Timkat Festival

What: Mark­ing the Bap­tism of Jesus Christ in the Riv­er Jor­dan, the Timkat Fes­ti­val is a three-day cel­e­bra­tion across the whole of Ethiopia that fea­tures singing, speech­es, mass, danc­ing, a pro­ces­sion of white and the bless­ing of holy water, the re-affir­ma­tion of bap­tism vows and re-enact­ment of the bap­tism of Jesus.

Although the orig­i­nal Ark of the Covenant remains under heavy guard in North­ern Ethopia, the fes­ti­val begins when mod­els of the Ark of the covenant (list­ing the 10 com­mand­ments) led by both priests and the con­gre­ga­tion who are dressed in white robes, and sing and dance as the mod­els are car­ried to the sacred riv­er.

At dawn on the fol­low­ing day (the 19th) a mass will take place on the banks of the riv­er, before a series of speech­es and the bless­ing of the water in a spe­cial cer­e­mo­ny, and for those we wish or need to, a cer­e­mo­ni­al bap­tism takes place, re-enact­ing the bap­tism of Jesus in cer­e­monies which last till dusk. The fol­low­ing day the arks will be placed back on the shoul­ders of the priests and in a rever­sal of the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny car­ried back to their church­es, accom­pa­nied of course by singing, danc­ing and procla­ma­tions of faith.

When:  Timkat takes place over the course of three days from the 18^th-20^th of Jan­u­ary (or 19^th – 21^st dur­ing leap years)  ‑with the main day of the cel­e­bra­tion being the 19^th which cor­re­sponds with the 11th day of Terr.

Where:  While Timkat takes place all over Ethopia and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the cap­i­tal of Addis Aba­ba, for a tru­ly unique and spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence head to the ancient Ethiopi­an city of Gondar, which is known as the Camelot of Africa, where the palaces and cas­tles make for a spec­tac­u­lar back drop for the open­ing and clos­ing cer­e­monies.

Dura­tion: The timkat fes­ti­val takes place over the course of three days, with the cer­e­monies on the first day begin­ning after after­noon mass and last­ing all day until dusk.

This is then  fol­lowed by the main day which starts at dawn with an hours long mass (last­ing till 7am), before a series of speech­es and bless­ings take place – with the re-enact­ment of the bap­tisms for those that under­take it last­ing again until the hours of the evening.

The final cer­e­monies take place dur­ing the start of the third day, where the arks will be trans­port­ed back to their church­es and the cel­e­bra­tion will then car­ry on until the ear­ly evening.

Tick­ets:  There is no cost to take part in Timkat – and tourists are warm­ly wel­comed, just be sure to wear white.

For those who wish to cel­e­brate in Gondar flights will be required from Addis Aba­ba or alter­na­tive­ly a num­ber of tour guides in Ethiopia offer coun­try wide tours that include a view­ing and par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Timkat fes­ti­val.

Need to Know: Jan­u­ary is a great time to vis­it Ethiopia with the aver­age weath­er in the ear­ly 20’s dur­ing the day although drop into sin­gle fig­ures in the evenings – also be sure to wear white if attend­ing the Timkat fes­ti­val, and don’t be afraid to get involved in the bap­tism cel­e­bra­tions !