👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Season of Blooming: #Zemene #Tsige (ዘመነ ፅጌ)(From Meskerem 26 to Hidar 5 )
(Part 2)
Beloved in Christ, let us now turn our hearts and minds to the sacred observance of Zemene Tsige, the Forty Days commemorating the flight and return of the Holy Virgin Mary with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In this holy season, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church gathers to remember, to give thanks, and to glorify God, joining the angels and saints in praise.
1. The Meaning and Time of Zemene Tsige
✍🏾The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church designates the period from Meskerem 26 to Hidar 5 as Zemene Tsige, Wereha Tsige the “Season of Blooming.” The term Tsige (ፅጌ), from the Gë`ëz "Tsegeye", means to bloom, to be adorned, to show forth beauty and fruitfulness. It is a sacred time when creation adorns itself with abundance, mirroring divine grace. The earth, clothed in beauty, becomes a visible sermon on the generosity of God.
2. The Symbolism of the Season
✍🏾Zemene Tsige is not only a time of natural flourishing but also a reflection of spiritual renewal. The flowering fields and ripened fruits symbolize the Virgin Mary, the Ethiopian Church celebrates not only the glory of creation but also the mystery of the Virgin Mary, she who bore the Word made flesh, the flower of Jesse’s root.
3. The Sunday Vigils and Night Prayers
✍🏾During the month of Tsige, which is known as the most cherished and beautiful season of the year, the Ethiopian Orthodox faithful celebrate a time when the earth itself seems to reflect the glory of heaven.
✍🏾In this sacred season, when the fields are green and the air is rich with the scent of flowers and fruit, the priests gather every Sunday from midnight onward in what is called the Tsige assembly. They stand in prayer for many hours, representing Our Lady, the Holy Virgin Mary, the flower of purity and the mother of divine grace.
4. Hymns of the Virgin and the Mystery of the Incarnation
✍🏾“…Everything that should happen in the season of flowers has come to pass. The songs of the birds have been hear throughout our land. Our Lady, the Holy Virgin Mary, return so that we may witness peace in you. As you embraced your Son, and as you are adorned with a crown of flowers Mary, my dove, my dove! come. The apostles praise you; the angels send you; the foundation of life comes from Lebanon; the blessing of Shem; the hospitality of Abraham; the fragrance of Isaac; the ladder of Jacob; the comfort of Joseph…”
✍🏾Priests and deacons continue in various styles of singing, while the Debaters (Debteroch) spend the entire night in prayer lighting candles, singing, beating drums, clanging cymbals, chanting, and stamping the ground. Scholars and the faithful join in, praising God and our Lady with words full of power and devotion.
Priests, during the hours of prayer, sing:
✍🏾(O Mary, who shines like the eastern sun; who gave birth to the Lord, strong as lightning; who carried the mystery of fire. Like the letters of the alphabet, you are abundant with many generations; you bore the Gospel; you carried Christ, the consuming fire. Like the cedar tree, you provide help; O holy Mary, who brings salvation; you gave birth to the Creator, the guest of the world; you save us from the death of punishment; you are the vine, the fruitful vine…)
✍🏾With these words, the faithful praise God and the Holy Virgin Mary, recognizing her unique role in salvation, her strength, and her guidance for the world.
Continues 👇🏾