Ethiopian Christmas

ChristmasThe Christmas service in Ethiopia takes place both in ancient churches carved into the rock of volcanic rocks and in modern temples. The people of Ethiopia have a special reverence for the temple. People begin to be baptized a few hundred meters from the temple, some crawl to it on their knees.

“Ghanna,” the Ethiopian Christmas, begins by handing out candles to everyone entering the church. With a lighted candle, he walks around the church three times and then the entire liturgy. The service in the Ethiopian Church is long. On the eve of the holiday, it begins in the evening and often lasts all night. Women and men in the temple pray separately: women on the right and men on the left.

On Christmas night, the city is filled with pilgrims. All night they pray in the street and sing psalms. In the morning, all believers form a bright and elegant procession that goes to the nearby hill. The Divine Liturgy is served there, and then each eats from the hands of another believer one piece of doro wat (a stewed chicken with spices that lies in colorfully decorated baskets). Ethiopians bake figs, a huge yeast dough cake. It serves as both a plate and a napkin to take a piece of chicken.