Our first stop was Adidi Maryam, a 900 year old rock-hewn church. The structure is carved entirely out of rock underground. It's humbling to consider the many generations who have passed through those ancient walls over the last 8 centuries. There are many, larger rock-hewn churches in the North for which Ethiopia is well-known. This particular structure is still in active use.
We also paid a visit to an ancient burial ground, with grave markers (known as stelae) found to be from the 13th century. These stelae all had very visible carvings, all symbolic. The presence of a sword is believed to signify a valiant warrior, and the number of swords represent the number of people he killed. Some had a carving of a wooden headrest, a type of "rest in peace" memoriam; others had a rib bone carved to identify that a female was buried there. It's amazing that these carvings have remained so well preserved through the centuries.
Enjoy the pictures! Particularly the one of the straw-covered donkeys. I'd like to be present when they load the donkeys because I'm not sure how exactly they can get that much straw to stay on one animal.
1 comment:
Hey Sara...where are you pictures located?
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