D.M.K.M

Zemene Tsige translates to ‘The season of Flower’.

Zemene Tsige begins on October 6th
(Meskerem 26th)- November 14th (Hidar 5). Fasting in this period is optional for it is outside of
the seven major fasting periods, and one fasts so to expect abundant blessings from God
through the intercession of St. Mary

This season commemorates the Holy Family’s exile from Bethlehem to Egypt. This story is
summarised in the following verses from Mathew 2.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying,
“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? But When King Herod heard this, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Then Herod, when he called them secretly and sent them to
Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him,
bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” However, Herod, when he saw
that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to
death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and
under. However, Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young
Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the
young Child to destroy Him.” and he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and
departed for Egypt.

In this season we Orthodox Christians are able to spiritually walk with Our Mother Saint Mary and
experience all that she went through for the sake of mankind. In this period in particular, we read
ሰቆቃወ ድንግል which translate to the Lamentations/Suffering of the Virgin. This text highlights
the sufferings Mary had to go through without the support of anyone except Joseph the elder
and Salome. I will highlight three extracts from the Lamentations of the virgin. In the introduction
of this text the author says, “I write the lamentations of the Virgin with the ink of my dripping
tears”. This is astonishing because in those days water was mixed with another substance such
as carbon soot to create ink for writing. However instead of mixing it with water his dripping tears
were used! This goes to show how painful were the Virgin’s suffering. Another part of the text is
translated as the following “Joseph woke up from his sleep and fled to Egypt as the Angel of the
Lord had told him in his dream at night to take the infant along with His mother Mary. She was
crying saying: “Let them kill me rather than seeing the shedding of my child’s blood.” We see how
our mother Mary was so distraught to the thought of her Son being in danger and preferred
death than seeing Jesus’ blood. Imagine how she felt witnessing his glorious crucifixion..
The last extract from this text is ‘O how your feet ached because of the walk without the light of
the moon, Mary, clothed by the sun, daughter of the light, you made your son hastily from Herod
the serpent. When ears hear the afflictions you faced, not only man, but stones will even cry.”
Here the author expresses that her suffering is so deep that no eyes will be left dry after hearing
it and even rocks who are inanimate and have no ears would cry upon hearing it!
Not only do we chant the lamentations of the Virgin, but we also have Mahlet Tsige (All night
hymns of the flower) and Digua which is Yaredawi hymns. If I write about all these forms of praise
this article will turn to a book!

As we contemplate on her sufferings, we also plead for her great intercessions. In this period, we
also use the anaphora of St Mary for Sunday’s liturgy. In this Liturgy we plead the Virgin to
‘remind Him of His birth, delivered from you at Bethlehem, of His being wrapped in swaddling
clothes and His being warmed by the breath of ass and cow on the cold days. O Virgin, remind
Him of his flight with you when you fled from one country to another in the days of the cursed
Herod.O Virgin, remind Him of the bitter tears shed from your eyes and dropped on the face of
your beloved Son. O Virgin, remind Him of hunger, thirst, poverty, sadness and all the trouble
which you suffered together with Him. Remind Him of mercy and not of destruction. Remind Him
of compassion and not of wrath Remind Him of the sinners and not of the righteous. Remind him
of the impure and not the pure. And now let us glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

Zemene Tsgie falls in the autumn season that comes after the Eritrean rainy season in which
flowers and fruits appeared, a deep blue sky and clean air occur on earth as it is a time of the
primary harvest season and abundant fruitfulness. As a result you will notice roses in the hand of
the clergy and faithful, especially in the time of the Mahlet (All night prasie).