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With most D.C. residents asleep early Sunday morning, incense enveloped the vast hall At the Ethiopian Cathedral in Northeast Washington, hundreds of white-clad parishioners sang to a rhythmic drumbeat to celebrate Orthodox Christmas.
According to the Julian calendar used by Ethiopians, Russians and some Eastern Orthodox, the birth of Jesus is celebrated on January 7, often with a night service and mass.
(Video: Jenna Portnoy/The Washington Post)
From late Saturday until the early hours of Sunday, a meditative veil fell over worshipers at the Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral Debre Meheret Kedus Michael.
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, believers of all ages streamed into the hall in gossamer layers representing the light of Jesus, stuffed their shoes in plastic bags and settled in for eight hours of chants and explanations in the liturgical language of Ge'ez. Feet in white socks shuffled across the burgundy carpet.
“Truly, truly, his light is amazing,” the choir chanted, an interpreter said.
Early in the night the children swayed to the beat of the drums, which were played with lilting precision, but as the hours passed they began to fall asleep and many fainted at their parents' feet, cozy under white sheets.
Just before midnight, a church leader held up a portrait of Jesus held in Mary's arms while the fire of a central flame was passed from person to person until hundreds held lit candles.
The lights in the ceiling dimmed and Abune Fanuel, Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of Washington DC, dressed in ornate robes and flanked by similarly decorated church leaders, marched through the hall as chants and drums reached their crescendo.
(Video: Jenna Portnoy/The Washington Post)
A mass began promptly with the reading of the Gospel and communion. At 2:45 a.m. it was time for the feast to end a 45-day fast on animal products.
By mid-morning on Sunday, Aki Amsalu was in a celebratory mood and was about to enjoy a second round of chicken stew, lamb stew, cabbage with meat and other dishes prepared by his wife Haimanot Ariti and eaten in the traditional manner from a communal tray.
“We haven’t slept yet. We just had breakfast again. We’ll do it again,” he said by phone from home, recounting a meal for a dozen family members and friends. Amsalu, 53, lives in Riverdale Park, works for DHL in logistics and manages the church's audiovisual operations.
Amsalu was born in Ethiopia and came to the United States for school in the late 1980s with plans to return to his homeland after college, but like so many of the tens of thousands of Ethiopians in the Washington area, he built a life here instead.
About 30 parishioners founded the church in 1993 in a small room in the Woodner Building on 16th Street NW. The congregation outgrew several rooms and in the mid-1990s built the cathedral at 3010 Earl Place NE, where jewel-toned paintings cover the walls.
Featuring few of the typical Christmas characteristics that many celebrate with Santa Claus, Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas presents the birth of Jesus Christ 13 days earlier based on the Gregorian calendar established in the 16th century by Pope Gregory XIII. was developed to ensure a closer alignment with the solar year.
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Governments and Protestant churches followed suit, as did most churches in the Greek Orthodox tradition after 1923. The differences didn't matter to Woyintu Duressa, 50, of Maryland, who summed up the holiday for all faiths.
“We are very happy because we can be together as a family,” she said through an interpreter, “and celebrate the birth of Christ.”