The Ethiopian Gurage community reaffirms social cohesion and cultural values through the Meskel Festival.
For the Gurage people, Meskel is a spiritual occasion to return home and seek the Creator's grace through blessings and prayers. All generations, including children, women, and elders, celebrate this special holiday for an entire month.
Meskel offers the Gurage people a spiritual meaning to visit their hometowns, receive blessings, seek the Creator's grace, and serves as an important occasion for homecoming.
Meskel is an important community festival where families who live far away return to their hometowns to reunite. During this period, people follow the tradition of visiting their hometowns with gifts such as coffee or sugar.
Through the festival, families and neighbors exchange greetings, invite each other, and share blessings. In this process, respect between parents and children is reaffirmed, and communal food is shared, strengthening bonds.
The culture of sharing blessings and reaffirming harmony with neighbors is prominent during this time, symbolizing Meskel as more than just a feast but also religious and cultural solidarity.
Various social members participate in the festival to experience and strengthen Gurage culture.
During the festival, women's organizations engage in charitable activities, supporting the elderly through social contribution efforts. The trend of celebrating Meskel as grandly as in their hometowns is also spreading in urban areas like Addis Ababa.
Answers come from the transcript, with the exact spot cited.
Want the next article from EBC?
When EBC publishes, we'll write it up like the one you just read and email it to you.
EBC published 145 in the last 7 days.
