St Cathrine was, apparently, a woman who declared herself a bride of Christ and refused to marry some king or another, so he burnt her at the stake unsuccessfully, following which he beheaded her to make sure she was well and truly dead (how can you, I ask, burn someone at the stake unsuccessfully? What where they using, candles?).
They made her a Saint (I can’t remember why) and many, many years later (I can’t remember how many) they named the firecracker ‘Cathrine wheel’ after her, as well as a Greek Orthodox monastery and the town surrounding it. I can’t remember the connection between becoming a Saint as well as a firecracker, but who wouldn’t be stoked at being both?
Ok, so that’s the history bit done with, as much as I was listening to anyway. After our bus ride to the town of St Cathrine, we wolfed down dinner, grabbed our day packs and all agreed to climb Mt Sinai at night, instead of at 1am when all the other tourists would be hiking up. That way, we reasoned, we could take our time and get some sleep on the top of the mountain before sunrise.
The trek was amazing by moonlight – we were the only ones on the camel path and although it was a struggle after doing slim to none exercise in about 6 months, I made it up the final 700 steps and collapsed in my sleeping bag on a smooth patch of rocks at the summit of Mt Sinai by about midnight.
Mt Sinai (Mt Horeb in the bible), at 2,285 meters, is the mountain that Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on during the dynasty of Ramses II where he received the 10 commandments from God, inscribing them on stone tablets. It also has considerable religious significance to Islam as the place where Mohammed’s horse, Boraq, ascended to heaven.
Christian, Greek Orthodox, Judaism and Muslim pilgrims from around the world still trek up to the summit to pray and surround themselves in the holiness of the place. Which is just lovely of course, except just when we had closed our eyes for a few hours respite, they arrived, and the wailing began.
And man, it was loud. Like a symphony of tone-deaf exhibitionists, one man’s chanting clashed with a woman’s crying, both trying to unsuccessfully mask the sounds of others praying loudly in a variety of languages. Sleep was not an option – I think I have found more peace and holiness in my bathroom.
I decided to emerge from my sleeping bag when I was stepped on my an enthusiastic Asian tourist trying to steal our front row spot to view sunrise (‘dude, I slept here’) and have to say for all the effort in getting to the summit, it was truly a magnificent sunrise.
No wonder Moses wanted to do it 40 times. I just hope he got some sleep.
-Sarah
Sarah