{"id":10659,"date":"2026-01-08T05:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/10659\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:58:23","slug":"ethiopians-gather-for-orthodox-christmas-eve-candlelight-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/10659\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopians gather for Orthodox Christmas Eve candlelight ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ethiopia marked Orthodox Christmas Eve on Tuesday with a large candlelight ceremony in Addis Ababa, where thousands gathered in Meskel Square for prayers, hymns and a midnight Mass. Worshippers, many dressed in white traditional clothing, stood shoulder to shoulder as priests led the service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ceremony was followed by an all-night vigil, ending a 43-day fasting period observed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The celebration follows the Julian calendar, which places Christmas on January 7. Families traditionally break the fast after midnight, often sharing meat dishes prepared for the occasion.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The calm atmosphere in the capital contrasted with ongoing insecurity in parts of the country, notably in Amhara and Oromia. Despite this, the gathering in Addis Ababa reflected a strong desire for normality and spiritual continuity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ethiopia is largely Orthodox because Christianity was adopted there in the fourth century and became a lasting part of the country\u2019s identity. Linked early on to the Church of Alexandria, this tradition has endured through centuries of history and isolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ethiopia marked Orthodox Christmas Eve on Tuesday with a large candlelight ceremony in Addis Ababa, where thousands gathered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2890,7403,65,7404,7405,7402],"class_list":{"0":"post-10659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ethiopia","8":"tag-addis-ababa","9":"tag-candlelight-ceremony","10":"tag-ethiopia","11":"tag-ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo","12":"tag-meskel-square","13":"tag-orthodox-christmas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}