Easter in Ethiopia

Blue Nile

BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA: I arrive early Easter Sunday morning. The streets are filled with women in flowing white dresses and men dressed in suits. People stand outside an overflowing Orthodox Church. As I enter the hotel, I slip on the reeds that have been strewn over the floor. The receptionist in the same colorfully embroidered white flowing dress cheerily greets me, “Happy Easter.” My guide explains that 60% of the population is Orthodox and 30% Muslim. Our first objective is to visit two 14^th century Orthodox Churches on an island on Lake Tana, the second largest lake in Africa. A deacon of one of the churches takes over as my guide. When I ask how did Christianity come to Ethiopia, he reads from the Book of Acts, which describes an encounter between the Apostle Philip and an Ethiopian prince. “But it wasn’t until the 4^th century that Ethiopia was declared a Christian nation,” He explains. The inside walls of the two churches are covered with 16^th century religious mosaics, most of them depicting the life, death, and resurrection of the Virgin Mary. I ask, “In what book are these events described.” He responds, “In the Book of Saint Mary.” I leave the island and with my driver head for the Blue Nile water falls. Along the way we encounter a group of men slaughtering a cow in an open field surrounded by a gaggle of vultures. “Those men,” he explains, “Are dividing up the meat from the cow. It’s an Easter tradition.” Back at the hotel, I retire early to the odd blend of the amplified sounds of distant church and mosque chanting. I’m thinking, “It’s not too bad, I should be able to sleep.” But as the night progresses the cacophony of sounds increase. It’s as if they are in competition with each other. I get little sleep and the next morning I overhear two Brits complaining to the Hotel Manager. “What was all that noise?” The manager smiles, “It comes from the church and the mosque about a kilometer from here.” “Do they always do that?” “Yes, from eleven to eight in the morning.” They may have been especially loud last night because, as you know, [stupid] it’s Easter.”