In Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, a festival as old as memory — one that each year gives thousands of young women the rare gift of public joy — has been silenced not by decree but by dread. The Ashenda celebration of the Virgin Mary and of womanhood itself was cancelled this Saturday as drone strikes fell on the city and its surroundings, killing civilians and reviving the specter of a war that officially ended in 2022 but never fully released its grip. What is lost is not only a gathering, but the fragile sense that peace, once signed, might actually hold.
Ethiopia cancels Virgin Mary festival in Tigray over drone strike fears
Recent drone strikes in Tigray have killed at least four civilians and injured 13 others, prompting cancellation of a major cultural gathering.