Meskel (Finding of the True Cross)

Meskel (“cross” in Ge’ez and Amharic) commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. Tradition holds that she followed the smoke of a bonfire to find it, and Ethiopia believes a fragment is kept at the mountain monastery of Gishen Mariam.

On the eve of the festival, tall Demera bonfires decorated with yellow Meskel daisies are lit across the country, the largest in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, surrounded by singing crowds. The direction in which the burning pole falls is said to foretell the year ahead.