Eritrea. Asmara. September square. Meskel is the most important religious feast for the orthodox church in Eritrea. It takes place every year on september 27. A priests dressed in a white tunicle stands near the woodshed which will later be burnt. Once fully burned, the crowd will run to the furnace, collect some unburn wood parts and pick up ashes to draw a holy black cross on their foreheads. He wears on his chest a badge which shows a painting of the Queen of Peace, the Virgin Mary as the Holy Mother holding her son Jesus in her arms. The Virgin Mary and Jesus have both a golden crown on their heads. © 2002 Didier Ruef