When the saints come marching in

I woke up early to arrive at Jalmeda field in time for the main Timkat holiday events, which culminates with spraying the crowd with holy water. The ceremony symbolizes the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. There were literally thousands of people that attended the event and it was exciting to be part of the celebrations with everyone. When I arrived, the Orthodox abbots were gathering in the center and a wide area was formed around them by crowd-control, so I didn't get close enough to see the central ceremony, but I did listen as the abbots chanted prayers in the local verbiage and the crowd responded with phrases meaning, "He will help us." Most women were dressed in white linen dresses and other onlookers wore "original" t-shirts bearing Ethiopian crosses and the name of their church or holiday sayings in Amharic. As I moved through the crowd to get a better position, there were quite a few people down on their knees praying, with their foreheads to the ground. Then, around 9 o' clock, people turned toward spigots atop towering pipes scattered around the Jalmeda field. The holy water sprinkler began to squirt and sputter above the lawn full of people. Everyone turned their faces to the sky and welcomed the blessing. Soon our faces and hair were wet with the falling droplets as the sprinkler spun slowly around and around. Behind us, an abbot was atop a fence spraying a hose of holy water up and over the crowd near him and people put their arms in the air to welcome the blessing. After this symbolic baptism, people began to sing, play games, drink and eat at various stations around the field. Some people left as others filtered in, and after partaking in some of the events, I exited myself. As I did, I passed by numerous church groups marching in the streets like a parade of singing saints.