BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
ADDIS ABABA– Preparations have been completed to celebrate the colorful celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ/ Ethiopian Christmas /Genna in Lasta Lalibela town, according to Lalibela Town Culture, Tourism and Sports Office.
Lalibela Town is ready to welcome the guests and completed its preparations to receive and return with honor. The Lalibela community is prepared to lodge believers from all over Ethiopia and foreign tourists to celebrate Christmas on January 7, said Habitamu Tesfaw, Team Leader at Lalibela Town Culture, Tourism and Sports Office, Heritage Preservation and Tourism Development Department.
Members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church passes through special 43 fasting days called ‘Yegena/Tsome Nebiyat’ the fast of the prophets, before the actual day of the Christmas. During the fasting days followers abstain from meat and dairy, making them totally vegetarian, he stated.
In the eve of Genna/the birth of Jesus Christ, the faithful, dressing white traditional cloths, gathered at churches for the mass church services that start after midnight and lasts in the morning of Christmas day.
The ceremony of the mass service is similar in every Orthodox Church except at the rock hewn churches of Lalibela, where the celebration is unique.
So to celebrate the annual holyday of Genna Committees has been set up to make the festival of Genna/ the birth of Jesus Christ successful. These include security, hospitality, public relations, fundraising, and other committees. Hotels are ready to serve internal spiritual travelers and foreign tourists.
He said that hotels were disrupted, and closed due to COVID-19, but now they have completed the necessary preparations to give services for guests. Their service price is made affordable considering the pandemic season of COVID-19. And they provide services per the precautionary measures of the Ministry of Health.
During holiday both tourists and spiritual participants will be able to keep their distance in order to protect themselves from COVID-19.
Before COVID- 19, hotel services were significantly more expensive during the holiday season than usual. However, this year, it is stated that the price will not be exorbitant. Now the focus is on reviving the stagnant tourism flow, he noted.
Furthermore Ministry of Culture and Tourism has developed awareness protocol through Tourism Ethiopia to restore and sustain the stagnant tourism flow. Awareness and training have been provided to the youths and Genna committee that will be able to continue the tourism activities by preventing the coronavirus with the necessary preparation and care.
The Ethiopian Herald January 2/2021
