In Ethiopia, one of the oldest nations in Africa, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. This celebration, deeply rooted in religious tradition, is known as Genna. Ethiopia still follows the ancient Julian calendar, placing Christmas on the 29th of Tahsas. Many other Orthodox churches around the world also celebrate Christmas on the 7th January.
Unlike the commercialized celebrations often seen elsewhere, Ethiopian Christmas revolves heavily around spirituality, reflection, community, and festive gatherings that highlight Ethiopia’s rich cultural heritage. It is a sacred occasion deeply rooted in religious tradition.
With over 80 ethnic groups, Ethiopia is home to many ethnicities, languages, and cultures. As many countries throughout the world have celebrated a festive holiday season, Ethiopia has its own unique and vibrant tradition.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's birth is called Ganna. Like Christmas in the States, Ganna is more than just a single day of celebration. It’s a season of spiritual reflection and preparation that leads up to the holiday.
Ethiopia isn’t the only place where Christmas is celebrated on January 7. While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas on December 25th, Ethiopians, alongside Russian, Greek, Eritrean, and Serbian Orthodox churches, celebrate Christmas Day which is called “Genna” on January 7th.
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An Ethiopian Christmas Procession
A Brief History of Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas
Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, or on the Ge'ez Ethiopian calendar, the 29th day of Tahsas. This is when most orthodox populations celebrate Christmas, including Greek, Ukrainian, Serbian, Russian and Egyptian Orthodox Christians. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers this to be the day that Jesus Christ was born.
The Eve of Genna
On the eve and early morning of Ganna, people participate in a night-long vigil at their church. The day before Ganna, people fast all day. Orthodox Ethiopian Christians “fast” for 43 days before Genna, eating a diet without meat, fish, milk, and dairy products. Orthodox Ethiopian Christians are expected to fast for 43 days, a period known as Tsome Nebiyat or the Fast of the Prophets.
Fasting also includes abstaining from all animal products and psychoactive substances, including meat, Alcohol (drug), dairy products, and egg. On Christmas Eve it is not uncommon to see locals carrying live chickens or other large portions of meat to their homes.
The next morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white. On the day of Genna, they’ll break their fast with a feast that includes dishes containing chicken, beef, and lamb. In the days before Genna, you’ll see people carrying live chickens on the streets and minibusses, and sheep are everywhere to be seen.
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On Christmas Day many people wear traditional Ethiopian dress. On Ganna, Ethiopians spend time with friends and family. They dress in white and wear a traditional thin white cotton cloth with brightly colored stripes across the ends called a Netela. It's worn like a shawl or toga. 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.
The day begins with an early morning church service, where worshippers, dressed in traditional white garments called Habesha Kemis, gather for prayer and hymns. Churches are illuminated with candles, and the priests chant in beautiful rhythms, setting the tone for a holy night of celebration.
The Church Service
On the Christmas Eve, Ethiopian Christians attend an overnight church service, usually starting around 6:00pm and finishing at 3:00am. People line up surrounding a church and begin a long, looping procession around the circumference of the church.
In a modern church, the choir assembles in the outer circle. Each person entering the church is given a candle. The people walk around the church three times in a solemn procession, holding the candles. They then go to the second circle to stand during the service. The men and boys are separated from the women and girls.
Typically one eats wat on Christmas - which is a spicy stew that contains meat and vegetables. Priests will wear red and white robes and carry embroidered fringed umbrellas. In the afternoon, it is typical to attend church services. Each person is given a candle (to represent the star of Bethlehem) and walks three times around the church in a solemn procession. Then each person stops to form an outer circle. In the centre circle, the priest serves Holy Communion.
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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.
The design of Ethiopian Church is similar to the houses. In the country, they are often very old and have been carved out of rock. The choir sings from the outer circle. Everyone who goes to church for the Ganna celebrations is given a candle.
The Ethiopian capital city is Addis Ababa. It's a modern city. Most people who live outside big cities live in round house made of mud-plastered walls which have thatched cone-shaped roofs.
Christmas Feast
When Christmas finally arrives, the breaking of the fast is marked by a grand feast. After the service, families share a meal to break their fast, traditionally doro wat, a thick spicy stew with chicken and whole-boiled eggs. It is eaten with injera, a thin sourdough flatbread used to scoop up the wat.
Traditional Christmas foods in Ethiopia include 'wat' which is a thick and spicy stew that contains meat, vegetables and sometimes eggs (sounds yummy!). Wat is eaten on a plate of 'injera' - a flat bread.
Ethiopians will celebrate Christmas by strewing grass decoratively across the floor of their houses, traditional Ethiopian food will be served that includes injera (a traditional Ethiopian round, spongy, a flatbread made with the grain, teff) with w’et, a stew that is often made with a popular red spice called berbere or saffron. The w’et can be made with lamb, beef, fish, goat, or chicken and contains peas or lentils and vegetables.
“Doro w’et”, a stew made from chickens (Doro), containing whole hard-boiled eggs (without the shell), is a particularly popular and delicious dish that’s eaten at Genna.
One of the most beloved dishes is Doro Wat, a richly spiced chicken stew served with Injera, Ethiopia’s iconic sourdough flatbread. Other dishes include lentil stews and freshly roasted coffee, brewed in a traditional jebena as part of an elaborate coffee ceremony.
Following this delicious meal, there will be a coffee (Buna) ceremony (after all, Ethiopia is the origin of coffee, and it wouldn’t feel holiday without it). In front of hosts and guests, the coffee beans will be roasted, and the pan will be passed around for everyone to savor the aroma, Hmmmmmmm… For a split of seconds, the astounding scent will take you to a place you never thought exists. Coffee will be served with popcorn and sipped in the midst of the magical aroma of burning incense.
A coffee “buna” ceremony takes place after the meal, where guests pass around a pan of roasted coffee beans to savor the aroma. Pouring freshly roasted and brewed coffee from the Jabena in a traditional coffee ceremony in Addis Ababa.
After the coffee ceremony, special homemade drinks will be served depending on the household. Tej (a popular Ethiopian wine made from fermented honey, without grapes), Tela (a type of home-made beer made from a shrub called “Gesho”), and a strong alcoholic drink called Araki, made from local plants and herbs.
| Dish | Description |
|---|---|
| Doro Wat | Spicy chicken stew served with Injera |
| Injera | Sourdough flatbread |
| Tej | Ethiopian wine made from fermented honey |
| Tela | Home-made beer made from a shrub called “Gesho” |
| Araki | Strong alcoholic drink made from local plants and herbs |
Community and Games
Genna for Ethiopians is less about materialism and presents and more about its religious significance and about spending time with family and friends. Genna is also a time for community games and festivities. A traditional sport, also called “genna,” resembling field hockey, is played in villages, symbolizing the shepherds’ joy at the birth of Christ.
Around the time of Ganna, the men and boys play a game that is also called ganna. One of the Ethiopian Christmas traditions involves people playing a game called “Ye Ganna Chewata” or Genna games (nevertheless, it’s unlikely to see this tradition in urban areas) which has some resemblance to hockey. This game goes back to ancient times: it is said that shepherds in the era of Christ’s birth played a similar game with their crooks.
The game is closely associated with Gena, the January 7 celebration of Christmas, from which it gets its name along with another, rugby-like, sport. Historically, Imperial Ethiopian soldiers acquired proficiency in weapon use from a young age by being trained from childhood with games such as Akandura (Darts) and Gena, which imitated combat.
Ethiopian men play another sport called yeferas guks. Ethiopian men play a sport called yeferas guks which involves horseback riding and shooting "spears" at each other.
The celebration, which will last for 12 days, then begins. This is a time of games, festivities, folk dancing and performances. Boys play a holiday game (called Ganna) that is comparable to hockey, with a curved stick and round wooden ball. This game represents the shepherds tending to their flocks and is a large part of the Christmas celebrations.
Families come together to exchange blessings rather than gifts, emphasizing love and unity over materialism. People don't give and receive present during Ganna and Timkat. Sometimes children might be given a small gift of some clothes from their family members.
Santa Claus isn’t a big part of Ethiopian Christmas. Instead, in the rural parts of Ethiopia, elders would wear a unique black robe and give a slice of homemade bread (Defo Dabo) to kids. Santa Claus is a fairly recent visitor to Ethiopia, only being known about through 'western' Christmas traditions.
Perfect Christmas Gift Recipe: Traditional Ethiopian Doro Wot
Timkat Celebration
Twelve days after Ganna, on 19th January, Ethiopians start the three day celebration of Timkat. It celebrates the baptism of Jesus, who Christians believe is the son of God. The children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups that they belong to. Adults wear the Netela.
Musical instruments are played during the Timkat procession. The sistrum is a percussion instrument with tinkling metal disks a bit like a vertical tambourine. The children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups they belong to. The grown-ups wear the shamma. The music of Ethiopian instruments makes the Timkat procession a very festive event. The sistrum is a percussion instrument with tinkling metal disks. A long, T-shaped prayer stick called a makamiya taps out the walking beat and also serves as a support for the priest during the long church service that follows.
Timkat is known for its music, and many instruments are played during the celebration. This three-day festival commemorates Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan River. It is one of the few occasions when the tabot (replica of the Ark of the Covenant) is removed from church altars; it’s then swaddled in colourful cloth and paraded around at the head of a procession.
Timkat is a particularly spectacular occasion in Gondar when Fasil’s Pool is filled with water and hundreds of eager participants leap in to re-enact the baptism. It is also a big event in Lalibela.
Lalibela: A Religious Town
Though modern churches are still great to see, if you want to see the ancient churches you'll want to visit Lalibela in January. One of Ethiopia's holiest sites, it attracts vast gatherings of pilgrims at Christmas. And celebrations are focused on 11 rock-hewn churches from the 13th century which were built under the rule of King Lalibela of the Zagwe Dynasty and now have World Heritage status.
The enormous crowds celebrate all night long with chanting, singing and prayers, and are an evocative sight.
Ethiopian Christmas is a reminder of the profound beauty of simplicity and faith. For travellers, experiencing Genna is an opportunity to witness an ancient culture celebrating the holiday in its purest form, where the focus is on connection, gratitude, and devotion.
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