Bahir Dar Monasteries

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

We awoke at 4:30 AM to the sound of melodic chanting coming from a nearby church; shortly thereafter, another church’s chanting could be heard, making an intriguing mix of sounds.  It went on until we got up at 6:30.  Timkat is coming, and the entire country is experiencing an intensity of fervor and emotion; this is a part of it.

After breakfast we went out on Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, about twice the size of Lake Champlain.  There are Woito fishermen on the lake, each alone in their papyrus boats, catching tilapia and Nile perch:

After coming ashore, they put the boats in the sun to dry.  Our guide says a boat lasts around three months, and then a new one is needed.  They are made only with the reed of the papyrus, bound tightly together.

The lake is home to 27 monasteries; not all allow women to visit.  It is believed that the original Ark of the Covenant was on this lake and is now in Axum.  After about a 20 minute run up the lake, we landed and climbed up to St. Mary’s Church and Monastery:

We left our shoes at the door and went inside.  It is organized in rings, with the Holy of Holies containing their copy of the Ark in the very middle: 

The church dates to the 13^th or 14^th century, and supposedly is preserved as it has always been.  The walls are covered with paintings on a cotton canvas.  Here is St. Mary, covered out of respect:

Here are archangels on the door to the interior holy area:

The language of prayer is Geez, a language restricted to the deacons and monks.  The common people don’t understand it.  Sort of like Latin was in the Catholic church before the vernacular was more widely used.  In addition to bible stories from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, non-religious stories are presented in the paintings if they tell a lesson with a moral.  Here’s a representation of what we were told is Belay Kamer.  We have no internet as I write this, so it will have to be researched later:

 Here’s Herod:

Here’s the story of the sacrifice of Isaac:

We then visited the associated monastery/school where this blind priest was sitting outside blessing people:

The student housing was just like that which had seen earlier from the road:

The book from which they learn has not only the words of the chants but indications of the melody—a trope:

Two of the students chanted some of the prayers for us:

We went back to the boat and continued our trip on the lake, noting some fish eagles:

And a pod of Hippos:

We are in Africa!!  More when I can.