greatest open arena, and smaller bonfires are lit by individuals and local parishes throughout the country. Thousands attend the colourful and vibrant ceremony of religious chantings around the bonfire in Meskel Square, which owes its name to the ceremony, for meskel means "cross" in Ge'ez. According to tradition, the bonfire commemorates how the Empress Helena used the smoke of a bonfire to determine where to search for the true cross in Jerusalem, or how, by a series of bonfires, she signalled to her son Constantine in Constantinople her success in finding it. Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church In the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church a special offering called panchasarayumanda is made on this day, in particular at the Akaparambu Mor Sabor-Mor Aphroth Church in the Ernakulam District, Kerala. Related Observances 6 March On 6 March, the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church, commemorates the Uncovering of the Precious Cross and the Precious Nails by Empress Saint Helen—that is to say, the anniversary of the actual discovery; the date for the feast on 14 September was determined by the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is a lesser feast, and does not have any of the liturgical peculiarities of the feast of 14 September. 3 May The General Roman Calendar before 1960 contained the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Roodmas) on 3 May. It commemorated the founding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine With the reorganisation of the liturgical calendar by his Motu proprio Rubricarum instructum of Pope John XXIII (1960), the Feast of the Finding of the Cross, was celebrated only in some regions. Meanwhile, the finding of the True cross is also commemorated at the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on 14 September. 1 August The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics also commemorate the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of Jesus Christ on 1 August, which is also the first day of the Dormition Fast. The propers of the feast are combined with those of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs, the commemoration of whose endurance is deemed appropriate for the first day of a fast. Unlike the observance on 14 September, this commemoration is considered to be a minor feast, but it does have the bringing out of the cross and veneration by the faithful like the September feast. The history of