meskel is one of the Ethiopian celebrations on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (inscribed 2013), alongside Timket (2019) and the Sidama New Year Fichee-Chambalaalla (2015). The Meskel demera is one of the most distinctive religious bonfire traditions in the world, and it has been observed continuously across the Ethiopian highlands for more than 1,600 years.