Draped in white shawls, thousands of Asmarinos thronged September Square, the largest in the Eritrean capital, to mark the Meskel, the highlight of the orthodox religious calendar, which commemorates the discovery of Christ’s cross by Saint Helen.
About half of Eritrea’s four million inhabitants are Orthodox Christians, according to the government.
Some at Monday’s festival sat on terraces around the square.
Others, including many children, were standing, forming a circle around a wooden pyramid-shaped construction, which would later be burnt.
In the square itself, priests held long sticks with a cross at the top. Several people carried Eritrean flags, others held shades to protect themselves from the strong morning sun.
Young children wandered in and out of the throng, trying to sell small cards portraying Jesus. Loudspeakers broadcast endless religious chants.
”This is the most important day of the year for us orthodoxes,” explained Theodorus, a soldier dressed in civvies.
”We celebrate the finding of the cross by Saint Helen. She lit a fire in Jerusalem, added some incense, and the smoke drove her to the place where Christ’s cross was.”
Saint Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, lived from the middle of the third century to the beginning of the fourth.
At the sound of drums, several men draped in white performed a series of ritual movements before circling the wooden pyramid.
Decorated horse-drawn carts arrived, followed by a procession of women who knelt down periodically.
An English voice interrupted the amplified chants from the loundspeakers: ”The cross was discovered 1 700 years ago, the holy cross is our highest symbol, it is a sign of spiritual freedom.”
As the crowd began singing a hymn, those seated rose to their feet and bells rang out across the square.
At 11am, several priests approached the pyramid and set fire to it. The flames, fanned by the wind, scared away those too close to the fire.
After a few minutes, the structure collapsed and firefighters put the fire out with a hose.
Immediately, there was a rush as children tried to grab a bit of burnt wood so that they could draw a cross on their forehead with the ash.
The challenge involved avoiding the truncheons of policemen, but the children outnumbered the police and most of them succeeded in their mission.
”The orthodox in Ethiopia and Alexandria for example are also celebrating the finding of the cross at this moment,” explained Joseph, as he held his two children’s hands.
Theodorus said proudly: ”Have you ever seen such a ceremony in other countries?”
Then, little by little, the throng dispersed and September Square regained its usual tranquility.
The 50% or so of Eritreans who aren’t orthodox Christians are Muslim, according the government, which also allows Roman Catholics and members of the Evangelical Church to practice freely.
But according to the United States State Department, religious freedom is denied to other organisations.
”The government harassed, arrested, and detained members of non-sanctioned Protestant religious groups locally referred to collectively as ‘Pentes’, reform movements from and within the Coptic church, Jehovah’s witnesses and adherents of the Baha’i Faith,” the department said in a report published late last year. – Sapa-AFP