NEBAB #27: The Feast of the Nativity (Christmas)
NEBAB #27
The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine
THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY (CHRISTMAS)
The Spiritual Education Unit
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America
Melkam Lidet!
In this issue:
1. The Authentic African Nativity
2. Ethiopian Origins of the Wise Men
3. Faith and works
4. “Ask Abba/Kes”
5. A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam
6. Children’s corner
7.ይበል ግዕዝ
8. Orthodox Q&A
But first…
You will hear the feast of the Birth of Christ referred to by Ethiopian Christians as lidet and also as gena. Why are there 2 names for this 1 feast day?
Lidet means birth and comes from the Ge’ez verb welede - to give birth (see Nebab #11). It clearly refers to the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Gena is a word that describes the mysterious condescension of the Incarnation. Gena refers to how the most high God came down from the height of His glory and mingled with us who are lowly. Keep reading to learn more about the significance of this condescension in relation to the Ethiopian observance of the Birth of Christ.
The Authentic African Nativity
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
Psalm 72:9-10
Indeed, let all nations glorify their Lord and celebrate His glorious birth from Mary, the Holy Virgin! From India to Russia to Ireland to Mexico, all peoples have unique and interesting traditions by which they celebrate the birth of Christ- with varying degrees of correctness (Orthodoxy), which we will not examine in this publication. Anyone who wants to experience the most authentic and indigenous African tradition of the birth of Christ should look to the church in Ethiopia, or any Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church anywhere in the diaspora.
There is a saying- a sort of tradition in Ethiopia: “Christmas in Lalibela, Epiphany (the Baptism of Christ- not the visit of the wise men) in Gondar”. Traditionally the famous St George rock-hewn church in Lalibela is the ‘Christmas capital’ of Ethiopia, and the main place of pilgrimage for this feast. Come briefly and let us visit Lalibela to see what it looks like.
Believers, perched on the ground-level ‘cliff’ surround the church, only accessible through the stairway cut into the mountain, like the church itself.
Christians gather in their numbers on the eve of the Nativity all dressed in white robes- (Revelation 7:9) bringing our offerings to God, and carrying lighted candles that make the congregation resemble the starry ‘blackboard of the sky’ from which our predecessors 4000 years ago read the mystery that light would come into the world (John 3:19).
When we arrive at church we begin a long night of heavenly chanting and singing, announcing the birth of the Savior just like the angels did singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). When the divine liturgy begins, the believers are taken back in time, as three priests and two deacons (mirroring the three kings and two nobles) lead the faithful in prayer and worship culminating in the Eucharist, where faithful Christians partake of the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, as He promised “Whoever eats My Body and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). With this, we break our long Christmas Eve fast, and the church erupts into the joy of the Birth of Christ, wishing one another Melkam Lidet (Happy feast of the Nativity).
How wonderful is the glory of His Birth!
The Ethiopian Origin of the 3 Wise Men
The Bible says ‘Wise Men from the East’- where exactly in the East?
To place the wise men we begin two millennia before Christ’s birth with the Ethiopian Emperor Ayshur I who saw a vision in the heavens, the same vision seen by an astronomer named Zeredeshet on the shore of Lake Tana. In this vision they saw a Virgin with Child and a comet with seven colours in its long tail. The king, understanding what this vision meant, left gifts of tribute for his descendants to present to this Child when the prophecy would be fulfilled, and 2000 years later, the star appeared again. Rather than an astronomical event, this star was in fact a divine revelation, seen only by people chosen by God, Ayshur’s descendants- the ‘children of the Ethiopians’. (Amos 9:7)
By this time Ayshur’s empire had separated into 3 smaller kingdoms with their capitals in modern day Eritrea, Egypt and Yemen. Thirteen days into their respective reigns, these three kings, whom the Ethiopian tradition calls Matusima, Edidasfa and Melkor, saw “His star in the east” (Matthew 2:2). When the Kings camped outside the city, Jerusalem feared an invasion, and when they inquired of Herod about the ‘king of the Jews’, “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matt 2:3).
Eventually, they found our Lord and Saviour. There they offered Him “incense as He was God, gold as He was King, and myrrh to signify His death which gave life unto men” (Wudase Mariam). After their visit they were guided by the Archangel Gabriel back to their countries, and eventually these Kings left their thrones to live an ascetic life and serve the Lord in the desert.
Faith and Works:
Don't visit your King empty handed
We can learn many lessons from the wise men, but the most important is how they honoured and worshipped their King and God- with the 3 types of offerings.
Incense because He is God: They brought incense because it is used in the worship of God. We should take to church the things used in church service, as our prayers say, “blessed are those who bring gifts of incense, bread, wine, ointment, oil, hangings, reading books and vessels for the sanctuary”. We can also bring candles, coals, carpets, even chairs! Talk to your priest about what the parish needs.
Gold because He is King: They brought Him gold, paying tribute to a king. In a monarchy, all the wealth is the king’s, so we give him some in recognition of him giving us all. For this reason we bring tithes (a tenth of our income) and offerings (an amount we choose) to the One who gave us all our money.
Myrrh to signify His life-giving death: As He sacrificed, we can offer sacrifice of voice (singing, chanting), body (standing, prostrating), labour, or time (teaching children, attending classes) to Him.
Ask Abba/Kes
"How can we share the Ethiopian Nativity (Gena) tradition with the west?"
Here in the west they have Santa Claus and Christmas trees- I don’t know the details, and lights and presents- maybe symbolising the star and the gifts of the wise men- but these traditions are almost idolised, covering up instead of showing by interpretation the mystery of the Incarnation.
Our Ethiopian Christmas traditions start with the name gena. It comes from genana or agenen meaning ‘rising up’ or ‘the highest’- because the highest human God made 5500 years ago fell, and God came to raise Him up.
We wear white clothes because white signifies righteousness and heavenly things, like the angels who praised Him at His birth.
We have a game- yegena chewata. Everyone plays, the king’s son, the noblemen, the ordinary people all playing by the same rules. If you hit the crown prince any other day you might be arrested but in this game the people of high status come down to the field with everyone else- because the Most High God came down to be among us. The ball represents Satan and the sticks are short- because man is small but God is unlimited- and have bent heads, because God Himself bent down to be with us.
We make yegena dabo, a huge bread not made at any other time of year. The pot has fire above and below because God is Alpha and Omega, the dough is wrapped in banana leaves above and below to represent the Incarnation of the Son and the suffering of Adam.
The bread represents the one who was born in Bethlehem - the house of bread, who said “I am the bread of life which came down from heaven”. We celebrate the Incarnation by eating because it was by eating that Adam fell and Christ became the fruit of life for us. It is prayed over by the priests or elders and ceremonially broken, then placed upside down, remembering the ransom of Isaac who was placed face down by his father Abraham.
We decorate with green grass representing the good news brought to Noah that it was time to come out of the ark and go into the world- likewise we have received the good news of the birth of our Lord!
BIBLE QUIZ!
What was the first Christmas song, who sang it, and where in the Bible is it recorded?
An excerpt from the account of the Holy Virgin Maryam to Timothy, Patriarch of Alexandria
That angel who brought the midwife to me made a star shine in the east. Wise men came to him and praised his birth. They brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh; these were the things they brought for the birth of my son. First, the wise men brought incense to my son, and next came the vessel in which [the incense] was offered up to my son on the day of his birth.
This became the first offering to the Father on the day of the birth of my son, and he forgave them [i.e., the wise men] their sins. The second libation to my son, which was offered up to the Father, was the blood of the children whom Herod slew, and it was this that raised up great terror in all of Israel. He killed their children because of my son, Jesus. The wise men informed Joseph about his [i.e., Herod’s] cunning when they came and worshipped [my son], and they convinced Joseph that no one among the people knew this mystery. They said to him, “Be careful. Observe this child, and consider the matter of his birth carefully. Take good heed if Herod should send for you with the brethren. Do not go to him, for he will deceive you. He wishes to slay the child, and he has already troubled himself greatly over this matter. The [elder] Joseph told me these words when he sent us away because of Herod.
I tell you, my dear Timothy: I was afflicted with grievous sorrow and pain with my son. I could find no beasts at all. All day long I wandered about, going from one place to another with him. I took him up and went with him to the houses of my neighbors and kinsfolk, for I was afraid for him because of Herod and his soldiers. When I heard the children’s shrieks, and their mothers’ bitter cries of anguish, it seemed to me as if my soul must be torn out of me. I was afraid that the soldiers would come to me, and again I felt that I must fly from house to house—I and my son, my darling Jesus. I went to Jerusalem to find the women and their children. The women were without children, and they were filled with bitter anger over their deaths. I went to the Galileans, who were my kinsfolk. I found the women with their clothes rent and their heads uncovered. They were wailing and lamenting for their children. I went to Bethlehem and found the women. Their shrieks reached the gates of heaven; they were cursing Herod, that wicked serpent. I went to the land of Judah, but I did not find my sister Elisabeth, for she had hidden herself from fear of Herod, the hypocritical king. In every place I went, from the outskirts of Jerusalem to the center, I found sorrow: [the mothers] mourning for their sons, the children who had been slain.
O Holy Virgin Maryam, pray for us!
LIJOCH! The Children's Corner
Memory verse: St Luke 2:13-14
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The Nativity Icon is missing some people- Add angels, shepherds and wise men! (One more thing is missing- what is it?)
ይበል:ግዕዝ (yibel Ge’ez)
Let's reclaim our forefathers’ language
Today we'll learn some vocabulary from a Nativity hymn about the adoration of the magi (wise men).
አምኃሆሙ አምጽኡ መድምመ
amihahomu amṣi’u medmime
አንፈርዓጹ ሰብአ ሰገል
anfer’aṣu seb’a segel
amihahomu- their gifts. From amiha - a present, gift offered out of respect + homu - theirs. From the verb አምኀ amiha - to kiss, greet, or offer a gift, pronounced the same way
amṣi’u- they brought/offered, from the verb root መጽአ meṣ’a - to come
medmime- from the verb ደመመ dememe - to fill with admiration. The word መድምም medmim means astonishing, marvellous or wonderful
anfer’aṣu- from the verb ፈርዐጸ fer’aṣe - to skip about/dance/frolic
seb’a segel- wise men. From ሰብእ seb’i person, man (“seb’a _” means “men of _”) + segel - magic (but in this case divination or oracles)
ORTHODOX Q&A
"Isn't Christmas a pagan holiday?"
Around this time of the year, you hear a lot of this kind of talk- “Christmas is pagan”, “The Romans used it to take over the pagans”, “Jesus never celebrated His birthday”, etc. Do not be deceived! We celebrate the birth of Christ in the tradition of the angels, the shepherds and the wise men. All the extra traditions of the western so-called Christmas are secular, consumerist, etc. To anyone who thinks they have a historical basis for the claim that Christmas is a pagan holiday, we accept your history, but come and see ours. We promise you will see a completely different celebration of the birth of Christ from anything you have seen before anywhere else in the world, and whatever word you call it- in whatever language, in whatever tradition- it is necessary to celebrate and honour the glorious birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Send us your questions at: seu.eotccarla@gmail.com
References
Short message on behalf the Spiritual Education Unit:
His Grace Abune Thaddaeus, Head Administrator Archimandrite Abba Gebreyesus, and all clergy and faithful- thank you for the opportunity to share this labour of love with you. Thanks also to the team of the Spiritual Education Unit for their hard work.
-Liqe Teghuan Tekle Mariam Greene
Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam:
CONTACT US:
Archdiocese headquarters: Medhane Alem (Saviour of the World), Old Golden Grove Rd. Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago.
Tel. 868-642-4230.
e-mail: eotc.arch.carla@gmail.com
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