Merry Christmas A

Today is Christmas in Ethiopia! Christmas, called Ganna, is celebrated with festival, feasting and games and it's a very important holiday in Ethiopia. Legend has it that the king bearing frankincense at the birth of Jesus', was King Balthazar of Ethiopia. Today Ganna is not an occasion for giving gifts in Ethiopia. If a child receives any gift at all, it is usually a small gift of clothing.

Most of the following information came from Howstuffworks.com
Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in Africa. It still follows the ancient Julian calendar, so Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's birth is called Ganna. It is a day when families attend church.

The day before Ganna, people fast all day. The next morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians don a traditional shamma, a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly colored stripes across the ends. The shamma is worn somewhat like a toga. Urban Ethiopians might put on white Western garb. Then everyone goes to the early mass at four o'clock in the morning.

Most Ethiopians who live outside the modern capital city, Addis Ababa, live in round mud-plastered houses with cone-shaped roofs of thatched straw. In areas where stone is plentiful, the houses may be rectangular stone houses. The churches in Ethiopia echo the shape of the houses. In many parts of the country there are ancient churches carved out of solid volcanic rock. Modern churches are built in three concentric circles.



These are four examples of Ethiopian churches. The cross shaped one is St. George's Church in Lalibela and is carved out of solid bedrock rock down into the ground. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has existed since the 4th century as the official religion of the country, it is said to be the 2nd oldest church in the world in the world after Armenia.

In a modern church, the choir assembles in the outer circle. Each person entering the church is given a candle. The congregation walks around the church three times in a solemn procession, holding the flickering candles. Then they gather in the second circle to stand throughout the three hour long mass, with the men and boys separated from the women and girls. The center circle is the holiest space in the church, where the priest serves Holy Communion.

Around the time of Ganna, the men and children play ganna or leddat, which is a form of field hockey in which sticks with hooks on one end are used. The game is played by two opposing teams and the stick and ball are made from locally grown trees. According to tradition, shepherds celebrated when they heard of Jesus' birth by playing such a game.

The foods enjoyed during the Christmas season include wat, a thick, spicy stew of meat, vegetables, and sometimes whole hard boiled eggs as well. The wat is served from a beautifully decorated watertight basket onto injera.