ETHIOPIAN HISTORICAL SITES

A few minutes away from Bete Medhanealem is the Bete Mariam, standing in a spacious courtyard. Dedicated to Mary, the mother of Christ, this church is fifteen meters long by eleven meters wide by ten meters high. Alone among the Lalibela monoliths, it has a projecting porch. Internally, it is dominated by a tall pier in the center of the transept, which supports the barrel vault of the nave. The remains of early unusual frescoes are on the ceiling and upper walls and there are many elaborately carved details on the piers, capitals and arches. It is the church to which most pilgrims go to on holy days. Most famous of these holy days are Christmas and Epiphany marked annually on the 7th and 20th of January. That is a day of much splendor and pageantry with the priests carrying the replica of Ark of the Covenant marching in procession while the debateras, clad in snow white attire and turbaned, sing and dance to the percussion of drums and hand-held bronze rattles. The deep square pool in the courtyard, is often dipped into by infertile women with hopes of one day becoming mothers.