The heavy rains in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have not deterred thousands of girls from taking part in the annual Ashenda festival, which celebrates the Virgin Mary. It gives girls carte blanche to sing and dance over the three-day celebration.

At the eve of the festival, which first started centuries ago, girls plait their hair in an elaborate design called Ga'me and head to the market, where they buy necklaces and other traditional cosmetics.

The girls also gather Ashenda grass from the riverside. Ashenda means "the tall green grass" in the region's language, Tigrinya, and gives the festival its name.

The grass is sewn together and worn on the girls' waists as a skirt.

The girls form groups of eight to 12 with a lead singer and a drummer, and they gather in the public squares of Mekelle, Tigray's main city.

For the first time this year, Tigray's culture and tourism bureau allowed the festivities to take place at Baloni Stadium.

The party goes on from sunrise to sunset. The celebrating girls see the festival as a source of fun and a place to assert their independence and freedom while keeping the thousands-year-old tradition alive.

The girls see the festival as an opportunity to tell the world that they are proud of the Virgin Mary.

The festival is growing into a bigger and more colourful spectacle each year and is now drawing thousands of onlookers from around the country and foreign tourists.

The Ethiopian government plans to get the festival recognised by Unesco.

Ashenda is also celebrated from 30 August to 1 September in Aksum, central Tigray, and goes by a slightly different name, Ayni Wari.