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Category Archives: Mariam

Lideta Mariam

Today  saw the celebration of Lideta Mariam – the celebration of the birth of St.Mary. Across the country families are celebrating together and with their neighbours this very special holiday. If possible a sheep is slaughtered and tibbs eaten.

It is also Orthodox Ascension Day – Dagma Tins’aie which always follows Easter (Fasika) by a week, and so it is a lucky coincidence that both dates fall together.
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Let Tesfa Tours arrange a trip for you to coincide with one of Ethiopia’s special Saints Days or holidays.

Our thoughts are also with those who are in circumstances where celebration is not possible.

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Big Saint’s days and fasts in November / December

November /December (Hedar/Tahsas) sees an increase in the number of big Saints days in Ethiopia. For many the harvest should now be in, and traditionally this would have been a time for celebrations.

The smog on the morning of 21 Nov - Hedar Mikael

Smog – 21 Nov – Hedar Mikael

If you were in Addis on 21 November and looked out in the morning you might have thought you were in Delhi, it was hard to see beyond 50 meters. There was a smog such as I have never seen before, as the smoke from hundreds of thousands of fires combined with the increasing air pollution to reduce visibility to mere meters. This is the day – Hedar Mikael – when householders burn their compound rubbish and with the smoke it is believed that disease and sickness is taken away.

As November comes to an end another big day looms – Tsion Mariam – 30th November. This is one of the biggest

Ancient stones in the Church compound in Axum

pilgrimages in the orthodox calendar, all hotels are full for Tsion Mariam as thousands of pilgrims descend on the town and spend the night at the ancient church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (to give it it’s full name). This church is arguably Ethiopia’s most important church. It was one of the first churches built in Ethiopia back in the very early 4th century, and has been destroyed and rebuilt at least twice with destruction inflicted by the armies of Queen Yodit and Mohammed Gragn. It was here that Emperors came to seek the coronation. If an Emperor was not coronated at Mariam Tsion or at least had a special ratification service they could not hold the title “Atse’.
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Sunbird in Axum

The church compound is worth spending some time visiting if you can arrange a stay there at another time. There are stones on which is old Sabean script, that must have been sources from far older buildings. The church built by Emperor Fasilidas has lovely frescoes aside (though only men can enter here), and the trees are full of sun birds and other iridescent birds.

November also marks the beginning of the advent or Christmas fast running from 24th November until Gena on 7th January, so its a great time for those vegetable lovers to enjoy the lovely fasting food at traditional restaurants, and the fried whole fish that is often served too.

The biggest annual Saints day in December is Kulubi Gabriel (28 December). On this day you want to keep away from the big Gabriel churches in Addis unless you want to attend the service. The roads going up to the palace above the Hilton are always blocked off as thousands head to St.Gabriel’s church. However the epicentre of this festival is another major pilgrimage is at Kulubi, a town not far from Dire Dawa and Harar. Here tens of thousands of pilgrims descend on the church, some crawling on hands and knees as a penance or to fulfil a vow to St. Gabriel.

Learn more about the holidays, saint’s days, fasts and special holidays that punctuate the Ethiopian Calendar from the Tesfa Calendar. Get you copy (donation to the Tesfa Communities required) – email: calendars@tesfatours.com

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Driving the Backroads of Ethiopia – The Ambas

Day 3. Sat 29 September 2018

View from the air of some of the guesthouses on Mekdela

Arial view of some of the guesthouses on Mekdela

Mekdela to Gishen Mariam

I woke up suffering. The tukul was surrounded by tall pretty grasses going to seed, which had set off my hay fever. I popped a pill, took the eye drops and decided to fly the drone before the wind picked up. I got a few good photos and then one bad crash. Repairs now needed!

Sevastapol canon on Mekdela

Dawit and I with Sevastopol.

We set off early, no tea or breakfast possible, to the north end of the Amba to the big gun – or mortar – that was called Sevastapol. This short stumpy cannon weighing some 6-8 tons was dragged from its

foundation in Gafat (near Debre Tabor) to Mekdela (several hundred km) an epic feat in itself. It was fired once before it cracked.

 

It now or stands sadly surrounded by a corrugated fence. There is a smaller cannon too on the western side of Mekdela it’s of similar design just maybe 1/4 the size.

 

Statue of Tewedros in Tenta

Looking over the gorges to the south you had to wonder on the stupidity of Victorian Britain, to send an army to punish the Ethiopian ruler for kidnapping a British Consul and a few missionaries.

 

On 13th April 1968 Atse (to use his Ethiopian title) Tewedros shot himself with a pistol sent as a gift from Queen Victoria. This swiftly ended the campaign led by General Napier; but at what cost and with nothing strategic achieved? ?

 

Hopefully the community can up the service level and get more visitors. I will be sending intrepid tourists there as its a great place for people to visit.

Bashalo river gorge

We had a much needed brunch when we dropped our team in Adjbar. Never has a sweet macchiato tasted sooo good. I needed two with the ubiquitous tibs, made more breakfast like by adding scrambled egg.

The road to Gishen took us down into the Bashalo river, locally called the Tukur Abay (Black Nile). A deep gorge with a fast flowing river.

We drove for a lovely 10 minutes on smooth asphalt before turning off to Gishen on a rough dirt road. Someway up we came to a snaking line of vehicles. Wow!

 

Traffic queue on road to Gishen

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Pilgrims were walking up with me, but none to go up & down as I was.  I passed an old friend, I passed people from Addis and Dessie, I passed diaspora Ethiopians with an American accent. In fact I passed tens of thousands of Ethiopians, all amazed at my being there and heading up alone.

Pilgrims pass priest collecting donations

There were stalls beside the road selling all kinds of refreshments and groups of priests with megaphones, crosses and icons looking for donations. There were mule men calling out for passers by to hire their mules, and the odd Bahaj (tuktuk) trying to tour for business.

The line of vehicles went on and on. Local policemen, I guess drafted in from nearby towns, tried to make sense of it all. Slowly smaller vehicles were shunted up, and on a few stretches of steep road where bigger vehicles had got stuck, one by one all vehicles were moved up. A few smart 4WD vehicles found spots to park off the road and set up camp.

Line of buses under Gishen Amba

As I got nearer to the top there were a few steep short cuts that pilgrims climbed up to avoid the road, and I thought I was there. The top of the Amba seemed some 50 m above me. There was a field like car park jammed with every kind of vehicle, and numerous stalls. I noted cactus fruit – Beles- for sale but I pushed on. It had taken me about 90 minutes already; and I had to get back to the Landy and drive on to Lalibela. To my surprise the snake of vehicles continued and someway on a snaking line of walking pilgrims followed a parallel footpath just above the road below the Amba’s top. I walked in as briskly as I could, overtaking the pilgrims while attendants from the church encouraged the walkers to ululate.

Another mass of parked buses beneath Mekdela

 

I could see the line of vehicles ended in another car park area, and at the same time the line of on foot pilgrims was backing up by a steep ascent. Without a queue I was 5 minutes from the top, but with this queue it could take half an hour or more and there was no way to get back down.

Crowds massed on narrow paths

I had to give up and turn round. It started raining at that point. I feared for the whole event if it the road and paths became muddy.

On my way down I tried to calculate

Atse Tewedros stickers and national flags

the vehicle numbers. I guessed at least 3 thousand. With that there would be over 100,000 pilgrims trying to pack into the Amba?!

On my way down I some friends but in the whole time I didn’t see any non Ethiopians. I reached Dawit; he’d cleverly kept himself from being blocked in. It was 4pm, I’d walked for some 3 hours. So the queue must have been at least a 7km queue!

We set off back down to the Bashilo river, passing many more pilgrims on foot and

The Jitta Gorge

in vehicles. The next night was the eve of the Mariam festival when everyone would want to be on the Amba, so goodness knows how many more we’re on their way!

After a few minutes of lovely asphalt we turned north up out of the river valley and snaked our way up to over 3,000 meters and Wegel Tena. It was late in the day and we still had another gorge to cross so we pushed on and down into the Jitta gorge, and up in the fading light to Wadla woreda and the ‘town’ of Kon. It was some of the worst road. Rough, rutted and crenelated! From Kon it was a short distance to the crossroads town of Gashena. Here the Lalibela road meets the east west road that links Weldiya with Werota, a small town on the shores of Lake Tana between Gondar and Bahir Dar. I knew the place well as it’s the centre of the Tesfa Community trekking area in Meket but the road to Lalibela was in the process of being asphalted. Some bits were a mess, other bits smooth tarmac. We reached Lalibela just before 8pm, and after securing our rooms I headed to Ben Abeba to meet my clients who’d eaten dinner there. Several cold beers and a shepherds pie later I felt revived, and ready for the next days road trip.

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Crosses, Thanksgiving and Fasts

Cross shaped Amba at Gishen Mariam

In Ethiopia, October kicks off with big celebrations. This Sunday (1st October) is Meskerem 21, is one of the biggest Mariam days in the year, commonly called Gishen Mariam after a church in Wollo, not far from Dessie on a cross shaped Amba properly called Gishen Debre Kerbe which holds its annual saint’s day on this date.

There are reportedly documents at Gishen that state that Emperor Zara Yaqob (who reigned in the mid 15th century), bought a piece of the “True Cross’ on which Jesus was crucified and buried it at Gishen Debre Kerbe under the church of Egyziabher Ab (Literally God the Father). There are in fact four churches on Gishen Debre Kerbe: Egyziabher Ab, Gishen Mariam, Kidus Gabriel and Kidus Mikael (Kidus is Saint). Gishen Mariam is one of the biggest pilgrimages in Ethiopia with thousands of pilgrims making their way up the narrow mountain paths to celebrate this day at the end of the rainy season.

Celebrations in 1903 at Lake Hora

Sunday 1st of October is also the culmination of the Oromo festival of Ireeycha Birra, a thanksgiving ceremony most famously celebrated beside Lake Arsadi outside of Bishoftu some 50 km south east from Addis Ababa. This day is actually the climax and most important day of several weeks of celebration. Thousands of Oromo people descend on the town and lake from across the region.
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The celebration marks the end of the rainy season and the Oromo people give thanks to God for his bounty and pray for peace and reconciliation among humans and with God. The festival is led by the elders or wise men known as haayyuu who lead the blessings by the lake and make speeches. Tragically last year there was a large loss of life at this festival.

Coptic Icon depicting Holy Family fleeing to Egypt

For those new to Ethiopia you may not be aware that the year is punctuated by fasts of varying length and importance. Each Wednesday and Friday is a fasting day, except for a month or so following Easter when people will have been fasting for 55 days in the run up to Easter. A fast implies that people eat one meal a day in the afternoon or early evening and follow a strictly vegan diet (although many do still each fish which used to be accepted but not so much these days).

On 6th October the Tsige Tsom (fast) starts and runs for 40 days through to 15th November Kusquam Mariam day and it marks the exile of the Holy Family when they fled their land and took refuge in Egypt to be away from King Herod and his slaughter of infants. It ends on the day that commemorates Kusquam, a village in upper Egypt where the holy family were said to have lived during their exile in Egypt. This fast is however considered optional and only clergy are required to fast, but never the less most establishments will serve vegan options throughout this fast.

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Melkam Timkat … Timkat explained.

The community at Mequat Mariam parade the Tabot out at TImkat with Ethiopian flags flying

The community at Mequat Mariam parade the Tabot out at TImkat

So tonight 18th January, is the eve of Timkat. Processions made there way across towns in urban areas and over the fields in the countryside, to a place where in the morning the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan river is commemorated. Water will be blessed and the multitudes will be splashed with the holy water and try to take some home with them in bottles. Following this ceremony the tabots (with the exception of Mikael tabots) will be processed back to their church with similar joy, noise, colour and reverence to that with which they were processed today.

Why is Timkat called “Epiphany”, and hey, what is Epiphany? Well it is a Greek word meaning manifestation or appearance, and it celebrates the events in Christ’s life that showed him to be the son of

Priests at Mequat Mariam head to the water blessing

Priests at Mequat Mariam head to the water blessing

God. In the early church (before Rome got into it) this was the major feast in the church after Easter. In Epiphany was encapsulated all the major events that manifested Christ’s Godhood to man: his birth (Nativity) , the visit of the Magi, the turning watering wine at the wedding in Cana, and his baptism in the Jordan river. With the appearance of Christmas in the developing church as a new festival, his nativity was taken out of Epiphany.

So where should you go to see it. In Addis Ababa, head for your nearest place where tabots have congregated, and try to get there quite early (8am). There will be big crowds near the major places such as Jan Meda, and beware of pickpockets! In the countryside similarly head for the tabots resting place early in the morning. Local people
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Worshippers jump into the Fasilides baths

Worshippers jump into the Fasilides baths

will tell you when.

In Gondar you will need to seek out a place early in the morning at Fasilidas’ baths. It becomes extremely crowded. Your guide will advise you. The moment of the joyful splashing is the high point. In Gondar youngsters jump into the pool, in Addis the clergy spray the crowd from the water in the pool in the midst of the field. In parishes up and down the country water is splashed from the blessed pool, spring or river in a joyous celebration. Then you can follow the processions.

Melkam Timkat!

 

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