10. Timkat

I feel like I should be tip-toeing as I gently weave between blankets that are spread out on the ground.  Hundreds of Christians sit, kneel, stand and pray around me as the sun slowly rises over this early morning vigil.  This time of day is delicate, and it adds another layer of softness to this large gathering marking the fourth day of Timkat.  Timkat is a festival for the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, the baptism of Jesus.  I slowly move through the crowd and focus my camera on people concentrating in prayer.  I notice that almost everyone is completely draped in white fabric.  That makes the proceedings feel even more ethereal and beautiful.  People barely glance up from prayer books as I walk by.  I wish I spoke Amharic, the national language in which people are reading aloud from their prayer books.  But then again, I don’t need to be able to speak a language to feel devotion.  This lovely and friendly northern community of Lalibela is a short flight from the nation’s capital.  The city is hosting the Timkat festival, and for me, it is an inspiring and spiritual stop on my journey through Ethiopia.  Yesterday I spent my day here photographing one of the more colorful and vibrant parts of the festival.  It involved thousands of priests, spectators, drums and pageantry throughout the morning.  In the afternoon, I visited Bet Giyorgis (the Church of St. George) and marveled at how it sits 50 feet below ground level with its cruciform flush with the earth’s surface.  The church is one of eleven monolithic cave churches from the 13th century that was created by King Lalibela, who aimed to construct a “new Jerusalem” after Muslims stopped Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land.  As I stood inside of that extraordinary church, it was hard to imagine how it was carved from one piece of stone and chiseled by hand into the earth.  Now, I look at people holding prayer books and the hands of loved ones around them.  Worship is a very personal and intimate part of people’s lives, and I’m grateful that I can spend my last morning in Ethiopia witnessing such an outpouring of faith.