Christmas is celebrated annually in both religious and cultural forms and it is the day when the curse on human beings was broken and freedom was ensured, said the priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Balay Mekonnen.
According to the bishop, the celebration is cheerfully observed annually on the occasion of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, who delivered humanity from the enslavement of the curse of Satan that had held them captive for more than 5,000 years. Genna is a festival of freedom celebrated in both spiritual and cultural contexts, when faith and culture are blended together. In several parts of Ethiopia, people of all ages go outside the churches to play Christmas games in the fields. The shepherds sang together when Jesus Christ was born, proclaiming that the Lord had come to earth, that we had experienced reconciliation, that slavery had ended, and that we had experienced togetherness.
The festival is properly celebrated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Christians as it is a festival where human freedom was guaranteed and God’s light is given to the world. After Jesus was born, the wise men and apostles visited his birthplace, bearing gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold as a way to show their happiness.
If we come to culture, we notice that culture and religion are intertwined if they are not contradictory. Genna is celebrated in a spiritual way in the Christian church and celebrated in the traditional form in different ways. The yoke of servitude that Satan had yoked on humanity for generations was broken for the world’s freedom with the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus, he remarked, it is a period of light, love, harmony, and forgiveness.
He noted that the festival is highly respected by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the rest of the world and that it is a time for love, forgiveness, respect, and gift-giving. Thus, all adherents of the Christian faith have an obligation to teach peace, bless the generation, bring the confused to understanding, helping the poor, and ask the imprisoned during this holiday. The joy of this festival is not only for the Christian church, he said, adding that it is a special day for all the creation of the earth as it is the day when their freedom is guaranteed and the yoke of Satan’s slavery is broken.
Just as the wise men followed the star that pointed to the birth place of the Lord and carried gifts, in terms of culture, the festival may have different names, but it is no different in the tradition of the church. Christmas is a time when the curse of the generation was broken and reconciliation and love, light and freedom were ensured to the world, he said.
In general, Christmas is celebrated in various ways through the Christian church and through culture, namely reconciliation, unity, love, tolerance, caring for each other, reconciliation for the sick, forgiveness for the imprisoned, prayer for peace for the government and country. The religious leaders are expected to stand up for reconciliation for their country, their citizens and the world in prayer and work to strengthen the victory of freedom achieved through the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, he said. Priest, Balay Mekonnen expressed his wish that the festival would be a time of breaking curses, reconciliation, unity and patriotism.
BY NAOL GIRMA
The Ethiopian Herald JANUARY 7 / 2024
