The source of the Blue Nile

by Arthur J. Hayes

Bruce may have been mistaken as to the character of these young women; but not all who take the vows are strict in the observance of them. Mr. Augustus Wylde met a nun in the flesh, a lady of high rank in the country, whose charms were neither “offensive nor defensive.” He wrote, “before getting to Mokareet we were joined by Ras Mangesha’s young sister. She is supposed to be a nun and devote her time to charity and good actions, and she has asked permission of Hailou to join us and camp with us for the next three or four days. I now quote from my diary—

“I believe this is a got-up job, as Hailou had his hair replaited this morning and put on clean cloths, and the pair are evidently very old friends. She is dressed in the most spotless white garments of the very best quality, and is most clean and neat in her appearance. From under her clean white hood a pretty face appears with a pair of roguish merry eyes. . . . She sent over her pretty waiting-maid as soon as camp was pitched, asking me to come and pay her a visit, but I was too seedy with fever, so sent Schimper to make my excuses; when he came back his first remark in his precise manner of talking was: ‘Oh, Mr. Wylde, I do not think she is a very good lady, she has asked me for many things, and she wants your umbrella.’ Of course I had to send it, and next morning on the way to Merta I had some of the sweetest of smiles, and we kept up a long conversation; she had never seen an Englishman before, and she wanted to know if they all had red heads and moustaches and were big men . . .

“I found out that she was considered very ‘rapid’ even for Abyssinia, where the young ladies are fast, and that her brother had sent her to a nunnery as he could not keep her in order, and she absolutely refused to marry the men of his choice; she was changing her quarters from one nunnery to another, and was evidently sweet on Hailou.”

But Mr. Wylde had met other nuns, “good pious old ladies at Abbi-Addi and Macalle, who fasted for over half the number of days in the year, and were perpetually praying and singing from the early grey dawn till late at night, and they seemed to live a calm and peaceful life in their beautiful natural surroundings, and bothered themselves very little with the troubles of this life, and passed their days in eating, sleeping, and praying, and doing what little acts of charity they could in the way of tending the sick and feeding any poor beggars that came to their houses.”[146]

Many rites and ceremonies of Hebrew origin have been incorporated in Abyssinian Christianity, e.g. circumcision is practised. Considering the history and traditions of the people, this respect for Judaic ordinances is not surprising. Major Harris devoted a chapter of his book to “Abyssinian Rites and Practices which would appear to have been borrowed from the Hebrews,” and most of the authors who have written about the country have alluded to the same subject. Perhaps the most remarkable example of the influence of Jewish doctrines is the veneration in which the tabot is held.

“The Jewish temple consisted of three distinct divisions—the forecourt, the holy, and the holy of holies. To the first laymen were admitted, to the second only the priest, and to the third the high priest alone. All entrance was denied to the Pagan, a custom which is rigorously enforced in Abyssinia; and her churches are in like manner divided into three parts.

“Eight feet in breadth, the first compartment stretches, after the fashion of a corridor, entirely around the building. It is styled Kene Máhelet, and, strewed throughout with green rushes, forms the scene of morning worship. To the right of the entrance is the seat of honour for priests and erudite scribes; and beyond this court, save on certain occasions, the bare foot of the unlearned layman cannot pass.

“Makdas is the second compartment. This is the sanctuary in which the priests officiate, and a corner is set apart for laymen during the administration of the holy supper, whilst a cloth screens the mysteries of the interior. Here also hang, arranged around the walls, the bones of many deceased worthies, which have been carefully gathered from the newly opened sepulchre, and are deposited by the hand of the priest in cotton bags. By the nearest relative the first opportunity is embraced of transporting these mouldering emblems of mortality to the sacred resting-place of Debra Libanos, where the living and the dead are alike blessed with a rich treasure of righteousness, since the remains of Tekla Haimanot, the patron saint of Abyssinia, still shed a bright halo over the scene of his miracles upon earth.

“To Kedis Kedisen, the holy of holies, none but the Alaka[147] is admitted. Behind its veil the sacrament is consecrated, the communion vessels are deposited, and the tremendous mysteries of the tabot, or ark of the covenant, are shrouded from the eyes of the uninitiated. The gold of the foreigner has penetrated the secret of the contents of this box, which are nothing more than a scroll of parchment, on which is inscribed the name of the patron saint of the church; but the priest who dared to open his lips on the subject to one of his own countrymen would incur the heavy penalties due to the sacrilege.”[148]

Another foreigner whose gold “penetrated the secret” of the Kedis Kedisen was Mr. Herbert Vivian. In company with a friend he was, for a consideration of two dollars, admitted to the sanctum sanctorum of the Church of St. Raguel at Entotto. “The custodians seemed to know very well that they were doing wrong, and displayed huge anxiety to get the thing over as quickly as possible. They hurried us up the rickety steps, opened the door of the sanctuary, took great care to keep us as far off as possible, and kept exclaiming, ‘Now that is all. I hope you are satisfied. Let us go away again. You ought really to give us some more dollars for what we have done.’ There was, however, really next to nothing to see. In the darkness I could just make out the tabernacle inside the holy of holies. It was a kind of ark, covered with cheap draperies and surmounted by a crucifix. A few lanterns lay about. That was all. At any rate, that was all that we could induce the priest to show us.”[149]