Tehuti News

Highlights from Ethiopia, 2010

                                                                                                                                                                             January 2011

Trinity Church, Addis Ababa

Tissisat Falls, Bahir Dar

Castle at King Fasilidas' Compound, Gondar

St. Georges Church, Lalibela

Ethiopian sister performing coffee

ceremony, Lalibela

  Mule ride to Monastery, Lalibela

Priest at Asheton Monastery, Lalibela

       Group at Tekenu (monolith), Axum

Queen Makeda's palace remains, Axum

Ethiopian Traditional Dancers, Addis Ababa

By Reba Ashton Crawford

Salemta! (Greetings).  When the average person is asked about Ethiopia, we have found that their view has been informed by the media's portrayal of East Africa of the 1980s...namely famine and despair.  When one visits the culturally and historically rich country of Ethiopia, one will find lush, beautiful countryside, ancient art and architecture, modern cities, and most all, a proud and gracious people that we are glad to call our brothers and sisters. Our educational tour to Ethiopia, led by Dr. Clinton Crawford, allows our tour members to do a bit of time traveling, so to speak, and see a world where the past and the present peacefully co-exist.

 We toured the capitol city of Addis Ababa that offered a spectacular view of the city from Entoto Mountain.  We paid respect to our great African ancestor, Dinknesh, the mother of all mankind. Her DNA courses through the veins of all human beings on our planet.  We marveled at the magnificent paintings on the walls of Trinity Church.  The great historian, Dr. John Henrik Clarke always said that our religious icons should look like us. It was refreshing to see the most important figures in religious history portrayed as Africans.

In Bahir Dar we visited the Tissisat Falls, the water that smokes.  Seeing the falls is always a treat. Later we took a boat across Lake Tana (the source of the Blue Nile) to a peninsula that housed the extraordinary Ura Kidane Mihret Monastery.  The paintings in this centuries-old monastery were exquisitely rendered.  The colors are absolutely brilliant and though the monastery is located in Bahir Dar, the painting style is considered by historians to be “Gondarene.” Gondar was the great artistic center of its day.  It was interesting to see the tankwas, the papyrus reed boats that were perhaps the forerunners to those seen illustrated on the temple walls in ancient Egypt.

We elected to drive to Gondar. The scenery en route was breathtakingly beautiful and was not what most people associate with Ethiopia.  We happily shared gifts of books and school supplies with some of the children we met along the way. One cannot say enough about the 17^th century castles built by King Fasilidas, his son and grandson. The castles, grand in stature and elegant in style, still possess a sense of opulence. 

The sacred pool where the Timket festival is celebrated is always majestic. The annual festival commemorates the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River. Believers from far and wide come to be blessed and even healed in the pool that has been blessed by the priests.

Rome has the Sistine Chapel, but Gondar has the Church of Debre Berhan Selassie adorned with painted Black angels on the ceiling and beautiful frescoes along the walls that serve as “snapshots” of Ethiopia’s religious history.   It is truly a site to see.

Lalibela has fast become a favorite city in Ethiopia.  It is home to the renowned 12^th century rock-hewn churches built by King Lalibela.  The 11 churches should, in my judgment, be considered the Eighth Wonder of the World.  St. Georges Church, the huge monastery cut from a single rock in the shape of a cross, seems to be the most renowned of the group.

Another highlight of Lalibela was our trek up a mountain to visit the Asheton Monastery.  This excursion was not for the faint of heart. Our mountain journey took us two hours (each way) and 12,000 ft on mule back and on foot. It was well worth the physical exertion, though. We met the keepers of the monastery's sacred treasures in a place set against the backdrop of Ethiopia’s exquisite beauty.

We also enjoyed an Ethiopian coffee ceremony.  It is part of a long standing tradition for Ethiopians to welcome guests with a ceremony of this nature.  In a local round, thatch-roof structure, we watched as one of the sisters prepared the coffee beans in a traditional roasting pot, ground them (by hand), steeped them, and then served the coffee from a beautiful traditional clay coffeepot.  It is only natural to serve this well-loved drink…coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia!

The ancient city of Axum was once Ethiopia’s capitol and is considered the birthplace of Ethiopian civilization.  It is home to the tekenus (obelisks) in a large compound of stelae.  It is said that the tekenus served as landmarks for royal burial sites.  The carvings are reputed to be the vertical representation of the royal palaces, as they depict doors, windows and celestial symbols. 

We also had the pleasure of visiting the palace remains of the legendary Makeda, the Queen of Sheba.  We have seen recent attempts by historians to write Queen Makeda out of Ethiopian history, but her connection to Ethiopia is hard to dispute when one is standing in her Axumite palace.  We also witnessed Makeda’s sacred lake, much like the one seen in the Temple of Karnak in Egypt.  History tells us that Queen Makeda developed a relationship with King Solomon of Jerusalem which resulted in the birth of their son, Menelik.  At age 22 Menelik went to visit his father and brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Ethiopia.  St. Mary of Zion Church is the edifice where the Ark of the Covenant is said to be housed.

Upon our return to Addis Ababa, were able to get in some more great shopping and site seeing.  Visitors must zip over to the famous coffee shop, Tomoca. The coffee is great and the Ethiopian locals are proud of their “best kept secret.”   Our final evening was spent celebrating and enjoying traditional Ethiopian music, dance, food, and another national drink, honey wine.  

It would be almost impossible to chronicle the entire experience of our Ethiopian journey. It is immensely rich both historically and culturally and we are inspired with every trip to this beautiful country.  Every person of African ancestry should try to visit Ethiopia at least once in his or her lifetime. 

For more information about our next tour to Ethiopia, please call us at (718)756-8904 or email us at sankofa.c@gmail.com.

We would love to have you join us!

Photo credits:  Clinton Crawford