Meskel Demera Bonfire at Meskel Square

Demera is the UNESCO-listed eve-of-Meskel bonfire ceremony: on 26 September 2026 (Meskel itself falls Sunday the 27th), hundreds of thousands fill Meskel Square as robed priests, deacons and Sunday-school choirs process with candles and chants around a giant daisy-decked pyre, which the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church lights around sunset. It commemorates the bonfire that, in tradition, led Empress Helena to the True Cross. Arrive by mid-afternoon — the square fills hours before the roughly 6 pm lighting, security screening lines are long, and standing room near the pyre goes fast; the smoke direction the next morning is traditionally read as an omen for the year.

Events in Addis change often — confirm with the organizer before heading out.