Stock Photo - Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany. It is celebrated on January 19,or the 20 on a leap year,following the Ethiopian calendar. Timkat is the most important festival in the Ethiopian calendar with crowds of revellers,all dressed in white,dance and sing in the streets to the beating of drums. Priests,decked out in jewel encrusted velvet and satin robes,carry a replica of Arc of the Covenant known as a talbot in a grand procession through the streets. The procession usually arrives at a water source here the priests perform mass and bless the water. A communal baptism follows,with the most fervent Christians throwing themselves fully clothed into the water. Epiphany is a Christian Feast inteneded to celebrate the revelation of God to mankind in human form.