23 Apr 2013
I just came across the speech of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, dated April 21, 2013, which he delivered at the second TANA HIGH LEVEL FORUM BOARD. Despite that the press release could have used some competent editing (Like catching the President’s name in lower case) the message conveyed is crystal clear.
To those unsuspecting presidential handlers, the symbolic importance of Tana Lake as the venue of the conference must have eluded them. Alas, Tana Lake is the symbol of the defiant and triumphant Christian Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. . To showcase the epicenter of Christianity in the Horn of Africa to the President of Somalia is not only a cultural but also political statement.
Cultural Symbolism of Tana Lake
To the Ethiopian host of the conference, Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn, the symbolism of organizing this annual gathering for friends of Ethiopia has both local and regional symbolism.
Tana Lake (Tana Hayq in Amharic) is to Ethiopia what the city of Mecca is to Muslims. As much as Mecca houses the most relished shrines and religious relics of Islam, Tana Lake equally houses key religious symbols of Ethiopia’s pervasive Orthodox Church.
Tana Lake is and has always been within the core region of Christian Ethiopia. Whereas Aksum has been the Tigrray region’s focal point, Tana Lake has been the single most important religious center of the Amhara civilization. As such, through a ferry system that traverses the Lake, it is connected to Bahir Dahar, the admnistrative seat of the Amhara regional government. The Lake itself houses as many as 35 islands and numerous monasteries.
Some of the most revered monasteries in Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church, like the tomb of King Zara Ya Qob, 1399–1468 or the Church of Madhana Alam, are both located in one or another of the many Islands in the Lake. King Zara Ya Qob is the most intelligent and well admired King in Ethiopian history, while Madhana Alam is most celebrated and perhaps most popular saint.Continued
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