✝️Timkat (Ethiopian Epiphany)

About Timkat (Ethiopian Epiphany)

Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, marking the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and the most spectacular religious festival on the country's calendar. UNESCO added it to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2019. On the eve of the feast, each church's tabot — a consecrated replica of the Ark of the Covenant — is wrapped in rich cloth and carried in procession by priests to a body of water, accompanied by drums, sistra and chanting.

At dawn the gathered water is blessed and the faithful, dressed in dazzling white shemma robes, renew their baptismal vows as the crowd is sprinkled or immersed. The celebrations in Gondar, where worshippers fill the historic Fasilides Bath, and in Lalibela and Addis Ababa draw enormous crowds and a growing number of international visitors. Singing, ululation and colourful ceremonial umbrellas turn whole towns into open-air processions over two to three days.

Timkat falls on Tir 11 in the Ethiopian calendar, which corresponds to January 19, or January 20 in the year before a Gregorian leap year. Because Ethiopia follows its own calendar, the Gregorian date shifts by a day on a regular cycle rather than drifting each year. Add Timkat to your own countdown page and count down to one of Africa's great living festivals.