Genna celebrations in Lalibela: Ethiopia's Coptic Christmas

Valerio Corzani reports from Lalibela, Ethiopia, on the Genna celebrations, the Coptic Christmas that preserves ancient rituals. The festival draws pilgrims to the town's rock-hewn churches, including the small monastery of Ashetan Maryam. Families perform slow, ceremonial coffee roasting. The event typically sees the population swell from 20,000 to over 100,000 in early January, as Amhara and Tigrayan farmers and shepherds dress in biblical attire and carry prayer sticks (dula) and white shamma veils. Priests process with the Tabot, a stone tablet representing the Ten Commandments. The article notes that while the Covid-19 pandemic was relatively under control, severe political turmoil and ethnic clashes in the Tigray region, about 300 km north of Lalibela near the Eritrean border, pose a threat to this year's gatherings.