LALIBELA TIMKAT FESTIVAL

These spectacular pictures are of the Lalibela Timkat festival in Ethiopia. The festival takes place annually on 19th January, it is a remarkable ceremony to witness and we wanted to share some of the joyous vibrancy with you. The images represent the people of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orhtodox Tewahedo Church’s celebration of Epiphany. Timkat celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. During the ceremony tabots (models of the tablets from Ark of the Covenant), are borne aloft by the priests in the procession, for many the aim of the festival is to get as close to the tabots as possible.

The priests wear ceremonial robes and are protected from the sun by colourful embroidered umbrellas. They are followed by thousands of pilgrims, singing, dancing and drumming. The priest then arrive at the waterfront and bless their crosses in the water.

The Lalibela cross is one of the many symbols that Sally uses in her work. It includes the four doves of peace. Scroll through to view more pictures of the festival and a couple of Sally’s works celebrating these wonderful people and their customs.

Images of Lalibela Timkat are from the extraordinary book “African Twilight” by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher (thank you very much for allowing us to share them).

@beckwith.carolina

@fisher.angel

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