Various research results show that religious festival has a pivotal role to strengthen mutual respect, tolerance and maintain harmony among peoples. Christians of Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the country have recently celebrated the Timket festival. The celebration commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in Jordan River.
It is the biggest celebration of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of the year. Visitors are often recommended to join the celebrations in Gondar, Addis Ababa and Axum while other parts of the nation are attractive to visit during Timket (Epiphany).
Gezahegn Kebede young man who was attending the celebration in Addis told The Ethiopian Herald that he enjoys celebrating Timket. “The youths along with other believers were decorating roads by using religious pictures/photos. So this is an example of working together and proper harmony. Youths have the potential to work for and improve the conditions of their country in all aspects, he said.
Yabibal Adane, another participant in the celebration in Addis, said that to maintain and strengthen peace in the country, youths should well understand their history. “The youth should strengthen their role in the peace building across the country. Besides this they should develop a sense of belongingness and responsibility.”
To come up with effective results, strong public participation in the peace building is vital in order to ensure sustainable peace. In its daily program, the Orthodox Church is teaching the believers to establish and cultivate peace, love, respect, tolerance, and co-existence with other members of a society. So youths should practice this teaching in their daily lives. And at the Timket festival, we have witnessed when Muslim brothers were cleaning roads to demonstrate their respect and love for the Christians. Such activities undoubtedly strengthen harmony and togetherness among the people.
Past experiences indicated that almost 80 percent of conflicts in the world emanated in connection to religion. If we look at the religious historical documents, many wars have been fought in connection to religion despite the rules in their doctrine. Now, although conflicts are not basically religious, they take place under the pretext of religion according to Ethiopia 2018 International Religious Freedom Report.
Unlike other countries in the world, Ethiopia has been enjoying harmonious cooperation among different religions. Christians and Muslims usually share their happiness and sorrow. Whenever Christians celebrate their holidays, their Muslim brothers enjoy together and vise-verse. Ethiopians are well known for religious peaceful coexistence.
Since time immemorial, Christians and Muslims in Ethiopia have a strong bond, tolerance and love one another. For centuries, followers of various religions coexist peacefully with mutual respect, love and understanding one another in the populous country consisting of more than 80 nations, nationalities, and peoples accredited by the Council of House of Federation.
It is time to work together to bring peace to the world and the international community has been utilizing so far to bring and maintain peace. In fact, the participation of the people in general and that of the youth, women and religious leaders, in particular, could play an indispensable role in bringing lasting peace to this world, Yabibal stated.
Tewodros Befekadu, who was approached by The Ethiopian Herald while he was attending the celebration, said that this year’s Timket festival was unique for our Muslim brothers have participated in the ceremony and they were cleaning the road, and feeding street children with Christian. “In the holiday the unity with others or outside of the religion was good. The collaboration should strengthen in the other days because if we are fighting our challenges in one, we can create a peaceful environment,” he added.
All citizens especially the youth who have fresh energy and motivation should stand for peace. Because without peace we are nothing, we can’t do anything. So we have to maintain and strengthen peace. And we have a responsibility to work together for love, unity, tolerance, respect, and peace at the same time it helps to see our future Ethiopia.
Nowadays, the youth ought to be careful in discerning the authenticity of information they are using, posting and sharing on social media for some individuals are misusing social media to increase their personal gain. Hence, the youth are requested to develop their critical thinking and discerning skills to save themselves and others.
The Ethiopian Herald January 28 /2020
BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
