Twelve days after Gena (Christmas), the Ethiopians celebrate Timkat; seemingly a much more substantial party than Gena. It is translated into English as “Epiphany” and I was fortunate enough to be invited by an Ethiopian colleague to join him following the procession through the streets of Adola on the eve of Timkat.
The procession from the church near the college
Naturally our conversation fell to proceedings and he was good enough to enlighten me as to some of what was going on. Eager to demonstrate my understanding of religious matters I started prattling on about the visit of the Magi. In true Ethiopian style my companion simply agreed with what I was saying and then proceeded to talk about everyone getting baptised. ‘Strange’, I thought, doesn’t really fit with Epiphany, but hey, this is Ethiopia, they do a lot of strange things here!’
Everything came considerably clearer at church on Sunday. Having carefully pre-read the Epiphany readings I was prepared to feign understanding as they were read in Afan Oromo. I am not yet fluent, but I can recognise some words, names mostly, and the names did not seem to match with what I had read. Leafing through the missal I had (apologies) an Epiphany. The readings were for the following Sunday- the baptism of Jesus. Suddenly everything made a lot more sense. This is what all the Orthodox Christians were celebrating. Quietly starting to curse the guidebooks and any other books that have misnamed this event, I remembered where I was and thought I’d better stop.
The colourful vestments of the priests
Back to the Saturday procession and what a fantastic procession it was, with singing, dancing and colourful clothing. The priests from each of the town’s churches come out with their congregations and head towards various spots where, somehow timed beautifully (and this is about the only thing in Ethiopia that is), two processions meet. The procession I was following started from just up beyond the college and met with the procession from St. Michael’s at a junction where there is one of the main mosques of the town. The meeting was of friends that haven’t seen each other for a long time and I noted that the clergy from St Michael’s had the honour of a carpet being laid for them to walk along. This is done by having two lengths of carpet and a posse of runners. Once the procession has moved off one carpet they quickly snatch it up and run to the front and place it down in time for the procession to carry on. Okay, it could have been smoother, but was still impressive to watch.
Where two groups meeting.. I’m sure the mosque appreciated the meeting point!
At the centre of this procession and coming out from each church is the Tabot – this is a representative of the Ark of the Covenent (think Raiders of the Lost Ark, but much smaller) and one lucky priest wears it on his head. I have heard two different stories as to what they contain. It is either a copy of the Ten Commandments or the transubstantiated body and blood of Jesus. I didn’t go and try to open it to look because I didn’t want to die a horrible melting death.
The priests with the rectangular “hats” are carrying the Tabots on their head. One is in white on the left of the picture and another in yellow nearer the middle.
Finally when all the different churches” Tabots have met they process as one to an open space under the watchful eye of the church dedicated to Mary. Several days of celebration follow- partly because the day after Timkat is the most important of saint’s days – St Michael’s day. I suggested to the college I should have this is a holiday. The dean thought I was joking and laughed.
The party from Adola CTE (plus various children trying to get into the picture)
I watched only some parts of the celebration and unfortunately missed the mass baptism – as I understand it everyone goes through the process to give themselves a clean slate. However I did catch the return procession as it went past the college gates on the Tuesday.
The crowds return to the church three days later (I’m sure more when back than came!)
If life gives you lemons… throw them at a woman!
I also learned about lemons. This, apparently, is the traditional way to get yourself a wife. You take with you some lemons (stashed somewhere about your person and the number depends rather on your throwing ability) and identifying a young lady to your taste you hurl one of these lemons at her attempting to strike her on the chest. Personally this all seems a bit risky to me with several possibilities for disaster.
- You miss completely: try again next year
- You hit the wrong person: look nonchalantly around and when she catches your gaze with quizzical eye subtly indicate it was the person next you who threw it.
- You hit your target, but a little too hard: the marriage starts badly and never recovers.
One can only assuming that a willing recipient will hurl herself in the way of the lemon, which could of course lead to some interesting collisions if there are several ladies seeking attachment to the gentleman in question.
The custom seems to be dying out and I can’t help but make some link between the end of polygamy and this (imagine someone taking several attempts to hit the intended target).
I’m disappointed to say that I didn’t observe any lemon hurling, but will be looking out for it next Timkat – even if I have to chuck a few surreptitious ones myself while hiding behind local chaps just to see the result.
There are much bigger celebrations in other parts of the country with large pools where crowds of young men jump into the freshly blessed water, but I liked the intimacy of the celebration here in Adola and it felt good to be a little part of something in the community I belong to right now.