エチオピア正教会の祭礼「メスケル」　紛争終結後初の祝い

【アジスアベバＡＦＰ＝時事】民族や政治の問題で情勢不安定なエチオピアで２７日、エチオピア正教会の最も神聖な宗教祭礼の一つ「メスケル」が開催された。（写真はエチオピア・アジスアベバで行われたメスケルの様子）
　メスケルはエチオピアと隣国エリトリア正教会の伝統的な祭礼。イエス・キリストが磔（はりつけ）にされた「聖十字架」が、聖ヘレナによって４世紀にパレスチナで発見されたことを祝う。
　言い伝えによると、古代ローマ帝国の皇帝コンスタンティヌス１世の母である聖ヘレナは、儀式のかがり火によって聖十字架まで導かれ、その一部がエチオピアに持ち帰られたとされる。
　メスケル前夜、信者らは祭り開始の儀式のために通りや教会の中庭にまきを積み上げ、その上部に地元の花で覆われた十字架を飾る。数時間にわたる踊りと歌の後、日没後に火がつけられる。
　北部ティグレでは、２０２０年に政府軍と反政府勢力「ティグレ人民解放戦線」の間で紛争が勃発。２２年１１月に停戦が成立したため、今回が紛争後初のメスケルとなった。
　住民の男性は「今年は昨年のメスケルよりもいい。少なくとも銃声は聞こえないし、平和な雰囲気だ」と話すが、その一方で「戦争のトラウマが多すぎて、心の底からは祝えない」とも付け加えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/28-16:51）

Orthodox Ethiopians on Wednesday marked the beginning of Meskel, one of the holiest celebrations in the Christian tradition followed in this devout nation riven by ethnic and political violence.
Among Orthodox believers in Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea, Meskel commemorates the discovery by Saint Helena in Palestine in the fourth century of the true cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified.
According to legend, Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine I, was led to the cross -- a fragment of which was believed to have been brought back to Ethiopia -- by the smoke from a ceremonial bonfire.
On the eve of Meskel, worshippers construct large pyres in streets and church courtyards for a ceremony known as demera that signals the start of the festivities.
At sunset, after hours of dancing and singing, these bonfires -- topped with a cross and covered in indigenous flowers -- are set ablaze across the country.
The largest, several metres high, is lit in Meskel Square, a vast esplanade in the centre of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, in the presence of tens of thousands of congregants and Orthodox priests and bishops in rich fabrics.
The power of Christianity is bringing back our original unity. It helps us to forget those differences that have shaped us for so many years, and brought us to these conflicts, wars, hate and... atrocities, said one Orthodox priest in attendance, who did not give his name.
- 'How can we celebrate?' -
A mosaic of 80 different peoples, Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world.
The Aksumite Empire, ancestor of present-day Ethiopia, made Christianity a state religion from the 4th century, at the same time as Rome.
Short of an official census, it is estimated that roughly two-thirds of Ethiopia's 120 million people are Christian and another third are Muslim, with a small animist minority.
Most Christians are Orthodox, although the share of Protestants has grown significantly recently.
In Tigray, the cradle of the Axumite kingdom, this Meskel was the first in peacetime since 2020 when the federal government went to war with rebellious leaders in the northern region.
A peace deal in November last year drew a line under the two-year conflict.
I am celebrating Meskel in a better way than in previous years. At least this time there are no gunshots and we are in a more peaceful atmosphere, said Kalayu Kiros from Mekele, the capital of Tigray.
But, he said, there were so many traumas of war that I cannot fully celebrate this festival.
Meaza Teklemariam, also from Mekele, said Meskel was not like it was before the war and that cost of living pressures had made it harder to celebrate.
Despite the conflict ending in Tigray, armed violence rages elsewhere in Africa's second-most populous country, which is divided into states along ethno-linguistic lines.
In Amhara, where militias have been clashing with Ethiopia's army since April, a state of emergency has been declared in the region where accusations of summary executions and arbitrary arrests have been made.
How can we celebrate Meskel when the fear and the curfew make you have to stay home? said a resident in Debre Markos, a town in Amhara, who asked to remain anonymous.