Ethiopia: A trip to a timeless land

On a visit to ‘magical’ Ethiopia, Clover Stroud is beguiled by the ancient and the everyday.

Thousands of people had congregated in the field, including hundreds of priests dressed in brightly coloured, richly embroidered cassocks, carrying ornate staffs topped with heavy silver crosses. Behind them, groups of children were divided into choirs, each wearing their own colourful ceremonial robes, chanting and clapping as they followed the procession. Among them wandered thousands of men and women – some barefoot, some carrying children, some bent double with age – but almost all swathed in the finest white muslin shawls.

The dancing and chanting of the crowds around was wild, hypnotic, but the rituals of their prayers were familiar Christian evocations. Read full article on Telegraph.