The Meskel festival has its own religious rules but the Guraghes celebrate the festival with different cultural manifestations. In Gurage, Meskel festivities last for more than 15 days and each day has a separate name.

As in other parts of the Catholic world, Christmas and Easter are major feasts in the Church calendar. But in Ethiopia, a different feast, Meskel, competes for top billing in the lives as believers. In interviews for this project, almost all of the interviewees, lay and religious, suggested that this was their favorite religious feast of the year, a long-anticipated and special day. Officially, Meskel is a minor Christian feast. Practically, it is a major national event.