Intangible Treasures of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Historic Perspectives and Symbolic Interpretations

Because of its universality, symbolism is the "open sesame" to an understanding of human culture. It is stated that "The structure which is symbolized in ritual is the system of socially approved proper relations between individuals and groups." Thus, rituals and any spiritual ceremonies without symbolic interpretations seem to be meaningless. Symbolic interpretations are given special attention in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The church teaches that all the material and spiritual treasures and performing arts have biblical roots and symbolic interpretations Examining the performances of events throughout each Ethiopian year reveals a number of unique characteristics of Ethiopian calendar. Ethiopian Calendar differs from other calendars not only in the number of years, but also in many other ways, such as celebration of the new year, division of the year in to seasons and months, system of counting hours Ethiopian calendar celebrates New Year on Meskerem 1; September 11/12 to venerate a number of biblical events.