Ethiopian calendar

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The Ethiopian calendar is a variant of the Coptic calendar . In terms of the year count, the Ethiopian calendar is 276 years ahead of the Coptic. It is used in Ethiopia and in documents of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church .

Year counting

The year is 7 years and about 8 months behind the Gregorian calendar . The calendar year therefore begins on September 11th, or in the year before a leap year on September 12th - the Ethiopian year 2000 began on September 12th, 2007. As in the Gregorian calendar, the time calculation is traced back to the birth of Christ . The difference in the counting of the years is based on the Ethiopians adhering to the pre- Dionysian year of Christ's birth , which was set 5500 years after the then assumed date of creation. Epoch is August 29, 8 AD in the Julian calendar. The years after the birth of Christ are called ዓመተ ምሕረት ( amätä mïhrat ; "Years of Mercy"; abbreviated: ዓ.ም. ). Unlike the western calendar v. Chr. The years are not counted before the year one backward, but for this year the Alexandrian is world era used the v in the 5493rd Begins. The years counted in this way are designated with ዓመተ ዓለም ( amätä aläm ; "years of the world") and with ዓ.ዓ. abbreviated. Since the Ethiopian calendar, like the Julian calendar , in contrast to the Gregorian calendar, does not have any exceptions to the four-year cycle of leap years, Christian holidays are time-shifted from those of the Western churches.

Months

Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar counts 13 months, with the first 12 respectively 30, the 13th, the leap month (Ṗagumen, from Greek: Epagomenen ), however, 5 or 6th days.

The last column indicates the beginning of a month for the period from September before a (Gregorian) leap year to February of a leap year, for example between September 2007 and February 2008:

Old Ethiopian (and Tigrinya , Amharic ) Coptic Beginning after greg. calendar Start before / in leap year
Mäskäräm Does September 11 12th September
Ṭəqəmt Babah October 11th October 12th
Ḫədar Hatur November 10th November 11th
Taḫśaś Kiyahk 10th of December 11th December
Ṭərr Tubah January 9th 10. January
Yäkatite (Tn. Läkatite) Amshir February 8 February 9
Mägabit Baramhat March 10th
Miyazya Baramundah 9th April
Gbnbot Bashans May 9
Sane Ba'unah 8th June
Ḥamle Abib 8th of July
Sewing nose Misra August 7th
Ṗagumen Nasi September 6th

(Note: these dates are only valid from 1900 to 2100.)

Monthly church holidays

Since all months have the same number of 30 days, a specific religious holiday is assigned to each of the 30 days. The monthly holidays are related to the holidays of the annual festival group. Churches whose tabot is dedicated to the person or event in question celebrate a festival on each monthly public holiday of the year. The 12th, 21st and 29th of each month (highlighted in bold) are general holidays:

  1. ልደታ (lïdät) - Birth of Mary
  2. ታዴዎስ - Squidward and ኣባ ጉባ - Abba Guba, one of the Nine Saints
  3. በአታ (ba'ata) - Mary's entry into the temple
  4. ዮሐንስ ወልደ ነግወድጓድ - John , "son of thunder"
  5. አቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ - Abunä Gabrä Mänfäs Qïddus and ጴጥሮስ ወጳውሎስ - Peter and Paul
  6. ኢየሱስ (iyäsus) - Jesus name (which he was given when he was circumcised) and ደብረ ቊስቋም Qwesqwam Monastery, where the Holy Family is said to have spent six months and 10 days
  7. ሥላሴ (sïlasie) - Holy Trinity
  8. አባ ኪሮስ - Abba Kiros
  9. ቶማስ - Thomas and ሠለስቱ ምእት - the "300" Council Fathers of Nicaea
  10. መስቀል (mäsqäl) - Festival of the Cross
  11. ሐና - Hanna and ገላውዴዎስ - Claudius
  12. ሚካኤል - Michael
  13. ዘርአ ቡሩክ - Zar'a Burak (the servant of Abunä Gäbrä Mänfäs Qïddus)
  14. አቡነ አረጋዊ - Abuna Aragawi (one of the Nine Saints) and ገብረ ክርስቶስ - Gäbrä Krïstos, the hermit
  15. ቂርቆስ (qirqos) - Cyriacus
  16. ኪዳነ ምሕረት (kidanä mïhrät) - the covenant of mercy
  17. እስጢፋኖስ - Stefan and አባ ገሪማ - Abba Garima (one of the Nine Saints)
  18. ኤዎስጣቴዎስ (Ewostatewos) - Eustachius
  19. ገብርኤል - Gabriel
  20. ሕንጸተ ቤተ ክርስቲያን በስማ (hïndätä betä krïstiyan bäsïma) - the establishment of St. Mary's Church in Philippi
  21. እግዝእትነ ማርያም ( ïgzï'ïtna maryam ) - Our Lady Mary
  22. ደቅስዮስ - Ildefons of Toledo
  23. ጊዮርጊስ - Georg von Lydda
  24. አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት - Abunä Täklä Haymänot
  25. መርቆሬዎስ - Mercurius
  26. አባ ሰላማ - Frumentius , called Abba Sälama
  27. መድኃኔ ዓለም (mädhane 'aläm) - Savior of the world
  28. አማኑኤል - Amanu'el and አብርሃም ይስሐቅ ያዕቆብ - Abraham , Isaac and Jacob
  29. በዓል እግዚእ or በዓል ወልድ ( bä'al 'ïgzio / bä'al wäld ) - feast of God or feast of the son
  30. ማርቆስ - Markus

See also

literature

  • Emmanuel Fritsch: The Liturgical Year of the Ethiopian Church. The Temporal: Seasons and Sundays. St. Francis Major Seminary, Addis Ababa 2001 ( Ethiopian Review of Cultures , Special Issue Volume 9-10, ZDB -ID 2007294-6 ).
  • Friedrich Karl Ginzel : Handbook of mathematical and technical chronology. Timekeeping of the Nations. Volume 3: Calculation of the times of the Macedonians, Asia Minor and Syrians, the Teutons and Celts, the Middle Ages, the Byzantines (and Russians), Armenians, Copts, Abyssinians, the calculation of modern times, as well as additions to the three volumes. JC Hinrichs, Leipzig 1906.