Outside an orthodox church

I am in Addis Ababa and went for my usual morning run (you know, out the gate, hang a left past the bus stop then to the big church, and through the back streets until you end up at the Chinese restaurant and the milk shop...)

Today I found there to be much more activity around the church than I have seen in previous visits and so I started to ask my colleagues what was going on. Apparently it is not that easy to explain in English...especially non-orthodox people.

I got to understand that each church is named after a certain saint. And each saint (should I put 'saint' in caps?) has a special day each month. Well, the church found on my jogging route is the church named after Jesus Christ and today is the day for Jesus Christ and so there were special prayers at this church (and any other church named after Christ). Is that clear?

And do not forget that we are using a different calendar here so...I will tell you tomorrow the day and the year.

I learnt that the grass and yellow flowers are to put on the floor at your home while the guy in the wheel chair is selling candles to be burnt in the church. I will try to get more info as both explanations still leave a lot of questions in my mind.