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Ethiopia is an old land of towering mountains and deserts and impossibly
blue lakes strewn across the grassy highlands like scattered jewels.
Man's first beginnings were in the arid lowlands of the Awash while the
highlands to the west nurtured the Copts and their form of Christianity
that came there from Egypt in the 4th century. The queen of Sheba is
reputed to have graced this land and her son Menelik began the Solomonic
Empire.
Somewhat later, the priest king Prester John built an isolated Christian
empire that rivaled many of its Islamic neighbors. Ethiopia is the only
country in Africa to have ever developed a written language, Geez, which
is still used by Coptic priests and monks who read from parchment bibles
in rock-hewn churches. Surprisingly, not much has changed and Ethiopia
remains today a world-class destination for the thoughtful traveler.
Among Ethiopia Coptic Christian traditions is the September Meskel
Festival marking the finding of the true cross on which Jesus Christ was
crucified. The festival is ancient; dating back 1,600 years and it is
celebrated with yellow Meskel daisies placed on top of huge bonfires
that are light in the evening in front of the throngs of celebrators.
Ornately robed priests carrying silver Coptic crosses dance with their
followers around the fires singing and chanting and carrying flaming
torches. The flowering of the cross-shaped Meskel daisies also marks the
end of the 3-month long rainy season and the return of the sun.
