Going Global: Ethiopia
Legendary Lalibella “I sing to revive the memories, to dig up the knowledge that the spiral of time erases.” Les Nubians
There are destinations so legendary that they defy imagination and description. They linger in your mind until you feel compelled to add it to your golden bucket list. Lalibela, in Ethiopia, is one such place. It is literally fabulous, “reminiscent of the fables”, and is a site of religious pilgrimage for all “the people of the book,” the Jews, Christians and Muslims. To better comprehend the Lalibala’s historic significance
you can access the story of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon as related in the Bible, the Koran and the Kebra Nagast, Ethiopia’s national epic. Each book’s account differs slightly but generally they agree that the Queen of Sheba, Makeda, visited King Solomon after hearing of his wisdom. As a learned woman she is captivated by Solomon and he with her. Her visit extends to six months before she departs, pregnant with the king’s child.
By Renée S. Gordon History & Travel Writer
Once home she bears a son and names him Menelik, “son of the wise.” When Menelik is twenty he makes a trip to Jerusalem where his father acknowledges him and makes him King of Ethiopia and upon the death of Makeda in 950 B.C. Menelik I becomes the first Solomonic Ethiopian Emperor. The empire lasted in an unbroken line until the rule of Haile Selassie ended in a military coup in 1974.
October, 2023 ~ ExtendedWeekendGetaways | -23-
