RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS AND CALENDAR
THE LITURGICAL YEAR 1. The calendar
Each year is divided into 12 months of 30 days. The extra 5 days are placed at the end of the year and known as Pagumen. In the leap year the extra day is added to these five days making the Pagumen of this year a period of 6 days.
Names of months are as follows: As in Julian and Gregorian calendars days are grouped into weeks and are named in order.
DAYS OF THE WEEK
The chronology of the Ethiopian church follows the Era of Incarnation that is it dates from our Lord’s birth; there is a difference of 7 or 8 years between the western and Ethiopian systems. Because the Ethiopian church holds that our Lord was born 5500 years after the creation of the world this gives the 7 or 8 years difference between the Gregorian and Ethiopian Chronologies.
The church also uses other systems of chronology. There is the Era of the world which dates from 5493 B.C, which also differs from the western chronology by 7 or 8 years. Then there is a system of chronology called “the years of Mercy or Grace,” a system which follows the great lunar cycle.
The MOVABLE FEASTS are these of Easter and the days which depends upon it. The reckoning of Easter is based upon the system of Ammonius. The dates of Easter and the feast which depends upon it are determined by the Fast of Nineveh which precedes the Easter Lent and in turn the date of the fast of Nineveh has been found according to the given principles, the date of Easter and the dates of the movable feast can easily be calculated.
The Easter Lent always begins on a Monday and can not come before the 1st of Yekatit nor after the 5th of Megabit. The festival of the Mount of Olives always begins upon Sunday and cannot come before the 28th of Yekatit nor after the 2nd of Miyazia.
Palm Sunday cannot come before the 19th of Megabit 01 after the 23rd of Miyazia. Easter is on a Sunday and cannot come before the 26th of Megabit nor after 30th of Miyazia. The congress of priests always begins on Wednesday and cannot come before the 20th of Miyazia nor after the 24th of Ginbot. Ascension always begins on Thursday and cannot come before the 5th of Ginbot nor after the 9th of Sene. The Feast of Pentecost always begins on Sunday and cannot come before the 15th of Ginbot nor after the 19th of Sene.
2. FESTIVAL
The feasts of our Lord are divided into 9 major and 9 minor feasts. Major feasts are:
Minor feasts are:
The 33 feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary are as follows: 1. The day in which she was conceived. The death of our Lady is commemorated on January 21, Ethiopic Calendar, 16 Jan. in Western reckoning and apparently by reason of this the 21st of each Ethiopian month is dedicated to the Virgin. Nativity is on May 1 (April 26 in Western reckoning and September 10 (7 in West. Reckoning); her burial on August 15 (8 in West. Reckoning); Assumption on August 16 (9 west reckoning); her Presentation on December 3 (Nov.29 in West reckoning); her Conception on December 16 (12 December in West. reckoning).
We thus have the following as our Lady’s major feasts:
The feasts which come each month during the are: Trinity, the 7th of each month; Michael the Archangel, the 12t of each month; the Covenant of Mercy, the 16th of each month; the Holy Virgin Assumption, the 21st of each month; the Death of Our Lord, the 27th of each month; and the birth of Christ, the 29th of each month.
Every Christian has a patron saint and each family has its patron saint whose anniversary is commemorated from father to son. The patron most in vogue are: St. Michael the Archangel, St. Gabriel, St. George, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, Tekla Haimanot, Gebre Menfese Kidus, St. Petros etc.
The book Senksar is the calendar which contains a list of saints to be commemorated daily and their brief history. There are many holy martyrs and confessors who are remembered. The angels hold a high place in the church. They protect homes, Churches, palaces and all places of importance. Chiefs among them are St. Michael and St. Gabriel. - Christmas – Tahsas 29th E.C (7th January)
3. FASTING AND ABSTINENCE Fasting implies abstention from food and drink. Special days are appointed for fasting. Every Wednesday and Friday are days of fasting because on Wednesday the Jews held a council in which they rejected and condemned our Lord and on Friday they crucified him. The fasts are ordained in the Fetha Negest are:
In addition to these, there is the fast of repentance which a man keeps after committing sin, it being imposed as a penance by the priest for seven days, forty days or one year. There is a fast which a bishop keeps at the time he is consecrated. There is a fast of desire which a man keeps if he thinks he will increase his value in the sight of God or that he will subdue his body by extra good works. Monks and nuns observe additional fast days not required of the laity. All persons above the age of 13 observe the church fasts. The priest rarely grants dispensations. The man who ignores or neglects any injunction of the church is not considered good Christian.
The total number of fasting days amounts to about 250 a year, of which about 180 are obligatory for all, and the rest are only for priests, monks, nuns and other special groups in the church. The longest periods of fasting are those of Lent. Advent and Kweskwam (forty days preceding the fast of the flight to Egypt). Fast generally implies one meal a day to be taken either in the evening or after 2.45 p.m. with total abstention from meat, fats, eggs and diary products. Instead they use cereals, vegetables and other type of food devoid of fats. Smoking is a breach of the fast.
There is no fasting while Christmas, Epiphany, and the feast of feast of fifty days are being kept. From Easter to Pentecost a man may eat and drink what he likes on Wednesday and Friday. There is no fast if the Christmas and Epiphany fall on a Wednesday or Friday. On Saturday and Sunday people may take breakfast at 9 or 9:30.
Special prayers are conducted during the fasting seasons. In all the churches we have daily services held from morning to 2:45 p.m.. Priests regularly attend night services and they perform the canon, they remain in the churches praying incessantly, and in sadness ponder and read their Psalter from cock-crow by light of a taper, and throughout the day eat dry grain and drink water.
The Law and practice of the church is observed strictly, though not so much as in Lent. It is a time for devout and penitential preparation of the soul for the proper and worthy celebration of the great feast of Christmas. In advent (Sibket, in Amharic) a fast is kept, the Christmas fast of 40 days beginning on 15 Hedar and ending on Christmas eve with the Feast of Gena on the 28 of Tahsas.
Liddet or Gena is the Ethiopian name for Christmas which is marked by special ceremonies. The origin is basically the same as is universally accepted. It is celebrated on 7th January (Tahsas 29 E.C) preceded by a fast of 40 days. The difference of date is due to a calendar of discrepancy since the Ethiopian calendar is based on the year of Grace 7 or 8 years after Anno Domini. The Ethiopian Christmas coincides with the date of this observance in the Eastern Orthodox dispensation.
Qiddus Bale Wold is another name for Christmas in addition to Liddet or Gena. Gena is also a name for a Christmas game played by boys and grown up men (like hokey).
To the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Lent means a period of fasting when the faithful undergo a rigorous schedule of prayers and penitence. This fast is observed with greater rigor than any other fast and it is a test of one’s Christianity. One who fails to keep it is not considered a good Christian. Properly observed in nullifies the sins committed during the rest of the year. The faithful should abstain from all food except bread, water and salt. It consists of 56 days. All kinds of meat is forbidden, and also diary products. On all the fasting days only one meal is allowed and this is to be taken in the afternoon, at 3 p.m. or in the evening. On Saturdays and Sundays people are allowed to eat in the morning.
Daily Services are conducted in all the churches. Each day services are held from morning to 2.45p.m. Priests regularly attend night services starting at midnight up to 7 a.m.
Qibela is the Sunday – before the opening of Lent, Monday –when the people eat their fill. In lent many grown tired and thin.
7. HOLY WEEK
Palm Sunday or Hosanna is celebrated with proper ceremonies with palm, processions and special services. Then follows Holy Week, the week of Pains, the Himamat. For some, from Thursday afternoon until Easter morning no morsel of food nor a drop of water enters the mouth and three days are known as “Qanona”. The priests neither eat nor drink but remain in the churches singing and praying incessantly. No absolution is given.
MAUNDY THURSDAY is a special day on which in the Mass unleavened bread is used. For those who can, it is spent out of doors. When the fast is broken late in the afternoon no one eats ordinary bread, a mixture of special flour is compounded and boiled. A solemn Mass is celebrated on that day. The ceremony of washing the feet is conducted the same day in imitation of what our Lord did to the twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. All the faithful with clean souls should communicate on Holy Thursday.
The monthly feast days Additional links to calendar: http://www.senamirmir.com/theme/5-2001/gh/drgh.html
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