ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Thousands of Ethiopians gathered in the capital Thursday to celebrate an annual religious festival distinguished by the lighting of bonfires according to the beliefs of ...

The celebration of Meskel (The finding of the True Cross) is one of the ceremonies celebrated annually by the various Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia on a national scale.

She established the “Meskel Flowers” project as a way to devise ... Within it, the braided hair, the ritual of a coffee ceremony, the cross-generational laughter beneath fragrant tendrils ...

Thousands in Ethiopia's capital city defied a downpour to celebrate Meskel, the first big festival of the religious year. It marks the discovery of the cross Jesus was crucified on, according to ...

Every September 11—as the rains retreat and the earth drinks its final drops—the golden petals of the Meskel flower are blooming across Ethiopia. They blanket the highlands in yellow ...

In celebrations of Meskel — a word in the local Amharic language for “cross” — bonfires are burned across the country. In Meskel square Thursday, the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox ...