Timket

Ketera, the eve, is when the tabot of each church, the consecrated replica of the Ark of the Covenant, is wrapped in cloth, carried out on a priest's head and taken in procession to a body of water. Crowds walk with it, singing, and the tabot spends the night in a tent beside the water while priests keep vigil.

At dawn on Timket itself the water is blessed and the crowd is sprinkled, or in many places simply immersed. Some renew their baptismal vows. The tabot is then carried back to its church in a slower, louder procession, with dancing, drums and umbrellas.

The day after belongs to Saint Michael, and in most places the celebration continues into it.

Gondar is the best known, where the sixteenth century bath attributed to Fasilides is filled for the occasion and people leap into it when the water is blessed. Addis Ababa's celebration centres on Jan Meda. Axum, Lalibela and Bahir Dar all draw large crowds. Because it is the fullest expression of the tabot tradition, which is particular to Ethiopian Christianity, it is the festival visitors most often plan a trip around.

Tir 11 is fixed in the Ethiopian calendar. In Gregorian terms it is 19 January in ordinary years and 20 January in the year that follows an Ethiopian leap year, with Ketera on the evening before.