Today is the first day of the new year in Ethiopia. Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash) is still very alive and celebrated in Ethiopia. Below you will find the information sent to us regarding this holiday from our adoption agency. It's so hard to imagine another group of people just few miles away (ok, a little further than that), still hanging out in year 2002. The neatest thing for us to think about is that our son, whether born last year or this year will be able to say he was born before his big sister Mallory and only a year (or 2) after Kendall. I imagine that will be turned into a great debate between the three of them for many years! Wonder what year his birth certificate will list??
September 11th Ethiopia welcomes in the New Year ! The year 2002!!
Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in the leap year.
The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8. Enkutatash means the “gift of jewels”. When the famous Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her back by replenishing her treasury with inku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since this early time, and as the rains come to their abrupt end dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside; but Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Today’s Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal New Year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated - in lieu of traditional bouquets of flowers. It is a time to express hopes and dreams for the future. Meskerem (September) is seen as a month of transition from the old year to the new.
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