Timkat is an Ethiopian Christian festival, but in Ethiopia it has grown into a giant community event that everyone takes part in. The night before, families wear their best clothes - long white shawls called netelas - and walk in great processions through the town behind enormous brightly coloured umbrellas.
At every Timkat there is music. Drummers beat huge round drums called kebero. Singers chant in an ancient language called Ge'ez. Children run alongside the procession holding lit candles, dancing and laughing.
The next morning is the splashing. The priests bless a pool of water - sometimes a swimming pool, sometimes a riverside spot, sometimes a fountain in the town square - and then people splash water on each other to celebrate. Cold splashes in January! Children love it.
Timkat in the old town of Gondar, in northern Ethiopia, is especially famous. The procession winds down to a stone bath built hundreds of years ago, and is one of the biggest, brightest celebrations on the continent.