Ethiopian Christians celebrating Timket/Ketera festival across the nation
Addis Ababa, January 18, 2022 (FBC) – Ethiopians Christian are celebrating the Holy Timket/Ketera festival, across the nation with colorful religious and traditional events.
Here in the capital Addis Ababa, hundreds of thousands of Christians, clad with religious and traditional cloths, are taking part in the colorful celebration of Timket has always been a landmark event, both for locals and foreigners. Ketera falls on January 18 while Timket is celebrated on January 19 every year.
Ketera, the day before Timket, marks the travel of Jesus Christ to the river Jordan to be baptized by John is celebrated with religious songs, chants and dances by the faithful and the clergy.
Timket, a religious festival of Ethiopia inscribed by UNESCO as world’s intangible heritage, is one of the outdoor festival filled with spectacle scenes quite colorful and jubilant.
That’s why Ethiopian Christians accompany the Holy Tabots, Replica of the Ark of the Covenant, and gather at Timkete Bahirs (wide water basins or rivers) because it symbolizes the babtims of Jesus in the River Jordan by the hand of John the Baptist.
Gondar, Batu, Bahir Dar and Lalibela are also some of the places where the Timket/Ketera festival is observed with special and colorful events.
On tomorrow, thousands of the Christian faithful gather around the Tabots starting from early morning to attend the Timket Mass which features prayers, spiritual songs, preaching, ceremonial songs and dances of the clergy and students of Sunday Schools and the large number of followers at large.
The major religious tradition during the Timket festival is a process ceremony that involves the Holy Tabots which symbolize the Ark of the Covenant
This represents the manifestation of Jesus when he came to Jordan for baptism. The procession is finished mostly in early evening near a pool or a river (mostly in rural areas), where the Divine Liturgy is served starting early morning the next day.
The Tabot is carried by priests from each church to special places (Bahre Timkets) where water is accumulated for the religious purpose, accompanied by the faithful and members of the clergy chanting, dancing, beating drums, and waving prayer sticks.
As evening falls, members of the clergy and the faithful congregate at the Timket Bahirs for overnight vigil and Mass around the Holy Tabots or Arks.
Following Mass, the patriarch, bishops, archbishops and veteran priests dip crosses in the water of Timket and bless it and then sprinkle it on the faithful with a more spiritual manner. This is done in remembrance of the Babtism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.
In places where there are wider water basins or rivers, most people enter the water and immerse themselves in it as a symbol of renewal of baptismal dedications.
After the outdoor celebration concludes, the Holy Tabots are brought back to churches, escorted by dancing and singing by the faithful dressed in colorful traditional cloths, paraded in a long procession through the streets with the priests dressed in their elaborate robes followed by huge crowds. By the end, everyone goes back home to continue the celebration.