Timkat

Timkat - Ethiopian Epiphany (January 19th or 20th)

So few people in the world have heard of Timkat and yet it is one of the most spectacular religious festivals in the world. It is also unique to Ethiopia, where the orthodox Christian festival of Epiphany is celebrated on 19 January, or 20 January during leap years. Timkat, which translates as ‘baptism’, celebrates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Ethiopians embrace this annually with a mass baptism at different waterfronts or sacred pools around the country, the top spots being Lalibela, Gondar, and Addis Ababa.

The Ark of the Covenant, which plays a central role during Timkat, is a golden wooden chest which contains two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. In Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, churches treasure replicas of this sacred artefact as well as those of the tablets, which are called tabots. These precious replicas are protected by priests throughout the year and brought out during Timkat. One of the aims of pilgrims is to get close to the tabot, because just being in proximity of it means that you are getting closer to God. During the Timkat ceremony, priests carry the tabots on their heads down to the waterfront. The tabots are always covered in an ornate fabric, though, because they are considered too sacred to be even gazed upon by mere mortals. The priests wear ceremonial robes during Timkat and are protected by colourful, embroidered umbrellas, as they are followed in a procession by thousands of pilgrims, singing, drumming, clapping and dancing. A more reverential moment follows, when the priest arrives at the waterfront or sacred lake, delivers prayers, blesses the water with his golden cross and then sprinkles the crowd with it. At this point the eruption of mass joy occurs once more, and kids traditionally jump into the water for fully immersive fun. Festivities continue for another day for many people, fuelled by a fair amount of local beer (tela) as well as dancing to traditional drums (kabero) to keep the energy going.