World Calendars
Ethiopian date today
Ethiopia's official calendar, also kept by Ethiopian churches. It has 13 months, and its year number runs seven or eight years behind the one used in most of the world.
2 Hedar 2019
2 ኅዳር 2019 AM
Amete Mihret (Amete Alem 7519)
- In the Gregorian calendar
- Wednesday 11 November 2026
- This day began
- At midnight, as Wednesday 11 November 2026 begins
- This day ends
- At midnight, as Thursday 12 November 2026 begins
- Year 2019 began
- Friday 11 September 2026
- Next new year
- Sunday 12 September 2027 (in 305 days)
- This year has
- 366 days in 13 months
- Year 1 began
- 27 August AD 8 (Gregorian calendar counted backwards)
- Who uses it
- Ethiopia as its official calendar; also Eritrea and Ethiopian churches
- A year has
- 12 months of 30 days, plus a 13th month of 5 or 6 days
- New year
- 11 September, or 12 September in the year before a leap year
- Unusual detail
- Clocks count the day from dawn, so 7 am is read as 1 o'clock
Next holidays in this calendar
305 days
Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year) 1 Meskerem 2020
12 September 2027 · Ethiopian
321 days
Meskel 17 Meskerem 2020
28 September 2027 · Ethiopian
How the Ethiopian calendar works
Each of the twelve months has 30 days. The year ends with Pagumen, a month of 5 days, or 6 in a leap year. A leap year comes every fourth year without exception, as in the Julian calendar, so the calendar stays in step with the Julian year and slowly moves against the Gregorian one. The month names are in Ge'ez.
| No. | Month | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meskerem (Mäskäräm) | 30 |
| 2 | Tekemt (Ṭəqəmt) | 30 |
| 3 | Hedar (Ḫədar) | 30 |
| 4 | Tahsas (Taḫśaś) | 30 |
| 5 | Tir (Ṭərr) | 30 |
| 6 | Yekatit (Yäkatit) | 30 |
| 7 | Megabit (Mägabit) | 30 |
| 8 | Miazia (Miyazya) | 30 |
| 9 | Genbot (Gənbot) | 30 |
| 10 | Sene (Säne) | 30 |
| 11 | Hamle (Ḥamle) | 30 |
| 12 | Nehasse (Nähase) | 30 |
| 13 | Pagumen (Ṗagʷəmen) | 5 or 6 |
The new year, 1 Meskerem, is Enkutatash in Amharic, a name usually glossed as "gift of jewels", and Kudus Yohannes in Ge'ez and Tigrinya. Between 1900 and 2100 it falls on 11 September, or on 12 September in the year before a Gregorian leap year. The years run in a four-year cycle named after the Evangelists: John, Matthew, Mark, and then Luke, the leap year with the sixth day of Pagumen.
Variants and the method used here
Two year counts exist. Amete Mihret, the Era of Mercy, counts from the Incarnation and is the year in everyday use. Amete Alem, the Era of the World, counts from the creation and is 5,500 years ahead: the year 1885 in the first is 7385 in the second. This page shows the Amete Mihret year with the Amete Alem year beside it.
Dates come from @internationalized/date, an open-source date library, which applies the arithmetic rule above with the first day of the era on 29 August AD 8 (Julian). The day changes at midnight. Ethiopian clock time is different: almost all Ethiopians count 12 hours of day from dawn and 12 of night from dusk, so 6:00 am East Africa Time reads 12:00 and 7:00 am reads 1:00. This page does not convert the clock. For days before 29 August AD 8 the year shown is the Amete Alem year.
A short history
The calendar is closely related to the Coptic calendar of Egypt, with a different starting year and different month names. Its era rests on a calculation by Annianus of Alexandria around AD 400, who dated the Annunciation to 25 March AD 9; the first civil year of the era began seven months earlier, on 29 August AD 8. In 525 Dionysius Exiguus placed the Incarnation earlier, and his count became the Anno Domini of the Gregorian calendar. That is why the Ethiopian year is eight years behind the Gregorian until 10 or 11 September and seven years behind for the rest of the year.
The creation era goes back to Panodoros, an Alexandrian monk who around AD 400 dated the creation to 29 August 5493 BC; Annianus moved it to 25 March. It stayed in use in Ethiopia until the late 19th century. The calendar is also used customarily in Eritrea, and it is the church calendar of the Orthodox Tewahedo, Eastern Catholic and P'ent'ay churches.
Sources
How this site calculates the date: Ethiopian calendar: 12 months of 30 days plus Pagumen, years of the Amete Mihret (Era of Mercy).