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Ordinary Time
Meskel (Finding of the True Cross)
Also called: Meskal, መስቀል, Demera Festival
September 27 (fixed)
Ethiopian Orthodox
Every year in September, huge bonfires called Demera light up Ethiopia to remember when St Helena supposedly found the cross Jesus died on. The bonfire at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa is enormous — tradition says the direction the smoke blows predicts the coming year.
After the fire dies, people mark their foreheads with ash. UNESCO lists Meskel as world cultural heritage.
Eden lists mission trips where you can witness Meskel firsthand.
At a glance
- Type
- major feast
- Date type
- Fixed (same date every year)
- Regions
- Ethiopia
- Themes
- Holy Cross
- Liturgical colour
- Red, Gold
Common questions
Meskel (Finding of the True Cross) is observed on September 27 (fixed). Moveable feasts shift each year; fixed feasts stay on the same calendar date.
The feast commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326 AD. According to Ethiopian tradition, part of the True Cross later found its way to Ethiopia and is enshrined at Gishen Mariam monastery. The central ritual is the Demera — the building and burning of a massive bonfire topped with crosses and the yellow Meskel daisies (Adey Ababa). Priests bles
It is associated with Ethiopian Orthodox. It falls in the Ordinary Time season of the liturgical year.