Meskal, Finding of the True Cross

By our staff reporter

Meskal, meaning 'cross', is one of the most important festivals in Ethiopia. It has an incredibly old history, allegedly first celebrated in AD 326. The annual event is a huge feast celebrating the legendary finding of the True Cross on which Christ is said to have been crucified.
Briefly, there are three main accounts of how the True Cross was found. First, there is the tale of how the Empress Helena, Constantine the Great's mother, set off for Jerusalem to find the "life-giving cross". After a great many tests and challenges she forced the Jews to tell her where she might find the Cross (under the hill of Golgotha). The second account, which is the most popular, tells how Helena went off on her search but rather than the Jews telling her where the Cross was, she found it by lighting incense and following the smoke as it descended to earth. The third account attributes the find to Queen Sheba, who some say had one foot 'like that of an ass' which was cured by stumbling on a piece of wood which formed part of the Cross.
Beyond the story of how it was found, there is also the tale of how it came to Ethiopia, which is related in a 15th century volume known as the Tefut, located in the remote mountain monastery of Gishen Mariam in Northern Showa. It tells of how, in the Middle Ages, the Christian monarchs of Ethiopia were called upon to protect the Coptic minorities from marauding Egyptian Muslims. Their reward was usually gold, but instead the Emperor Dawit asked for a fragment of the True Cross from the Patriarch of Alexandria. The rejoicing that followed its arrival is commemorated as Meskal.
The precise form of the celebrations varies according to where you are in the country. In the central highlands, the festival begins on Meskal eve by planting a green tree in town squares and village marketplaces. Everyone brings a pole topped with the beautiful yellow Meskal daisies, which are abundant in Ethiopia at the end of the rains, and they are placed to form a towering pyramid which is set alight.
In Addis, large crowds of clergy and lay people gather in Meskal square near the Church of Saint George and the Municipality. A colourful procession gathers around the huge pyramid and the torch bearers move forward in unison to set the pyramid alight. Around the area, feasting, drinking, dancing, playful fighting, courting and flirting go on late into the night. The central pole of the pyramid often does not finally fall until dawn, marking the climax of the event. The next day people return to the fire to make the sign of the Cross in the remaining ashes.
Whereas in Addis and the Central Highlands the eve of Meskal is the main feast day, in the North the main feast is on Meskal day itself. In the South, it's altogether a more lengthy affair.
In the southern lands of the Oromo, Gurage, Kambata, Hadiya, Welayta and Gamo people, the feast is the most important event of the year, even before Timkat, and therefore, quite sensibly, lasts for at least an entire week! This is in large part because it acts as a seasonal rite. Families gather, migrant workers return home, gifts are exchanged, new clothes are bought and there is lots and lots of feasting.
In Gurageland, for example, they give each day a special title and eat specific parts of sacrificed oxen on each day. This is meant to renew and reassert the fertility of women and crops. On one day a bull is killed, the husband stroking its back while the wife collects the blood. Parts of the stomach lining are distributed to the sons of the families, the father keeping the largest part and pinning it to his house. In some areas, the event acts as an occasion for the public recognition of life cycle events. For example, in Hadiya, newly-wed women parade in the market square to confirm their new status, as do elected leaders.
Whatever the history and whichever the particular form of celebration Meskal takes, the sheer lushness and beauty of Ethiopia at this time of the year, and the energy with which Ethiopians celebrate this important event in their calendar, make it a fascinating and joyous festival to attend.