On January 19 we went to Gondar for Epiphany or Timkat as it is called in Ethiopia.. The Eastern Orthodox church focuses on Jesus’s baptism. It is a huge celebration where all the churches in the area parade their representation of the ark of the covenant, or tableau, to the celebration site. The original ark is reputed to be held in Axum. The site contains a huge swimming pool which is filled once a year. The water is blessed by the priests and all the pilgrims and locals attend the baptism, some swimming in the water some just sprinkling it on themselves. It was a 2 ½ hour drive each way and though we left at 6 in the morning we got there after the priests had blessed the water and were leaving the site.
Once the priests left, the sea of people pushing to get into the site was quite over whelming. We lost John as he got pushed over but the wall of people kept him up and many came to his rescue. It took us awhile to relocate him.
Yehalam, Gina and David out side the pool.
Before returning to Bahir Dar we went for a smorgasbord lunch in a restaurant with a lovely view of the city.
The drive back was slow as many of the little towns along the way were still celebrating in the streets as they returned their tableaus to their churches.
You can see the people ahead of the trucks ladened with cotton. We made a detour in this village following a local through the back roads.
We had a lovely dinner that evening at Abiyota’s home with his wife and three daughter’s.
Preparing a traditional coffee ceremony complete with greenery and the roasting of the green coffee beans. Delicious.
BeverleyandJohn's2018Travels 