Enqua " NemeSqel " abtshakum ...

Enkuan "Lemesqelu " aderesachihu.

Shabbo, not to burst your excitement.. but Mesqel is colorfully celebrated in Ethiopia to symbolize the finding of the TRUE CROSS... ( Thanks to Ethiopian Queen Eleni). With the grace and will of the lord Jesus Christ, one part of the true cross is now located in Wollo, Ethiopia remember Ethiopian. I wonder why shabbos got to do with this holiday

Shabbo, not to burst your excitement.. but Mesqel is colorfully celebrated in Ethiopia to symbolize the finding of the TRUE CROSS... ( Thanks to Ethiopian Queen Eleni). With the grace and will of the lord Jesus Christ, the true cross is now located in Wollo, Ethiopia remember Ethiopian. I wonder why shabbos got to do with this holiday

i told you that you are suffering from IQ deficency. you disgrace the ethiopian in general and ethiopian orthodox christian in particular. learn history before you open you MEHAYEM mouth. Eleni wasn't the queen of ethiopia. stupid weyannie! you think you made a favour to the Ethiopian people by telling them none ethiopian history? qoroqonda ras neh abo Minilk and YebandaAr batnoru nuro man yasqegn neber gn?

Ethiopians are generally very religious. I’ve arrived in Addis for 3 weeks and I’ve had a few Holy days or “Holidays” already. Life is good.Last Thursday night I joined an estimated 200 000 + people at Meskel Square to celebrate the Meskel holiday. Meskel, is the religious celebration of the discovery of the True Cross in the 4th century by Queen Eleni aka Saint Helena. According to the Orthodox story, Queen Eleni was inspired by a dream to light a giant bonfire of wood. And when she did, the smoke rose up high in the sky and returned to the ground at the exact same spot where the Cross had been buried. Aside from Easter, Meskel is the largest religious celebration of the year. This year’s celebrations were marked by the lighting of a huge bonfire to re-enact the finding of the True Cross and a beautiful display of fireworks for the Millennium. Thousands of spectators braved the mud from the rainy season, huge crowds and random body searches by the Federal Police. We were not disappointed. The celebrations preceding the climatic bonfire were absolutely beautiful. Imagine standing shoulder-to-shoulder, toe-to-toe with thousands of onlookers wading in mud in peace, eagerly awaiting the cue to light their candles. In the distance I could see people passing along their flame to one another. Moments later, I was surrounded by a sea of flickering candle flames. The warm glow from the candles and the soft chanting of believers transported me to an incredibly peaceful place. The atmosphere inspired me to pray. And during that moment, I couldn’t hear anything but my words to God. Though I’m not an Orthodox Christian, it didn’t matter. You either believe or not. Frankly, it’s the same God so why does it matter if I’m Non-Denominational or not. I was so encouraged by this sight of tolerance: absolute strangers, Ethiopians and Foreigners, standing centimeters away from one another passing the flame and just enjoying each other’s company. It’s possible, anything is possible if people are genuinely compassionate. It was amazing.

Fendu, listen I know the story very well... the Ethiopian King at the time was King David ( Atse Dawit) I might have mistaken that with queen Helena.. btw her citizenship is debatable, of course she is an orthodox icon. I quote

Helena's birthplace is not known with certainty. The sixth-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of Drepanum, in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor.

But my question to you is there is no correlation between today's [deleted] and the Mesqel celebration.. if you read the above article ,,, it is all about us.. the beautiful Ethiopians, not the retarded shabbos.

Eleni of Ethiopia

Eleni or Helena (died April, 1522) was the wife of Zara Yaqob, and Empress of Ethiopia. She played a significant role in the government of Ethiopia during her lifetime, acting as regent or advisor to a number of Emperors; one testimony of this is the manuscript Bruce 88, which states that she had been in the palace of three illustrious Emperors: Zara Yaqob; his son by another wife, Baeda Maryam, and Na'od.[1]

The daughter of Mehmad king of Hadiya, she converted to Christianity upon marrying Zara Yaqob. Although the Portuguese historian Baltazar Téllez wrote that she had no children, in some manuscripts of Francisco Álvares's The Prester John of the Indies, a male relative of Lebna Dengel who escaped from Amba Geshen is described as her son.[2]

With his own mother Tsion Mogasa dead, Emperor Baeda Maryam gave Eleni the title of Queen Mother. She proved to be an effective member of the royal family; Paul B. Henze comments that she "was practically co-monarch" during his reign.[3] When Eskender succeeded his father Emperor Baeda Maryam, at first Empress Eleni was pushed out of power by the Bitwoded Amda Mikael. However, around 1486 she participated in a palace coup that led to his deposition and execution, and Queen Eleni thereafter played a leading role in the Emperor's government, which continued into the reign of Emperor Na'od.

Alvarez was told by the Abuna Marqos, that upon Emperor Na'od's death in combat "he and Queen Eleni made him [Lebna Dengel] King, because they had all of the great men in their hands"[4] This statement points to the power Eleni wielded. Likewise Eleni, understanding the increasing threat that Ethiopia faced from the growing Ottoman influence in the region, with the counsel of Pero da Covilhã sent Mateus (also known as Matthew the Armenian) as an ambassador to the King of Portugal and the Pope in Rome, a fact that the Portuguese only understood after they arrived in Ethiopia, and which complicated Dom Rodrigo da Lima's mission to the Ethiopian Emperor.[5] Eleni served as chief regent for the under-age Lebna Dengel, along with his mother, the Dowager Empress Na'od Mogassa, and Ras Degelhan of Gojjam, the Emperor's senior male relative.

Alvarez also notes that Elena possessed extensive estates in the province of Gojjam.

Enqua " NemeSqel " abtshakum ...

Enkuan "Lemesqelu " aderesachihu.

Fed_Up,
I believe Mesquel is celebrated by all Eritrean and Ethiopian Christians be it Orthodox Tewahdo, Roman Catholicism and Lutheran Protestants (minus the new weirdos) that have sprung up from abroad. So Happy Mesquel to all Eritrean and Ethiopian Christians!

W'qaw is right. the founding of the cross (Mesqel) is celebrated by both Orthodox and catholics. the event took place before Orthodixy and Catholicism was split. And Eleni is the mother of Constantine (the roman ceasar). she is not ethiopian at all. May be Belaynesh took the version of the name "Eleni" as ethiopian. I do not know if Lutherans celebrate it. but certainly as my friend W'qaw said, Lutherans are much different and more sensible than the pente wierdos who are traced their Origin in America and Canada.

As Belaynesh said, part of the Mesqel was brought to Ethiopia by King Dawit in 15th century and reside in Gishen Maryam, Wollo. I had the privilage to visit it dozen times as part of my family still live in that vicinity. Ethiopian Kings during the crussade era stayed neutral when catholics battle against Salah adin and his army for the battle of Jerusalem which ended by the victory of Salah-adin. It is said that Saladin gave Ethiopian kings properties in Jerusalem (Der-sultan) and many other treasures including part of the cross. Mediaval ethiopian kings were smarter than Legesse in terms of dealing with the Muslims

Happy Mesqel and enjoy this spiritual Hymn.

digged a little about King Dawit in wikipedia. i leave for you to read the citation on the bottom of the wiki page

Life

Taddesse Tamrat discusses a tradition that early in his reign Dawit campaigned against Egypt, reaching as far north as Aswan; in response the Emir forced the Patriarch of Alexandria, Matthew I, to send a deputation to Dawit to persuade him to retire back to his kingdom. Taddesse concludes, "There seems to be little or no doubt that, on the eve of the advent of the Burji dynasty of Mamluk Egypt, King Dawit had in fact led his troops beyond the northern frontiers of his kingdom, and created much havoc among the Muslim inhabitants of the area who had been within the sphere of influence of Egypt since the thirteenth century."[2] He apparently had a much friendlier relationship with the Sultan's successor, for according to the medieval historian al-Maqrizi Dawit sent 22 camels laden with gifts to Berkuk, the first Sultan of the Burji dynasty.[3]
He confronted the problem of raids from the Muslim kingdoms on his eastern border with numerous counter attacks on those kingdoms. According to al-Maqrizi, in 1403 Emperor Dawit pursued the Sultan of Adal, Sa'ad ad-Din II to Zeila where he killed Sa'ad ad-Din, and sacked Zeila; however, another contemporary source dates the death of Sa'ad ad-Din to 1415, and gives the credit to Emperor Yeshaq.[4]
A noted horseman, Dawit was killed when he was kicked in the head by one of his horses. His body was interred in the monastery of St. Stephen on Daga Island in Lake Tana.[5]
[edit]Other events

The Emperor Dawit was an enthusiastic Christian. He dealt with a revolt of the Beta Israel in Tigray, and encouraged missionary work in Gojjam. According to E. A. Wallis Budge, during his reign a piece of the True Cross arrived in Ethiopia.[6] He also made endowments to the Ethiopian Church: three charters survive of grants he made of lands in Wolqayt, Serae, Adiyabo, Shire, Addi Arkay, northern Semien, the Gar'alta, Manbarta, and Karnesem which lies north of present-day Asmara.[7]
During his reign, two surviving examples of illustrated manuscripts were produced. One is a translation of the Miracles of Mary which had been written in Arabic, done at the command of Emperor Dawit; this is the oldest surviving illustrated book commissioned by an Ethiopian Emperor.[8] The other, described as "one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the period" is a copy of the gospels, which is now at the monastery of Saint Gabriel on Kebran Island in southern Lake Tana.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawit_I_of_Ethiopia

W'qaw is right. the founding of the cross (Mesqel) is celebrated by both Orthodox and catholics. the event took place before Orthodixy and Catholicism was split. And Eleni is the mother of Constantine (the roman ceasar). she is not ethiopian at all. May be Belaynesh took the version of the name "Eleni" as ethiopian. I do not know if Lutherans celebrate it. but certainly as my friend W'qaw said, Lutherans are much different and more sensible than the pente wierdos who are traced their Origin in America and Canada.

As Belaynesh said, part of the Mesqel was brought to Ethiopia by King Dawit in 15th century and reside in Gishen Maryam, Wollo. I had the privilage to visit it dozen times as part of my family still live in that vicinity. Ethiopian Kings during the crussade era stayed neutral when catholics battle against Salah adin and his army for the battle of Jerusalem which ended by the victory of Salah-adin. It is said that Saladin gave Ethiopian kings properties in Jerusalem (Der-sultan) and many other treasures including part of the cross. Mediaval ethiopian kings were smarter than Legesse in terms of dealing with the Muslims

Happy Mesqel and enjoy this spiritual Hymn.

Semira shkor,
I am just going by what I have witnessed. As you know, Catholicism was introduced by the Italians in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. Separated from the Tewahdo religion, as it were, still and as far as I know, it is difficult to decipher who is Tewahdo or Catholic believer in the Ethio-Eritrea case. They are practically indistinguishable from each other. Even the church hymns are identical and are sung, for the most part, in our proud Geez language!
The reason I included the Swedish Lutheran Evangelists is, they were one of the first to show up in our countries and its followers still remain adhering to our traditional holidays. But recently, there are few that have “rediscovered” our almost 2,000 year-old Christianity. Remember Christianity was introduced to our area around 331 AD. Now, who is going to tell us that they know Christianity more than we do? BTW, thanks for a great zefen! Speaking about great songs, here is one from Tirhas and please enjoy:

rHUs be'Al Mesqel nKulna!