Ye’gena Chewata

As diverse as Africa and its people are, as diverse are the faiths and beliefs on the continent. On the eastern side, in Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, about 40 percent of the population are Orthodox. It was in 1959, when the Ethiopian Orthodox Church became autonomous from the Coptic Church of Alexandria, to which it had belonged since the first half of the 4th century. From then on, it had its own patriarch. The current patriarch is Abune (‘our father’) Mathias.

As in many orthodox churches, in Ethiopia Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January with Christmas Eve on the 6th. Families get together, eat and celebrate, and give gifts to their children.

A very unique tradition on Ethiopian Christmas Day that can still be observed, especially on the countryside, is “Ye’gena Chewata”, which means “Christmas game” and looks similar to modern hockey.

The story goes that shepherds, when they heard about the news of Jesus' birth, started hitting a ball, or perhaps a stone, with their crooks as an expression of joy. And that's how it started.

The game is played between teams of ten, using wooden sticks and a ball called ‘rur’. In many games, players wear traditional clothes. A game lasts for about 60 minutes with a single 10-minute break at half-time. In the event of a draw, there is a 20-minute overtime. If none of the teams can score the decisive goal, there is a penalty shoot-out, just as in football, but only with three attempts for each team. 

Ethiopia is not the only country where early cultures played games with sticks and balls. The Irish play “hurling”, in Mexico you can find “pelota purépecha”. But it is only Ethiopia that has its own Christmas game.