Special events
Ethiopia celebrate important spiritual and cultural events,naturally a lot of them take place throughout Ethiopia in diffrent time of the year. Maskel and Timket are among the major one which Xinjingshen tour and travel agency grouped them under the Special events section. The following statement gives you a taste of what to expect in one Ethiopian orthdox church out door religious activities, Maskel.
( Meskel picture recommended)

The Celebration of MESKEL

Tradition says that on the remote mountaintop North of Addis Ababa, in a Monastery called Egziabeher Ab, a Fragment of the True Cross (on which, according to the Christian religion, Jesus was Crucified) is kept within a golden box inside the Church. The story of how this important relic came to rest in Ethiopia begins with the story of Empress Helena and explains one of Ethiopia's oldest celebrations, the MESKEL Festival.

Empress Helena was a Byzantine queen, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, who supposedly rediscovered the True Cross of Jesus in Jerualem in A.D 326. According to legend, when Helena could not find anyone to show her where Jesus had been buried and where the cross lay, she lit incense and yhen followed the smoke as it came down to earth. There she found three roses on the ground and digging beneath them, she uncovered the tomb of Jesus and the remains of the True Cross. Four pieces of the cross were brought to Ethiopia in the Middle Ages, guarded along their journey by torchbearers and then safely placed in the church there. Once the True Cross was safely in Ethiopia, the whole country rejoiced with huge bonfires.

Today, Ethiopian Christians still celebrate the discovery of the True Cross during the Meskel Festival,held on September 27. Meskel has been celebrated for more than 1600 years, and some of the traditions that take place during the festivals can be linked to the legend of Empress Helena.

On the night before Meskel, a green tree is planted in the village square or town marketplace. People gather tall branches or poles and tie them together to form a pyramid called the Demera.  Bunches of yellow daisies, which bloom everywhere at this time of the year and are often called Meskel flowers, are placed on top. The Demera is then covered with a cloth until the priest comes and blesses it. Then, on the night of Meskel, people bring torches of tree branches, called Chibbo, to their neighborhood gathering. They circle the demera, chanting, and then the chibbo are hurled in to the middle of the demera to set the branches on fire symbolizing the Empress lighting her incense so that the smoke would lead her to the True Cross.

The bonefire creates a beakon of flames that lights up the sky, and the celebration continues until the central pole of the demera collapses. The next day, people go to the burned-out bonfire and make the sign of the cross on their foreheads with the ashes. Meskel is also a time for feasting, parties, dancing, and gun salutes. Women and men all dress in their native costumes, and younger Ethiopians enter playful fighting contests with sticks. Meskel is also a social occasion when flirting and courting take place with the approval of the church. During Meskel, Ethiopians feast on roasted lamb, spicy stews called watt, and  Injera, which is a spongy, sour flatbread used to soak up meat and vegitable stews.

Meskel, one of Ethiopia's most important annual festivals, is a chance to bring christians together to remember the rediscovery of the True Cross as well as link generations of Ethiopians together through an age-old celebration.