Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year)

A calendar of its own

Ethiopia keeps its own calendar, the official civil calendar of the country: twelve months of thirty days and a short thirteenth month of five days, or six every fourth year. Because the Ethiopian Church follows a different calculation of the date of the Annunciation, the Ethiopian year number is seven or eight years behind the Gregorian one. The new year, Enkutatash, falls on the first day of the month of Meskerem.

The name means “gift of jewels” in Amharic. According to tradition, the Queen of Sheba, Makeda, returned to Ethiopia on this day from her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, and her followers welcomed her with jewels.

Flowers and songs

Large celebrations are held across the country, notably at the Raguel Church on Mount Entoto above Addis Ababa. After church in the morning, families gather to share injera and wat. Later in the day, girls in new clothes gather adey abeba daisies, present bouquets to friends, and go from door to door beating drums and singing the New Year song Abebaye hoy. In the cities it is also the season for exchanging formal New Year greetings and cards.