The calendar used by almost everyone is the Gregorian, including Colombia, which indicates that the current year is 2024 and that it is made up of 12 months. However, there are other calendars in the world that govern countries with other parameters.
That is the case of the country that does not have a 12-month year, but 13, we are talking about Ethiopiawho manage the calendar of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
It is important to note that the reason behind this is that Ethiopia was the only country in Africa that was never colonized, causing them to maintain their ancestral customs and in the same way, your time management.
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What is the Ethiopian 13-month calendar like?
The calendar of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is different by having 13 months instead of 12, with the particularity that the first 12 months have 30 days each, as in the rest of the world, but in its last month, called ‘Pagume’, you only have between 5 and 6 days, depending on if it is a leap year.
Furthermore, it is key to highlight that in Ethiopia the new year is not celebrated every January 1, as world tradition dictates, but there It takes place every September 11, a celebration known as Enkutatash.
At Enkutatash, Ethiopian citizens wear ancestral costumes, give each other gifts, and families come together To celebrate the new year.
What year is it in Ethiopia?
These variations regarding the 13-month calendar and the date of the new year mean that in Ethiopia it is not the same year as in the rest of the world.
- In Ethiopia today, it is still 2016.
There are even differences in time zone, because although they also manage days with 12-hour sections, For them the day does not start at 12:00 but at 06:00.
That is, noon and midnight for Ethiopians begins at six o’clock. Of course, this does not mean that their daily activities occur while it is early morning, what happens is that they adjust their clocks in such a way that when it is midnight in the world, it says 6:00 for them.
Was Ethiopia never colonized?
According to the BBC, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that was never colonized by Europe, having only one failed appropriation attempt by Italy in 1895, winning the Ethiopians in the Battle of Adwa on March 1 of that year, forcing Italy to recognize the independence of this country.
Currently, Ethiopia is an autonomous country, where Amharic is spokena language present only in that country, Eritrea, Egypt and Israel.
Its form of government is a federal parliamentary republic and its president is the stateswoman Sahle-Work Zewde, since 2018.
