The traditional Ethio-Eritrean calendar has four-year cycles. The four years are named after the evangelists of the bible: Matiwos (Matthew), Marqos (Mark), Luqas (Luke) and Yohannes (John).1 The evangelists are regarded as the chiefs or rulers of their respective year. Therefore, the tradition had been, when you ask when a man was born, or when any event happened, instead of telling you the exact number of the year, they would answer in the year of Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John.2
The Ethio-Eritrean native year consists of 365 days and 6 hours. The regular months, twelve in number, are all thirty days long. After the twelth regular month, a special period called Pagumen, consisting normally five days but in a leap year six days, is added. The term “Pagumen” is a corruption of the Greek word “Epagomeni”, which implies days added, or superinduced, to complete a sum.3
The leap year is the year of Luke.4 Leap years however do not occur when the year is a multiple of 4, as with the Gregorian calendar, but take place on the year prior. For example, 2011 and 2015 on the Geez calendar were leap years.
Although the book of Enoch forms part of the bible of the Orthodox Tewahido Church,5 which was the state church, the Ethio-Eritrean calendar is solar rather than lunar,6 in opposition to the Book of Enoch. The book of Enoch states that a year consists of 364 days.7 The reason for this is because the native Eri-Ethiopian calendar was derived from the Coptic calendar,8 which in turn was a reformation of the ancient Egyptian solar calendar, also known as the Alexandrian calendar.
Previously, in Ethio-Eritrea, the calculation of times belonged exclusively to the clergy since days and years were mostly taken into account to precisely determine religious events and holidays.9 The common epoch usually employed when computing time was “Age of the World” (or Amete-Alem).10 The Age of the World is the sum of the number of years before the birth of Jesus Christ and of the number of years after the birth of Jesus Christ.11
The Age of the World (or Amete-Alem) is divided into Zemene Bluy (which means the “Old Era”) and Zemene Khaddish (which means the “New Era”). Zemene Khaddish is also referred to as “Amete-Mihret” which means the “Age of Mercy”. The Old Era is almost equivalent to the “Before Christ” of the Gregorian calendar, while the New Era is more or less similar to the “Anno Domini” or “After Christ” of the Gregorian calendar.
Age of the World = Old Era + Age of Mercy (or New Era). Thus, when the year is 2016 Age of Mercy, Age of the World would be:
5500 + 2016 = 7516
Therefore, Age of the World in 2016 Age of Mercy is 7516.
To determine the evangelist or chief of the year, divide the Age of the World by four. If the remainder is one, it is Matiwos (Matthew); if two, Marqos (Mark); if three, Luqas (Luke); and if zero, Yohannes (John). The divisor is four because there are four prospective evangelists of the year.12
For example, to find out the evangelist for 2017 Age of Mercy:
(5500 + 2017) / 4 % 1
Therefore, the chief or evangelist of 2017 Age of Mercy is Matiwos (Matthew).
A new year of the native Ethio-Eritrean calendar starts on Meskerem 1, which currently means the evening of September 10/11 of the Gregorian calendar. This is because according to the Eri-Ethiopian tradition, Noah’s Flood (the Genesis Flood or the Deluge) ended on this date,13 marking the termination of the old, corrupted world that was before the Genesis Flood and the start of the new, cleansed world after the Deluge. I should mention here that the discrepancy with other calendars increases over time. This is because the Geez calendar doesn’t get revised to take into account astronomical facts. In the 1800s, the new year started on the evening of the 9/10 of September of the Gregorian calendar;14 but at present the difference has increased by a day, coinciding with the evening of the 10/11 of September of the Gregorian calendar. The Geez calendar loses 11 minutes every year, which accumulates to one day in 128 years.
To find out the day on which a year starts in the Geez calendar, add Age of the World and Metene Rabiet then divide by 7. The remainder is the first day that the New Year begins. It is called Tinte Qemer. Metene Rabiet is the quotient without remainder of Age of the World divided by four. If Tinte Qemer is zero, the year starts on Monday; if one, it begins on Tuesday; if two, it starts on Wednesday; if three, it begins on Thursday; if four, it starts on Friday; if five, it begins on Saturday; and if six, it starts on Sunday. The divisor is seven since a week has seven days.15
For example, to determine the new year day for 2016 Age of Mercy:
Age of the World: 5500 + 2016 = 7516
Metene Rabiet: 7516 / 4 = 1879
Tinte Qemer (7516 + 1879) / 7 = 1342 % 1
Since the Tinte Qemer of 2016 Age of Mercy is 1, the new year day is Tuesday.
Reference Notes
- Isenberg, Krapf, and MacQueen (1843); Keraneyo Medhane Alem Tewahedo Church (2018); Pearce (1831); Weld-Blundell (1922). ↩︎
- Isenberg, Krapf, and MacQueen (1843). ↩︎
- Bruce (1790). ↩︎
- Weld-Blundell (1922). ↩︎
- The Fetha Nagast – The Law of the Kings. ↩︎
- Bruce (1790); Keraneyo Medhane Alem Tewahedo Church (2018). ↩︎
- See Book of Enoch 28:11, 72:33, 82:4-7. ↩︎
- Bruce (1790); Combes and Tamisier (1838). ↩︎
- Combes and Tamisier (1838); Pearce (1831). ↩︎
- Bruce (1790). ↩︎
- Keraneyo Medhane Alem Tewahedo Church (2018). ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Aberra Molla. ↩︎
- Weld-Blundell (1922). ↩︎
- Keraneyo Medhane Alem Tewahedo Church (2018). ↩︎
Sources
Aberra Molla (2008) The Ethiopic Calendar. An Ethiopian Journal. Retrieved from https://tseday.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/ethiopian-calendar/
Bruce, James (1790) Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. Printed by J. Ruthven: Edinburgh.
Combes, Edmond and Tamisier, Maurice (1838) Voyage en Abyssinie: dans le pays des Galla, de Choa et d’Ifat ; précédé d’une excursion dans l’Arabie-Heureuse, et accompagné d’une carte de ces diverses contrées; [Travel in Abyssinia, in the Country of the Galla, Showa and Ifat; Preceded by an excursion in Arabia-Felix, and accompanied by a map of these various regions] 1835 – 1837. Tomme III. Desessart: Paris.
The Fetha Nagast – The Law of the Kings (1968) Translated from the Ge’ez by Abba Paulos Tzadua. Edited by Peter L. Strauss. Faculty of Law, Haile Sellassie I University: Addis Ababa. Reprinted 2009 by Carolina Academic Press: Durham.
Isenberg, Charles William; Krapf, Johann Ludwig; and MacQueen, James (1843) Journals of the Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, missionaries of the Church missionary society, detailing their proceedings in the kingdom of Shoa, and journeys in other parts of Abyssinia, in the years 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842. Seeley: London.
Keraneyo Medhane Alem – Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Toronto, Canada (2018) Bahire Hasab – ባሕረ ሃሳብ – The Ethiopian Calendar. Retrieved from https://www.keraneyo-medhanealem.com/post/bahire-hasab-the-ethiopian-calendar
Pearce, Nathaniel (1831) The Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce. Digitally printed 2014. Edited by John James Halls. Volume 1. Cambridge University Press.
Weld-Blundell, Herbert Joseph (1922) The Royal Chronicle of Abbysinia, 1769-1840. Cambridge University Press.