ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopia entered 2019 on Friday, seven years behind much of the world, as millions celebrated a New Year shaped by an ancient 13-month calendar, religious tradition and the rhythms of the seasons.

Enkutatash arrives each September as the heavy Kiremt rains recede and yellow Adey Abeba flowers spread across the Ethiopian highlands. Families mark the occasion with feasts, coffee ceremonies, songs and blessings for the year ahead.

The celebration also turns attention to one of Ethiopia’s most distinctive institutions. The country follows a calendar with 12 months of 30 days each and a short 13th month called Pagumē, which contains five days in a regular year and six in a leap year.

On Sept. 11, 2026, that calendar turned to 1 Meskerem 2019.

The roughly seven-year difference between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars traces to ancient calculations of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church retained an Alexandrian chronology based on biblical calculations, while the Western system developed from a chronology associated with the sixth-century monk Dionysius Exiguus.

Ethiopia’s calendar also carries a long association with astronomy and observations of the natural world.

Astrophysicist and writer Getnet Feleke Ayane, speaking at a Pagumē festival at the African Union, said ancient observations of celestial bodies, including the sun and moon, shaped early timekeeping systems.

The Ethiopian calendar follows a regular mathematical structure, giving each of its first 12 months 30 days. Pagumē completes the solar year with five days, expanding to six during a leap year.

Ancient writings preserved in Ge’ez also document connections among celestial observations, seasons and the measurement of time.

The reporter’s account cites the Book of Enoch, known as Mäṣḥäfä Henok, as one text describing the alignment of stars with seasonal changes.

Such knowledge gave timekeeping practical importance in communities where farmers followed seasonal patterns and religious institutions organized annual observances.

Ambassador Mulu Solomon, an Ethiopian diplomat, author and businesswoman, connected the calendar’s preservation with Ethiopia’s history of sovereignty during remarks at the Pagumē festival at the African Union.

She said Ethiopia’s independence helped generations preserve the country’s calendar and other cultural traditions across centuries.

Enkutatash gives those traditions a living expression each year.

Ethiopian heritage associates the celebration with the Queen of Sheba and her return from a journey to visit King Solomon more than 3,000 years ago.

Tradition holds that she returned to the Ethiopian highlands as yellow flowers covered the landscape. Enkutatash is commonly translated as “gift of jewels,” a name associated with her return.

The natural landscape continues to shape the celebration. Enkutatash arrives near the end of Ethiopia’s main rainy season, when clearing skies and the flowering of Adey Abeba transform parts of the highlands and farmers prepare for the next stage of the agricultural cycle.

Families begin celebrations on New Year’s Eve in many communities by lighting a chibo, a torch made from bundled dry sticks and twigs. The flames mark the passing of the rainy season and welcome the brighter days that follow.

Fresh grass called ketema covers floors in homes prepared for traditional coffee ceremonies, while markets fill with families purchasing food, grass and other supplies for holiday gatherings.

New Year’s Day brings one of Enkutatash’s most familiar traditions. Young girls dressed in traditional white habesha kemis travel through neighborhoods singing “Abebayehosh,” carrying yellow flowers or hand-drawn pictures and offering New Year wishes.

Families gather for meals, visit relatives, conduct coffee ceremonies and exchange blessings for prosperity and good health.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed used his New Year message Thursday to reflect on Ethiopia’s achievements and challenges and call for collective effort in the year ahead.

His message presented the transition as an opportunity for Ethiopians to pursue national development with renewed purpose.

Across Ethiopia, the New Year carries that sense of renewal through traditions that connect the heavens, the seasons and generations of cultural memory.

As Adey Abeba flowers brighten the highlands and families welcome 2019, Ethiopia’s 13-month calendar continues to measure time according to a rhythm the country has carried for centuries.