Meskel Festival Demonstrates that Buried Truth Can be Unraveled: Inter-Religious Council

Addis Ababa, September 26, 2026 (ENA) —The Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia (IRCE) has extended its best wishes to Christians celebrating the Meskel-Demera festival, noting that buried truth can be unearthed.

Meskel-Demera is a vibrant national religious holiday celebrated annually on September 26 (Demera Eve) and September 27 (Meskel) to commemorate the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena.

In a statement the IRCE sent to ENA, it said the Demera and Meskel holiday, beyond its historic and religious values has enabled the people to live together in unity, love and peace.

Noting that the Meskel holiday dates back over three hundred years after the birth of Christ, the statement explained that after Emperor Constantine achieved victory using the sign of the cross seen in the sky, his mother, Queen Helena, went to Jerusalem to find the True Cross.

By lighting a bonfire (Demera), burning incense, and initiating excavations where the smoke settled, she found the True Cross in 326 AD, it added.

The statement stated that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is where we attained victory, where peace was preached, and where we saw in action God's incomparable love for humanity.

It explained that the cross is the mystery of liberation through which human beings were reconciled with God, the debt of sin was paid; and it serves as a public document of reconciliation.

The Council further said the holiday is a demonstration of love that exists in the heart and is expressed in action, illustration that a buried truth can be brought to light, and also a symbol of reward for trustworthiness and diligence.

Pointing out that the Meskel and Demera holiday is a great foundation of social bonding that brings Ethiopians together in unity, the Council stated that the Demera fire is a time when we burn away hatred and division, preach forgiveness and love in their place, cast out hatred from our hearts, and declare reconciliation.

A small flicker of light has the power to dispel darkness, the Council called upon the public to embrace themselves with spiritual light—which helps eliminate the darkness of hatred, division, resentment, and revenge that dims the light of life.

The holiday is a great heritage that introduces Ethiopia’s social interaction, hospitality, and cultural values to the world where the spirit of hatred and conflict should be eliminated, the Council stressed.

The Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia respectfully called on all to put God's love into action by helping and supporting the vulnerable, the displaced, and fellow citizens in need as the Meskel and Demera holiday is celebrated.