Yohanes Byassu, 8, helps his mother Tiruwork Abera by marking a cross of ash on her forehead during Meskel Festival at Lowry Park in Aurora on Saturday, September 28, 2019.

AURORA — Meskel is celebrated every September after the Ethiopian New Year. “Meskel means cross,” said Woldey Assefa, chair of the board at St Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in ...

Thousands of Ethiopians were gathered on Addis Ababa's Meskel square Thursday (Sep. 26). The festival celebrates the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, according to the church beliefs, and its ...

Ethiopians are celebrating the annual Meskel festival, the first big festival of the Ethiopian religious year. According to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition, the national holiday marks the ...

Legend has it that on this day around 330 AD, St. Helena -- who is known as Nigist Eleni in Ethiopia and was the mother of Rome's first Christian emperor, Constantine -- found the cross on which ...

The shadow of war hung over Ethiopia's Meskel festival in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, with high security, low turnout and Orthodox Christian priests calling for peace and forgiveness in their sermons.

Meskel is a Geez word; which literally means Cross. The holiday is celebrated in commemoration with the discovery of the true cross of Jesus Christ by the Roman empress Helena (St. Helena).

In a new photo series entitled “Meskel Flower: A Love Letter to Ethiopia,” Wolle contends with self-declaration of home and identity unfettered by miles of distance.

Among Orthodox believers in Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea, Meskel commemorates the discovery by Saint Helena in Palestine in the fourth century of the “true cross” upon which Jesus Christ ...

The annual Orthodox Christian festival marks the finding of the cross that Jesus was crucified on. ... known as Demera, by gathering in Meskel Square in the heart of the capital city, Addis Ababa.