What Day Is Ethiopian Easter: A big Christian event is Easter, which is a time to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, which shows that he beat death. For Coptic Christians in Ethiopia, Easter is much more important than Christmas (known as Genna). In Ethiopia, Fasika, or Easter, is a time to get together with family and friends, send wishes, and give and receive gifts.
Ethiopian Christians fast during Lent, which starts 56 days before Easter. During this time, they don’t eat meat or other animal goods, and they don’t eat anything from dawn until dusk.
As is common in other Christian countries, the main Easter events last for four days after Lent.
Is Fasika a Public Holiday?
Fasika is a public holiday in Ethiopia that many people enjoy. Most places, like companies, schools, and offices, are closed on this day so that everyone can enjoy the celebrations.
Since Fasika is on a Sunday in 2024, some stores may be open that day. Fasika, or Easter, will be marked in Ethiopia on May 2, even though it may look like Easter has been pushed back in other places.
In Ethiopia, Easter is a very big deal, maybe even more important than Christmas. Many Orthodox Christians fast for a few days before Easter and don’t eat anything that comes from animals. People who believe in God usually wear white to church services on Easter Eve, which last all night and into the early hours of the morning. After the events, people go home to eat “doro wut,” a tasty stew made with butter and a lot of different spices, to break their fast.
Ethiopian Easter 2024, 2025 and 2026 in Ethiopia
Because Easter in Ethiopia is based on the Julian Calendar instead of the Gregorian Calendar, the events can last up to a month longer than in other countries. Following the Julian Calendar in this way is in line with Eastern Orthodox Christian customs.
Many Christians in Ethiopia fast for 55 days before Easter. During that time, they don’t eat any meat or meat products. On Easter Day, though, people can eat roast lamb and a beautiful feast with many foods and other dishes. On Easter Sunday, families get together to celebrate, give each other small gifts, and say sweet things.
The holiday parties come to an end with Easter Mass, which starts at midnight on Easter Eve. During the event, people bring lit candles to show that Jesus is the Light of the World.
Ethiopia’s Belated Easter Celebration
Because they follow the Eastern Orthodox schedule, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter one to two weeks after Christians in the West. However, the two groups rarely celebrate at the same time. After an eight-week fast from meat and dairy, people celebrate Easter or Fasika. After going to church for hours on Easter Eve, which ends around 3 a.m., Ethiopian Christians break their fast and celebrate Christ’s return.
Every year, Fasika celebrations happen in the middle of April, which is one week after the dates on the Western calendar. It was said in Gonder by Andrew Sisay, Manager of Natural Resources, “We believe this to be the exact time and date of Jesus’ resurrection.” “To the locals here, the holiday holds greater significance than Christmas,” he adds.
Gonder is near the border with Sudan and more than a mile and a half above sea level. An Orthodox population mostly inhabits it. I’ve recently been traveling and talking to people from the area. Many people have told me about a church outside of town where visitors from all over northwest Ethiopia come to celebrate with the locals.
FASIKA. THE ETHIOPIAN EASTER
In Ethiopia, Holy Week (Semune Himamat) starts on Hosa’ena, or Palm Sunday. Like other Christian customs, it marks the day that Jesus came to Jerusalem.
Every year on Holy Thursday, or Selote Hamus, people remember the Last Supper by washing their feet and eating Cuban, a bean stew made with wheat and dabbo bread.
Christians start their Good Friday, which is also called Siqlet, by going to church, fasting, and praying. They then break their fast.
On Holy Saturday, the happy parties begin. In preparation for the midnight party, families do religious ceremonies, sing, pray, and give out green reeds (qeema) and gifts. Around midnight, the church’s meqdes, or main chapels, open. This marks the start of a religious parade around the tablet, which is a symbol of the ark of the covenant. The procession is led by people dressed in white with lights in their hands. Drums are played to tell people that Christ rose from the dead. A meal of Injera and “dorowot” (chicken) is usually eaten around 3 a.m. to break the fast. People are very excited about this celebration dinner at home.
April 1 On Sunday mornings, families get together for breakfast, which usually includes food left over from the big meal the night before. They dress up their best and offer a child as a sacrifice at the feast. People show respect for elders and priests by giving them food.
Ethiopians Celebrate Easter with Full Optimism
People in Ethiopia who celebrate Palm Sunday wear hats made of palm leaves to represent the people who were crushed under Jesus’ feet. Himamat, which means agony, pain, and grief, is remembered on Good Friday, the day before Easter Sunday. Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, get together in churches to pray and be blessed. They often pray on their knees to remember how painful it was for Jesus to die on the cross.
For 55 days, people who follow the faith fast from meat, dairy, booze, and even sex during Lent, which ends late on Holy Saturday.
Also, starting on Palm Sunday, Christians don’t kiss or hug each other to remember how Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Some followers even go barefoot until late on Good Friday, sometimes in towns and sometimes in the country.
What is Easter called in Ethiopia?
Fasika
“Fasika” is the Amharic word for Easter, and refers to the 55-days where Ethiopians celebrate their most important festival of the year.
All Christians in Ethiopia honor the Easter holiday, which is marked with great joy all over the country. Ethiopia bases its Easter times on the Julian calendar, so this year’s Easter is April 12, 2015, which is one week later than in Western churches.
The Amharic word for Easter is Fasika, which comes from the Greek word Pascha. It’s called “Shashiga” in the Hadiya and Kembata languages. It’s called “Tinsae” in ritual, which means “to rise.” A lot of religious Christians also celebrate Good Friday, known as “Sikilet,” and Palm Sunday, also known as “Hossana.”
On this day, people from the two main churches in southern Ethiopia—Protestant and Catholic—go to services with lights to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of the time, these meetings are very dark and lack the brightness of other events.
Fasika is the last day of Lent for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which lasts for 56 days. On Saturday, people who go to a church service stay awake until 3 a.m. and then eat meat and dairy when they get home.
How is Ethiopian Easter celebrated?
Easter is the most celebrated religious holiday in Ethiopia, even more so than Christmas. Many Orthodox Christians fast for days, eating no animal products, prior to Easter. On Easter eve worshippers, wearing traditional white clothing, attend lengthy church services lasting into the early morning.
You may remember from history class or just general knowledge that Ethiopia is one of the most holy countries in the world, with most of its people following Orthodox Christianity. Because it is one of the oldest churches in the world, the Orthodox Church keeps many complicated and strict traditions alive. Many men, women, and children in Ethiopia dress in white robes and go to the nearby church to attend mass during Orthodox holidays, which changes the mood of the country.
In the Orthodox Church, people celebrate Palm Sunday every year, which is about a week before Easter Sunday. Followers get together at the nearest church for a mass with a Palm Sunday theme today to mark the coming of Easter Sunday. During this celebration, people wave palm branches and scream “hosanna” to remember how important the holiday is religiously. It’s a celebration of Jesus Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. For kids, Palm Sunday is especially important, and they often mark the day by making rings out of palm branches, which is a tradition that both kids and adults enjoy.
Why is Ethiopian Easter different?
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter anywhere from a week to two weeks after the western Church (sometimes, they occur at the same time, due to the vagaries of the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which Ethiopians follows). Fasika (Easter) follows eight weeks of fasting from meat and dairy.
At the height of the holiday season, Easter, there is a lot of sadness. Incense and bright lights decorate churches, and ministers wear their best clothes. People in the crowd hold lit candles, greet each other, and sing happily, announcing the coming of our resurrection with the words “Hosanna.” The faithful pray to God for wealth and health, along with requests for forgiveness and good things to happen. They want God’s favor to return to their lives.
On Good Friday, the ritual starts, and people dressed in white crowds in the churches. In addition to listening to the priest, they pray and think. A mysterious mood permeates the event as priests and deacons sing nonstop while sistrums and drums play in the background. Some religious travelers don’t eat or drink anything after their “Last Supper” on Thursday night until Sunday morning. Their weak bodies find comfort in resting inside the church walls between prayers.
Every church in Lalibela follows Fasika with great devotion, so tourists are free to move from one to the other. Pilgrims with white scarves walk between churches and bow down in line with the promises they made to God in exchange for prayers being answered.
The party ends on Sunday with a liturgy before dawn. From stone walls that look down over the carved-out Beta Mariam, one can see the most priests and people below. Along with the flickering candlelight and rhythmic clapping, the devotional music draws you in and makes the rite beautiful to experience.
What do Ethiopians eat on Easter?
They prepare chicken dishes for the symbolic occasion, and lamb for extended feasting. Doro wot (a spicy chicken stew) is the most traditional food served by families during Easter. It is accompanied by Injera (flat bread made from Teff).
We want Ethiopian food, which we still need to have at home while we’re in quarantine. According to the Orthodox calendar, Easter (Fasika) will be on April 19, 2020, which is a big food holiday in Ethiopian society. Many Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia fast from eggs, meat, and cheese during Lent (called tsom in that country). This builds up to the Easter feast, which has a huge spread of meats, sweets, and homemade drinks like honey wine, tea, and beer, Stella.
Saveur has a nice photo essay with Fasika-style meals that can be served on injera bread (shown below) at any time of the year: Spiced clarified butter (Niter Kibbeh), collard greens with fresh ginger and onions (Gomen), spicy chicken cooked slowly with hard-boiled eggs (Doro Wat), spiced beef sizzling (Siga Tibs), and beef tartare with spiced clarified butter (Kitfo). A meal called Defo Dabo, which is honey-infused bread is only available at Easter. The Guardian featured a fennel and orange version.
How long is Ethiopian Easter fasting?
55 days
Observed by followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It lasts 55 days culminating on Easter and the fast involves: it is applicable to all persons older than 13 years of age
In the Orthodox Church, Palm Sunday, which is also called Hosanna, is a very important day. It is the Sunday before Easter. It honors the way Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with palm leaves spread out in front of him. Palm Sunday is different because people get palm leaves to wear on their heads or hands, there are processions, and there are special church events.
Hudadi, the last week of Great Lent, also called Holy Week or the “Week of Pains” (Himamat), is happening in Ethiopia right now. This is the hardest part of Lent because you can’t get forgiveness, and you have to fast even more. After breaking their fast after mass on Thursday, some faithful Christians don’t eat or drink anything until Easter morning. They also don’t eat or drink anything at all on Good Friday (Sekelet) and Saturday, which is called “Qanona.” For these three days, priests don’t eat or drink anything and stay in churches all the time to sing and pray.
After 55 days of strict Lenten fasting (Hudade or Abye Tsome), Orthodox Tewahedo Christians don’t eat meat or dairy products. Then, they celebrate Fasika or Easter. When you eat vegetarian, you can get lentils, split peas, grains, fruits, and vegetable soups with Injera and bread. When someone is fasting, they usually don’t eat their first meal until after 3 p.m., but on Saturdays and Sundays, they can eat after the morning service.
People enjoy Easter Eve in churches with lit candles during a big Easter mass that starts at 6 p.m. and goes until 2 a.m. When the ceremony is over, families go home to break their fast with traditional drinks like tella and tej and chicken or lamb that was killed the night before. At Easter and Christmas, families get together to wish each other well and give each other gifts like lamb, goat, or loaves of bread.
