Enkutatash (Ge’ez: እንቁጣጣሽ) is the first day of the New Year in Ethiopia. It occurs on Meskerem 1 on the Ethiopian calendar, which is 11 September (or during a leap year on12 September) according to the Gregorian calendar.
Why was September chosen as the beginning of the year in Ethiopia? One reason is derived from the Bible, which says that the creation of the Heavens and the Earth took place in September. Also, around the time of Ethiopian New Year, the amount of daylight and darkness in a 24-hour day is exactly balanced: the Sun and the Moon that are used to count time, each have 12 hours before setting. The date marks the approximate end of the “rainy season”.
This holiday is based on the Ethiopian calendar, which was fixed to the Julian calendar in 25 BC by Emperor Augustus of Rome with a start date of 29 August J.C., thus establishing the New Year on this day. The Ethiopian New Year Enkutatash means the ‘gift of jewels’. Legend has it that King Solomon of Jerusalem gave the Queen of Sheba jewels during her famous visit to Jerusalem in ca. 980 BC. Her return to Ethiopia after receiving the gift coincided with the New Year celebration in September, and hence the name Enkutatash came to be.
Large celebrations are held around the country. According to popular tradition, after attending church in the morning, families gather to share a traditional celebratory meal of injera and wot. Later in the day, young girls wearing new clothes, gather yellow Meskal flowers which are in full bloom at this time of year and present friends with a bouquet, singing New Year’s songs. Boys may create artwork and give out as gifts on New Year’s Day. At home, families start up large bonfires and dance around them on Ethiopian New Year’s Eve. A feast may take place with menu items such as chicken stew, injera flatbread, coffee, honey wine, tela beer, and popcorn.
According to the Ethiopian Tourism Commission, “Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Modern Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal new year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated – in lieu of the traditional bouquet of flowers.”
The Ethiopian counting of years begins in the year 8 of the common era. This is because the common era follows the calculations of Dionysius, a 6th-century monk, while the non-Chalcedonian countries continued to use the calculations of Annius, a 5th-century monk, which had placed the Annunciation of Christ exactly 8 years later. For this reason, on Enkutatash in the year 2020 of the Gregorian calendar, is 2013 in the Ethiopian calendar.
