Meskel is the finding of the True Cross. It is celebrated among Christians in Ethiopia. It is marked by bonfires and also by religious hymns and different shows organized by youngsters from church school.
Large crowdis in attendance for this festival. Especially at Meskel Square where it is centrally celebrated in Addis Ababa. People start to gather at the square starting from 3:00PM local time to see the shows at the festival. At dusk, special candles traditionally made from wax called Tuaf is lit. Thisadds a beautiful spectacular sceneacross the massattending.Later during the evening around 7:30 the bone fire is lit and that brings the festival towards conclusion. The reason the bonfire is prepared is to represent the way the True Cross was found with the help of smoke. It is believed that the smoke guided people of Queen Eleni to the place where part of the cross was placed. Meskel festivity is registered by UNESCO as world heritage site in 2013.