Gishen Mariam

The SUV moves its way up the mountain like a glass on a table during a
heavy earthquake. Only the tried and true experience of the driver
keeps the glass from breaking into so much matter off the precipice
inches away. The shine off the mountain, like a retinue of lemmings
an hour away indicates the sheer number of vehicles that have made
this same trek for Gishen Mariam and the feast of the true cross.

The masses are huddled sleeping like pieces in a puzzle next to the
church of Gishen Mariam. The air is crisp and cold and the bodies on
the ground give resemblance to a blanket of snow subtracting degrees
from my mental thermostat. Most of the crowds that have huddled here
are wrapped in white cloth waiting for the sun to rise and the
festivities of the day to begin. Inside the church a piece of the
true cross of Christ is said to be buried. I have been told the
number of people that take the pilgrimage here are between the tens of
thousands and the hundreds of thousands.

As the light begins to layer itself across the plateau, the chants and
songs of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith begin to blend together between
the drumming of the kabero and the clapping of hands. The wax candles
are still lit for those that can afford them. On the stage that will
soon be the center point of song, prayer, and dance stands a priest.
His look is distant, as if he is looking for a sign from the heavens.
The flags encircling him on poles flap towards heaven, as if they are
sending his thoughts to heaven.

It was a beautiful moment to be able to experience a festival of such
intensity in Ethiopia. Truly an indicator of how encompassing the
faith is within the Ethiopian Orthodox church. It is one of the only
branches of Christianity that to this day has retained its cultural as
well as religious identity to the majority of its followers.

Comments

[libby!]

SEE YOU SOONNNNNN!!!!!