Meskel Square is a square in the city of Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. It is often a site for public gathering or for demonstrations and festivals, notably, the Meskel

Meskel

Meskel , in the Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, is an annual religious holiday commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena in the fourth century. Meskel occurs on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar...

 Festival from which it takes its name.

The Meskel Festival has been celebrated for over 1,600 years. The word "Meskel" means "cross" and the festival commemorates the moment when the crucifix

Crucifix

A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

 was revealed to Empress Helena of Constantinople

Helena of Constantinople

Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...

, mother of Constantine the Great.

The festival is also seen as a moment to welcome in the spring season by displaying the distinctive yellow Meskel daisies

Bellis perennis

Bellis perennis is a common European species of Daisy, often considered the archetypal species of that name. Many related plants also share the name "Daisy", so to distinguish this species from other daisies it is sometimes qualified as Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy or occasionally English daisy. It is...

.

Thousands gather at the Square annually on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (September 27 in the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

), with celebrations in Addis Ababa beginning in the early afternoon when a procession bearing flaming torches approaches Meskel Square from various directions. A burning pyramid (demera) is located in the center and is circled by priests in brightly colored cloaks, students, brass bands, and the army carrying around giant crosses and torches. They set the pyramid alight with their torches, and the burning pyramid is kept ablaze until dawn until the celebrations through the night have ended.

History of the Square

Traditionally, the Meskel bonfire in Addis Ababa was lit by the Emperor of Ethiopia accompanied by members of the Imperial family, the nobility and high officials of the Orthodox Church and the government. The bonfire was initially lit in the square near the southern gate of St George's Cathedral

St George's Cathedral (Addis Ababa)

St George's Cathedral is an Orthodox cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is noted for its distinctive octagonal form. It is located at the northern end of Churchill Road in the city....

 during the reigns of Emperor Menelik II and Empress Zewditu, but was moved to its present location in the specifically constructed Meskel Square by Emperor Haile Selassie.

Following the fall of the monarchy in 1974, Meskel Square was renamed "Abiot" or Revolution Square. It was greatly expanded so that it could accommodate the annual Revolution Day and May Day parades on September 12 and May 1. Three gigantic portraits of Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

, Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...

 and Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

 were erected in the square. The population of Addis Ababa would joke that these were the "new trinity". Meskel bonfires continued to be lit there however for a number of years, with the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the predominant Oriental Orthodox Christian church in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All...

 lighting the bonfire in place of the Emperor. Between 1988 and 1991, the officially atheist government ordered the Meskel celebration to be moved back to the small square outside the southern gates of St. George Cathedral. After the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam

Mengistu Haile Mariam

Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...

, the short lived government of General Tesfaye Gebre Kidan

Tesfaye Gebre Kidan

Tesfaye Gebre Kidan was an Ethiopian general who was President of Ethiopia for one week in late May 1991.Tesfaye was a student at Holetta Military Academy, where he met Mengistu Haile Mariam; according to Gebru Tareke, along with Legesse Asfaw and Gebreyes Wolde Hana Tesfaye was part of Mengistu's...

 restored the original name of Meskel Square, and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front is the ruling political coalition in Ethiopia. It is an alliance of four other groups: the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization , the Amhara National Democratic Movement , the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's...

 government returned the Meskel celebration to the square.

The square is often used for other secular purposes. Concerts, parades, and various other government and public events are held there. Political parties often hold rallies in the square. Part of the public ceremonies surrounding the re-burial of Emperor Haile Selassie took place in the square as well. The annual "Great Ethiopian Run" passes through Meskel Square. The national monument in memory of those massacred by the Derg

Derg

The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...

 regime in the "Red Terror

Red Terror (Ethiopia)

The Ethiopian Red Terror, or Qey Shibir , was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia that most visibly took place once Communist Mengistu Haile Mariam achieved control of the Derg, the military junta, 3 February 1977...

" of the 1970s has been built at the eastern entrance to the square, and the remains of many victims from that period have been buried there : the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum has been inaugurated in February 2010.