On a cool Sunday morning, the austere chants of some of the 45 priests of Lalibella rise echoing from the subterranean places of worship. Deep drum beats resonate from the recesse of the churches. Worshippers from the town and surrounding villages kneel to kiss the rock itself and, wrapped against the cold in traditional thick, white, gabi blankets, murmur prayers to the walls. Skeletons of famous monks are sill stored in crevices in the rocks. Inside the gloom of the churches, frayed embroidereis shroud the inner sanctum from prying eyes and tourist' cameras.
Sunlight pierces the open windows in shafts, and pigeons flutter noisily in the countryards.
Indian swastikas and Jewish Stars of David are carved side by side on the walls, striking evidence of Ethiopias' position at the crossroads of human beliefs. After the almost monastic period of King Lalibella, dynasties came and went, capitals rose and fell, and power shifted from the northern Tigrayans to the central Amharas and back. Society oscillated between anarchy and feudal monarchy, closely associated with the Orthodox Church. Literature and philosophy flourished. There was no fixed capital, but the seat of power was effectively wherever the king and his army happened to b camped.