Experience Ethiopia’s vibrant festivals and holidays with Sycamore Ethiopia Tours, your expert guide to the country’s most spectacular cultural celebrations. Ethiopia follows the ancient Ge’ez calendar, meaning many festivals are unique in timing and traditions. Our festival tours immerse you in these grand events, offering an unforgettable blend of history, faith, and cultural vibrancy.
Ethiopian New Year
The Ethiopian New Year falls in September at the end of the big rains. The sun comes out to shine all day long creating an atmosphere of dazzling clarity and fresh clean sir. The highlands turn to gold as the Meskel daisies burst out in their entire splendor. Ethiopia children, clad in brand-new clothes, dance through the villages giving bouquets of flowers and painted pictures to each household.
Ethiopia Meskel Celebration in Adigrat town
In the Ethiopian Orthodox Meskel is an annual religious holiday commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena, the mother of the great Roman Emperor Constantine (Saint Helena). Meskel happens on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (September 27, Gregorian calendar, or September 28 in leap years).
The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the dream of a monk in Jerusalem, whose name was Kirakos who revealed to Queen Eleni the exact location of the true cross. She was told that she should make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke raised high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where the Cross had been buried.
Ethiopia Epiphany Festivity
Timket is a religious celebration in commemoration of the baptism of Jesus Christ in Jordan River. It is celebrated every year on January 19 or 20 on leap year. During the Timket the Tabot, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, which is present on every Ethiopian altar (somewhat like the Western altar stone), is reverently wrapped in rich cloth and born in procession on the head of the priest. The Tabot, which is otherwise rarely seen by the laity, represents the manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah when he came to the Jordan for baptism.
It is a colorful festival. Thought it is celebrated every year in all parts of Ethiopia, it is most colorful to attend the event either in Aksum or Mekelle.
Axum St . Mary Celebration
Mariam Zion (Hidar Zion)- Celebration of Saint Mary of Axum is one of the main festivals celebrated in Axum. This festival is celebrated once a year to venerate St. Mary and especially to honour the believed existence of the Ark of the Covenant in St. Mary church of Axum. It is celebrated on November 30th (December 1st in a leap year), Hidar 21 according to the Ethiopian calendar the celebration starts from the eve of the actual festival date.
St. Mary of Zion claims to contain the original Ark of the Covenant. Reportedly, the Ark was moved to the Chapel of the Tablet adjacent to the old church because a divine ‘heat’ from the Tablets had cracked the stones of its previous sanctum. Emperor Haile Selassie’s wife, Empress Menen paid for the construction of the new chapel.
Axum Zion (Hidar Zion) is associated with the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in Axum. This church is the first to be built in Ethiopia. This festival is attended by hundreds and thousands of people from all over the World every year, making it one of the most joyous annual pilgrimages in Axum, the “sacred city of the Ethiopians”.
Axum Palm Sunday Celebration
Hosanna (Palm Sunday); it is celebrated before a week of Easter. It commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ with the disciples into Jerusalem. People welcomed Jesus by spreading palm branches.
The best place to observe this colorful ceremony is at St. Mary Zion Church in Axum. The celebration took the story from the bible and a role-play of it is played by the priests on that day.
Ashenda Festival in Tigray
Ashenda is a unique Tigrian traditional festival which takes place in August to mark the ending of fasting called filseta. This event is mostly for girls and young women, which they await very eagerly every year. It is unique to the people in the state of Tigrai in northern Ethiopia. The name of the festival “Ashenda” comes from the name of a tall grass that the girls make in to a skirt and ware it around their waist as a decoration.
The young women and girls dress the best traditional dresses called Tilfi which is a cotton dress decorated with amazing embroidery from the neck to toe in front of the dress. The girls also adorned themselves with array of beautiful jewelry.
Book your Ethiopia Festivals and Holidays Tour today and immerse yourself in the country’s most spectacular traditions.
