The story
Kulubi Gabriel December Pilgrimage in Kulubi
Kulubi's Church of Saint Gabriel hosts Ethiopia's largest annual pilgrimage on 27 and 28 December, drawing well over a hundred thousand people who walk, and sometimes complete the final stretch barefoot or under the weight of stones, to fulfill personal vows. Around a thousand infants are baptized during the feast, and the gathering draws pilgrims across faiths, not only Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.
Kulubi's Church of Saint Gabriel sits on a hilltop near Dire Dawa in eastern Ethiopia and draws the largest single religious gathering of its kind in the country each year on 27 and 28 December, when pilgrims converge from every region, faith background, and social class to fulfill vows made to the archangel.