Debre Sina (monastery)

Debra Sina (Tigrinya: ደብረ ሲና) is a monastery in the highlands of Eritrea near Keren in the Anseba Region.

[1] It was founded in the 4th century by saint Aba Salama, making it one of the oldest churches in the world.

It was the site of the first Holy Communion prepared in the Eritrean Orthodox Church, by the 3th-century bishop Aba Salama.

[3] The pilgrimage centres on a church above the village where a vision of Mary was said to have been seen by shepherd girls beneath a large boulder.

The pilgrimage includes thousands of ordinary Eritrean believers camping for one night in the village of Debra Sina, singing, drumming, chanting and celebrating Mary.