Timkat

What actually happens

Carrying the tabot — the Ark replica, hidden under embroidered cloth, never seen. Overnight vigil — prayers at the water from dusk until the blessing at dawn.

• 01Carrying the tabot — the Ark replica, hidden under embroidered cloth, never seen.
• 02Overnight vigil — prayers at the water from dusk until the blessing at dawn.
• 03The blessing and the immersion — the moment the crowd enters the basin.
• 04Return procession — the tabots carried back, three days later.

Sound of the crowd

Kesitrit drums, sistrum and the sustained chanting of the Ethiopian Orthodox liturgy — one of the oldest continuously performed Christian musical traditions in the world.

How it survived

Ethiopian Christianity was adopted as a state religion in the fourth century, and the liturgical calendar has been maintained independently ever since. Timkat is now the country's largest annual public festival and draws the diaspora home each January.