Ethiopian Christmas Jan 7, 2014 | Melkam Gena!

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 20:00 p.m. DST, 04 January 2014

ADDIS ABBA, Ethiopia - Towards the end of each year, Jews, Muslims, and Christians begin to prepare for their holiday seasons.

During the last week of November until the beginning of the New Year on the Gregorian calendar, Christian families across the world prepare for cultural, regional, and national holidays that honor the best ideals of who we seek to be as humans.

In America, the end of the year is consumed with activities focused on preparing for holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and finally New Year’s Eve, which concludes the annual calendar of major festivals.

Throughout the calendar year, running sometimes in synch, and at other times not close, are the major Muslim and Jewish holidays which are celebrated in accordance with the lunar calendar.

The Ethiopian calendar, also called the Ge'ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians in Eritrea and Ethiopia belonging to the Orthodox Tewahedo churches, Eastern Catholic Church and Lutheran Orthodox Church.

It is a sidereal calendar based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar, which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar. A seven- to eight-year gap is created by the difference between the calendars results in an alternate calculation of the date of the Annunciation of Jesus. (Source: Wikipedia)

Thus, this year, the Ethiopian Christmas will be celebrated on January 7, 2014 on the Gregorian calendar. The Ethiopian holiday is not known as Christmas, but Lidet. Other names include Gena and Qiddus Bale Wold. As part of the tradition of celebrating the birth of Jesus, Ethiopian tradition holds that one of the Wise Men who visited Jesus came from Ethiopia.

Christmas Eve features prominently in Ethiopian celebration, just as it does with all followers of Jesus. One difference is that Ethiopians fast on the day before Christmas, and then at dawn on the morning of Gena, the Ethiopian name for the holiday; people arise and dress in white.

Women wear dresses called Habesha Gemis, while the men complete their attire with a type of shawl called Netela, worn by both men and women. Then the entire family attends the early morning mass that starts at 4.00 a.m and officially commences the days events.

Following the mass, families go home to celebrate the holiday and participate in traditional festivities to break the fast. Similar to the American holiday, the Ethiopian Christmas is filled with happiness, the presence of family, food, and songs. But most of all, it is a time to reflect and thank God for all that He has done for us and will through His beneficent kindness, continue to do for us throughout the coming year.

Melkam Gena!

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New Gospel Speaks of Jesus' Wife

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 15:42 PM EDT, 19 September 2012

On Tuesday, 18 September 2012, Karen King, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced the existence of a fourth-century fragment that alludes to Jesus being married.

The announcement contradicts the assertion which has been assiduously advanced by the Catholic Church that Jesus never married. The church based this claim on a theologian known as Clement of Alexandria, who in 200 C.E. wrote that Jesus did not marry. Therein lies the controversy with King's contentious discovery.

From a sociological standpoint, as a Jewish man living at that time and in that part of the world it is highly unlikely that Jesus would have been unmarried because marriage and childbearing were and continue to be a central component of Jewish life. In fact, it is considered a 'great mitzvah,' and 'if someone intentionally does not fulfill this mitzvah is considered analogous to a murderer.'

The idea of Jesus being married has not been problematic in Judaism or Islam in which sexuality within the context of marriage is considered healthy, natural, and pleasurable. This is not to say the same of does not exists in many Christian traditions; but Catholicism seems to have historically struggled to reconcile the concept of sexual gratification and pleasure even within the confines of marriage.

According to the Torah, or Old Testament, God stated that the purpose of marriage is to produce offspring, "be fruitful and multiply" (Bereishit 1:28) and also for companionship, "It is not good for the man to be alone." (Bereishit 2:18-24)

The New Testament goes on to encourage men to marry "because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife", "it is better to marry than to burn with passion." (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)

In all three traditions, Jesus is acknowledged to have existed and died. However, Muslims like Christians, believe in his virgin birth by Mary; but unlike Christians, Muslims regard him as a mortal prophet sent by God who was not crucified but ascended to heaven like the prophet Elijah before him.

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Published: 19 September 2012 (Page 2 of 2)

An anonymous collector provided the fragment to King for authentication and it is believed to be of Egyptian or Syrian origin.  According to the Harvard website, Roger Bagnall, director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York, said he believed the fragment, which King has called "The Gospel of Jesus's wife," was authentic.

King first introduced her findings at the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies as evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married.

"Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim," King said in a statement released by Harvard.

"This new gospel doesn't prove that Jesus was married, but it tells us that the whole question only came up as part of vociferous debates about sexuality and marriage." (Source: Reuters)

King's analysis of the fragment is slated for publication in the Harvard Theological Review in January 2013. She has posted a draft of the paper, and images of the fragment, on the Harvard Divinity School website under the title, “New Early Christian Gospel From Egypt.”

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• Jesus' Wife Cited on 4th-Century Papyrus Fragment (bloomberg.com)
• Newly revealed Coptic fragment has Jesus making reference to 'my wife' (religion.blogs.cnn.com)