Mr. Hormuzd Rassam has given a sketch of a tabot in his book, with the following description: “The tabot is a square block of wood on which the emblem of the cross, with some appropriate passage of Scripture, is sometimes represented. No church can be consecrated without it, and in the church from which it has been removed the Lord’s Supper cannot be celebrated. It is placed upon the altar in the centre of the holy of holies, and by the ignorant clergy is regarded with as much veneration as the consecrated elements.”[150] Annually, on the eve of the festival which commemorates Christ’s baptism, the tabot is carried out of the church by the chief officiating priest, “and left all night covered in a tent or hut erected for the purpose near a stream or pool. At daybreak the following morning it is taken to the water, and after being sprinkled with a few drops is again enveloped in the church-cloth, and replaced under the tent until the time arrives for its formal restoration to the church—a grand religious ceremony, accompanied with singing of psalms and dancing.” In this recessional solemnity, which Mr. Rassam saw, “the priests led the way, bearing various sacred symbols, and chanting psalms all the while, followed by a train of about three hundred men and a score of damsels, all dancing, singing, and screeching as they went.”[151]

The appearance of Abyssinian churches has already been alluded to, but the following general description, given by Major Harris, may serve to bring the principles of their construction clearly before the reader. “There are, perhaps, more churches in Abyssinia than in any other part of the Christian world; and he who has erected one believes that he has atoned for every sin. But even the best are very miserable edifices of wattle plastered with mud, only to be distinguished from the surrounding hovels by a thin coating of whitewash, which is dashed over the outside to point with the finger of pride to the peculiar privilege of the two great powers in the land. Circular in form, with a door to each quarter of the compass, and a conical thatch, they have an apex surmounted by a brazen cross, which is usually adorned with ostrich eggs; and the same depraved and heathenish taste pervades the decorations of the interior. Sculpture is strictly forbidden; but the walls are bedaubed with paintings of the patron saint of the church, the Blessed Virgin, and a truly incongruous assemblage of cherubim and fallen angels, with the evil one himself enveloped in hell flames. Timbrels and crutches depend in picturesque confusion from the bare rafters of the roof, and no ceiling protects the head from the descent of the lizard and the spider.”[152] Mr. Hormuzd Rassam has given a sketch of the ground plan of an Abyssinian church, showing the entrances and “courts.”[153] According to him “the outer enclosure is for the congregation generally, male and female, the former occupying the western portion, and praying with their faces towards the east; the latter standing opposite to them and facing the west.”[154]

The “crutches” mentioned by Major Harris astonished Mr. Vivian at a later date. He saw them in a monastery, and “imagined they had been contributed by lame people, to whom the saint of the place had restored the use of their legs. As a matter of fact, however, they were merely the crutches which every priest uses in the ritual of the dance.”[155] The manner in which these singular adjuncts of the priestly office are employed has been described by Mr. Vivian. He attended a service at Trinity Church in Addis Abiba, and has given a very interesting account of the ceremonies. At a certain stage “all the priests grasp their long crutches and go through a kind of gymnastic exercise, which reminds me of the use of spears at a Somali dance. The crutches are five feet long, and must, I imagine, have originally taken their origin from spears, adapted for civilian use. The tops are either of ivory or brass, some of them elaborately carved. . . . One priest acts as conductor, and the others imitate his movements, all singing loudly through their noses. . . . The crutches are held in the middle and darted at the ground, now near, now far, with a forward movement made by slightly bending the right knee. It is as though spears were being poised and aimed playfully at objects on the floor. The crutches are then lifted, crook end up, a foot into the air, they are poised, they are swung, with ever-increasing vigour. All of a sudden the whole exercise ceases without any warning whatever.”[156]

Major Harris wrote, with regard to certain other clerical functions—“The Father Confessor is bound to the strictest secrecy; and it is believed that on this point a dread oath is taken before ordination, when all the mysteries are expounded by the Abouna, and especially those which have reference to the preparation of bread for the holy supper. In a small house styled Bethlehem,[157] which rises immediately behind every church, the mysterious ceremony is performed. The deacon can alone bake the cake; and the most vigilant guard is invariably preserved against the approach or intrusion of females or other improper visitors during the hour of solemn preparation.”[158]

The first appendix to Vol. III. of Major Harris’s book contains a list of the sacred writings used by the Abyssinian Church. These include, inter alia—

The second appendix of the same volume contains a summary of the “Senkesar, or Synaxaria, being a Collectio Vitarum Sanctarum together with the Calendar of the Ethiopic Christian Church.” The compiler of the summary wrote, “The following calendar, translated from the Latin of Ludolf, has been considerably enlarged by a comparison at Ankóber with a complete copy of the ‘Senkesar.’ The lives of the Saints, or the detail of miracles written against each day, are publicly read in the churches at the services beginning at the cock’s first crowing.”

The first month of the Abyssinian year is September. It is not surprising that in the long list of saints, patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, virgins, hermits, kings, “Fathers,” presbyters, emperors, and male and female ascetics whose deeds are commemorated between New Year’s Day (September 1, by Ethiopian reckoning) and the festival of St. Andrew and Moses, Bishop of Ferme, (being the thirtieth and last day of August according to the same computation), there should occur many names of worthies who are unknown to most European readers. For instance—

And many others whose sanctity is as little known in the Western Churches.