Trivia for the day: Lalibela means “honey eater”.  As famous as it is, Lalibela is not a large city; it’s population is only about 25,000. It lies at an elevation of 2630 meters. It was the capital of the Zagwe dynasty in the 12-13th centuries.

Today is the feast day of the Epiphany, celebrating the baptism of Jesus. It is THE major religious holiday in Ethiopia and Lalibela is one of the major cities for the celebration.

As we arrived around 7:30AM the stands were 90% full, and the priests and deacons were milling around, with hundreds of locals. We maneuvered/pushed our way through the crowd and found we had awesome seats right by the cross-shaped pool and about 8 rows up, so our view of the proceedings was superb. We agreed we would have to give the local guide an additional tip for what he arranged (we later learned he was there at 3 AM to secure the prime seating). There was a lot of chanting by the priests and deacons who were dressed in their Sunday best. This went on for awhile and then the higher level priests marched in with colorful parasols and marvelous vestments and joined the priests at the pool.  There was more chanting, now led by the newly arrived contingent. About 8:15 the chanting turned into drumming and dancing. We began looking at our clocks as we had to be back at the hotel by 8:45 to join those who did not come to this “option” and proceed with the itinerary of the day, a visit with a local guide (“call me Lulu”, as his real name was long and complex) to the famous rock churches of Lalibela. We did have to leave right after the high priest blessed the water in the pool and we did not get to see them “sprinkle” the crowd (and probably us) with the blessed water. All in all it was a dramatic viewing of the pageantry and I am glad I got to experience it.

We were to view the world famous churches in two batches, visiting the NW group of four (of the seven there) churches in the morning, breaking for lunch, then the remaining SE group in the afternoon. We were warned that the afternoon group would be more “challenging” so people can opt out if they do not feel up to it. As it turned out about half our group opted out the afternoon visits. We were told to bring a flashlight, a shawl for women and our  “church socks”.

The rock churches of Lalibela are an OMG experience. Eleven churches were ordered built by King Lalibela in the 12th century. It is said he wanted to recreate Jerusalem here so people did not need to make the long, dangerous trip to the real one. The churches and surrounding areas all have biblical references to places in Jerusalem. What is rather amazing is all of the churches were built in 23 years! Local tradition says that this was accomplished with the help of angels working at night. The rest of the people feel it was due to the work of some 40,000 workers!

The most famous of the churches, i.e. the one most photographed, is the church of St. George which happened to be the last church built so it is the most ornate.

My pictures do not do justice to the sights of the Lalibela rock churches. You have to experience them to fully appreciate what they represent.

To visit the churches requires walking on uneven rocky surfaces, up/down rock stairs and occasionally narrow passages. At each church Lulu briefed us on the characteristics of the church, who it was dedicated to, is it monolithic (completely separate from surrounding rock)  or semi-monolithic ( one wall still attached to the base rock) in construction, the religious relationship to the construction details ( everything has a religious meaning, like 12 pillars to represent the 12 apostles), etc. We would then remove our shoes and hand them to a “shoe watcher” that Chris hired to watch over our shoes while we were in the church and assist us if needed to get them back on. Occasionally he had to transfer them to another location as we would not come back to where we entered. It worked like a charm and everyone was grateful for the assistance when needed.

The churches are an engineering marvel. Some were carved from the top, starting on the outside going down, then from the bottom up on the inside. Others were done differently. Each is dedicated to a particular saint. The walls inside the churches are mostly bare, but there are always some free-standing large religious pictures in the church.

It was quite a morning; one I will always remember and treasure.

We went back to the hotel for lunch. Those interested could go see the second set of churches in the afternoon. We were warned they might be more challenging to see so some people chose to stay behind. We were told to bring flashlights because one of the passageways between churches included a pitch dark tunnel 30 meters long. This tunnel was meant to simulate the path through hell. This group of 4 churches are not as elaborate or famous as the church of St. George, but they are examples of fine carving skill. The second largest and best carved church (monolithic) of the whole area is the church of Emmanuel, which was thought to be the private chapel of the royal family. When we came to the area where the dark tunnel was located we found that there were kids playing in tunnel and it was decided it would be too dangerous to go that way. Normally there is someone to chase them away but that was not the case today. There was an alternative, easier way to see the connected churches so we got to see all of them anyway.

Once we got back to the hotel We received some good news; most of us got reassigned better rooms in the hotel for this second night, although my toilet still leaked onto the floor because of a bad seal. Oh well, we were warned this was to be and adventure tour!

Dinner this evening was off site and turned out to be a real treat, as it was a restaurant  (Ben Abeba) that was perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking a spectacular valley. It was outdoor eating and we got to see a wonderful sunset while enjoying a great meal. It was a perfect ending to our visit to Lalibela and the Timkat Festival.

Tomorrow we fly back to Addis Ababa.