After exploring Gondar’s town center, Fasil Castle, we took a bajaj over to one of Ethiopia’s most beloved churches, the Debre Berhan Selassie Church, which is shown in the first 4 photos. Â
“If it weren’t for a swarm of bees, the beautiful church of Debre Berhan Selassie would have probably been destroyed like most of Gondar’s other churches by the marauding Sudanese Dervishes in the 1880s. When the Dervishes showed up outside the gates of the church, a giant swarm of bees surged out of the compound and chased the invaders away. This was a lucky intervention: with its stone walls, arched doors, two-tiered thatch roof and well-preserved paintings, Debre Berhan Selassie is one of the most beautiful churches in Ethiopia.
The roof, with its rows and rows of winged cherubs, representing the omnipresence of God, draws most eyes. There’s space for 135 cherubs, though 13 have been erased by water damage. Aside from the cherubs the highlights have to be the devilish Bosch-like depiction of hell and the Prophet Mohammed atop a camel being led by a devil. Although local tradition attributes most paintings to the 17th-century artist Haile Meskel, this is unlikely because the building only dates back to the late 18th century. The original circular church, created in the 1690s by Iyasu I, was destroyed by lightening.
A large stone wall with 12 rounded towers surrounds the compound and these represent the 12 apostles. The larger 13th tower [the entrance gate that can be seen through the arch that Ryan and I are standing under] symbolises Christ and is shaped to resemble the Lion of Judah.“ Additionally, you can see a lion’s tail above the archway. -http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ethiopia/northern-ethiopia/gonder/sights/religious/debre-berhan-selassie
Next, we headed over to what is shown in the final 6 photos: Fasilides’ Bath. “Although the complex was used for swimming (royalty used to don inflated goat-skin lifejackets for their refreshing dips!), it was likely to have been constructed for religious celebrations, the likes of which still go on today. Once a year, it’s filled with water for the Timkat [January 19th] celebration. After the water is blessed by the bishop, the pool becomes a riot of splashing water, shouts and laughter as a crowd of hundreds jumps in. The ceremony replicates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River and is seen as an important renewal of faith.
Just east of the main compound is Zobel’s Mausoleum. Local legend states it’s named after Yohannes I’s horse, which ran so fast that he was able to escape some bandits he encountered while out hunting buffalo. Or, another tale says that it heroically brought Iyasu (Yohannes’ son) back from Sudan after his father’s death. Not only was the horse a good walker, but it could jump 25m in a single leap.“ - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ethiopia/northern-ethiopia/gonder/sights/historic/fasiladas-bath
Unsurprisingly, those nine days with Ryan were some of the most incredible moments I had spent in Ethiopia. A photograph may say a thousand words, a blog post can describe an event in vivid detail, and a letter can bleed with emotion, but it’s not until you step off that plane and touch the foreign land with your own feet where you can truly experience a place. After nearly 14 months of trying to explain my daily life in Ethiopia to my loved ones back home, I finally had someone in the States that truly understood what it feels like to walk the streets of my town, wake up in my tiny house, endure a typical mini bus ride, and have 15 pairs of eyes on me at all times. That’s why we have the 3rd Goal; I will always have those nine days to cherish with Ryan, and what a wonderful feeling that is.
