Next: 18 to 20 Jan 2027
Timkat
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians keep the baptism of Christ with priestly dance and the shoulder dance eskista.
What is danced for Timkat
Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox feast of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. On the eve, each church carries its tabot, a copy of the tablets of the Law, to a pool or river under coloured umbrellas. Priests and deacons chant through the night and sway in slow lines with prayer sticks and sistrum rattles, to the beat of large drums. After the water is blessed at dawn, the crowd walks the tabot home. Along the way young people sing and dance eskista, rolling and shaking the shoulders, for the joy of the day.
The dances
Written by the Ghungroo desk with AI assistance. Background: "Timkat" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Eskista: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0, source