Smoke from candle flames filled the skies yesterday, Friday June 19, 2009 as Asmara held a candlelight vigil for the nation’s martyrs.
Held every year on the eve of Martyrs’ Day, the candlelight vigil symbolizes the patriots who melted down like candles to bestow light upon their people.
A pair of candle lanterns on each streetlight pole along the Martyrs and Independence avenues glowed like tiny fireflies while crowds of people, including a multitude of women and children, sat on sidewalks below burning their candles.
With some holding framed pictures of loved ones and others contemplating on the huge price Eritreans paid for independence, with overhead loudspeakers playing music evoking the significance of the day, the Asmara residents marched in a solemn procession towards the Bahti Meskerem Square. Flanked on each side of the street were people bearing wax candles.
Upon arrival at the square, the podium was already filled with thousands of flickering light from burning candles. The central podium was particularly glowing bright as a group of young children were lined in a way to spell the word ‘swuatna’ (Our Martyrs). It was a spectacular sight to mark the noblest of events.
After the traditional minute of silence was observed in honor of the martyrs, the guest speaker delivered a statement on the occasion.
In his address, Mr. Yemane Ghebreab, Head of Political Affairs at the PFDJ, stressed that the fact that Eritrean martyrs sacrificed their lives for us to live was part of our identity and a pillar of our unity.
He further noted that the martyrs’ ultimate price should serve as the guiding force for the present and the future.
Different poems and songs in various languages reflecting the auspicious day were also presented during the event, which came to a ceremonious conclusion with the national anthem.
In similar news, students and staff of the Mai Nefhi College of Sciences and Technology as well as the Halhale College of Business and Economics held similar candle vigils in their respective areas in honor of martyrs’ day.
Earlier in the day, Mass service was held in honor of Martyrs’ Day at St. Michael’s Church in here in the capital.
In the ceremony His Holiness Abune Dioskoros, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, religious leaders from the Eritrean Catholic and Evangelical churches, along with members of the clergy from all churches in Asmara, held prayer services.
Also on the same day a Do’a ceremony was held in the afternoon hours at Asmara’s Al-Khulafa Al-Rashideen Mosque. Thousands of faithful attended both ceremonies.
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