Courtesy of the African Immigrant Folklife Project, Smithsonian Institution

Harold Dorwin

Maskal is an ancient Ethiopian rite that celebrates the finding of the true cross. It is held every year in September in Ethiopia and everywhere Ethiopian immigrants live. The celebration shown here took place in Malcolm X Park in Washington, D.C. "Maskal is a religious and joyful annual social occasion that Christians throughout the country look forward to each year. Both women and men wear their national clothes, while youths boast and compete in fights with sticks. There is also jesting as well as flirting and courting sanctioned by the festival" - Ermias Gulilat.