From Midnight Mass to Doro Wat: Ethiopia Celebrates Christmas | See Photos
Whereas loads of us rating already packed away our Christmas trees and transitioned into “Unique 365 days, Unique Me” mode, millions of of us across the globe ethical carried out their greatest occasion of the 365 days. The day previous to this, 7 January 2026, used to be Christmas Day in Ethiopia.
Known in the community as Genna (or Ganna), the commute is a shiny mix of deep spirituality, veteran tradition, and a few severely correct food. If you assume the December Twenty fifth elope is intense, wait till you look how Ethiopia handles the season.
The Vibe: White Robes and Midnight Vigils
The occasion truly kicks off weeks in attain with a 43-day rapid identified as Tsome Nebiyat (Fleet of the Prophets). By the time Christmas Eve arrives on 6 January, every person is ready for the excellent finale.
The atmosphere in cities esteem Addis Ababa and the holy metropolis of Lalibela is one thing particular. Worshippers costume in soft, thin white cotton shawls known as Netela (or Shamma), usually embellished with colourful woven borders. Many use the total evening in candlelit church products and companies, with hymns and prayers echoing till the early hours of Christmas morning.
The Feast: Doro Wat & Sit down again
Once the sun comes up, it is time to enjoy. After weeks of a vegan-handiest rapid, the stars of the indicate are the meat dishes. The centrepiece of every Ethiopian Christmas desk is Doro Wat—a prosperous, fiery rooster stew slack-cooked with boiled eggs and loads of berbere spice.
It’s miles consistently served on a giant platter of Injera, that great spongy, sourdough flatbread. In upright communal fashion, every person gathers spherical the identical plate, using pieces of injera to scoop up the stew. And pointless to narrate, no occasion is total without a extinct coffee ceremony, where the aroma of freshly roasted beans and incense fills the room.
Wait, Why January seventh?
You have to per chance well be questioning why 250 million Christians, including these in Russia, Egypt and Serbia, wait a further 13 days to celebrate.
It isn’t because they hold Jesus Christ used to be born on a certain day; it’s all concerning the calendar. Whereas many of the sector uses the Gregorian calendar (launched by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582), many Orthodox and Japanese churches quiet apply the Julian calendar, which dates lend a hand to the time of Julius Caesar.
Since the Julian calendar is 13 days “in the lend a hand of,” December Twenty fifth on their machine truly lands on January seventh on ours. It’s miles frequently known as “Aged Christmas Day,” and for loads of, it feels esteem a extra extinct, much less commercialised methodology to attach the season.
Hockey and Horses
One amongst the coolest things about Genna is the extinct sports actions. After the morning mass, men and boys head out to play Ye Ganna Chewata—a sport that appears to be to be like plenty esteem field hockey, played with crooked wood sticks and a now not easy ball. Epic has it that the shepherds played this very sport to celebrate when they heard the news of Jesus’ beginning.
To every person who favorite: Melkam Gena!
Peek pictures from the occasion
