The most colorful festival of the year. The church tabots (replicas of the ark of the covenant) are taken to a nearby body of water on the afternoon of the eve of timkat. During the night, the priests and faithful participate in a kind of vigil around the tabots. The following morning, the crowds gather around the water, which is blessed, then splashed on to them; religious vows are renewed. The tabot is then paraded back to the church accompanied by much singing and dancing. Gondar is considered the best place to be on timkat.
MESKEL
MESKEL (the finding of the true cross) 27 September.
The most colorful festival after timkat. MESKEL is celebrated by Ethiopian Christians annually between the third and fourth week of September. Christian followers
gather around the DAMERA (a towering heap and sing Meskal song dry tree twigs called chibbo).
After the bonfires are blessed, they are lit and dancing and singing begins around them. Priests don their full regalia Bonfires are built topped by a cross to which flowers are tied-most commonly the MESKEL daisy.
Enkutatash New Year, 11 September
This festival celebrates both the New Year and the Feast of John the Baptist at the end of the long rains in Spring, when the Highlands become covered in wild flowers. Children dressed in new clothes dance through the villages, distributing garlands and tiny paintings. In the evening every house lights a bonfire and there is singing and dancing.
