Why the Geez Calendar Differs from Other Calendars in its Calculation of Years

You may have noticed that Eriyopians (Ethiopians and Eritreans) always celebrate their Christian festivals weeks behind the West. Not only that, they are also seven years behind in their assertion of the year. The reason is because they use a native calendar called Geez calendar to determine their religious holidays and festivals instead of the Gregorian calendar. The Geez calendar differs a lot from the Gregorian and Julian calendars. This is because the way it calculates time diverges greatly from the others. Despite some similarities, it also departs from the Coptic calendar in the epoch it employs. The Coptic calendar uses “Age of Martyrs” to count years after the birth of Jesus Christ whereas the Geez calendar employs “Age of Mercy” to reckon years after the birth of Jesus Christ. The Geez and Coptic calendars also vary in their saints’ days and when to observe them.¹

The main difference of the native Eri-Ethiopian calendar from the Julian and Gregorian calendars arises from the difference in fixing the point in time from which to ascertain the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. The philosophy of time of the Geez calendar is called Bahre-Hasab. It is derived from Christian traditions and the books of the bible. One of its main tenets, taken from the Book of Adam and Eve² (a book outside of the bible of the Orthodox Tewahido Church but a part of the traditional Christian literature of Ethio-Eritrea), states that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years before they got expelled for their sin. It further notes, based on the Book of Adam and Eve³, after they repented, God promised to save them after 5500 years. As a result, with the intension to differentiate between the seven years of bliss in paradise and the other years of sin and suffering on the earth, it doesn’t take into account the first seven years of creation in its calculation of time.

The philosophies of those who use the Julian and Gregorian calendars, however, do not either recognize the number of years that Adam and Eve resided in the garden of Eden, or do not consider it important enough to affect the way they calculate time. So the Geez calendar reckons 5500 years from the loss of paradise to the birth of Jesus Christ, and omits seven years (eight years if you include year zero) from its calculation of years. The Greeks and other Eastern nations, however, reckon 5508 years (including year zero) from the creation to the birth of Jesus Christ.⁴ As to Western nations, they do not agree on the number of years from creation to the birth of Jesus Christ. For example, many theologians of Protestant churches usually assert 4004 years from the creation to the birth of Jesus Christ.⁵ On the other side, the traditional view of creation of the Catholic church was that less than 6,000 years had passed from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus Christ.⁶

The difference in the number of years between the Geez calendar and the Gregorian calendar becomes eight years from January to August inclusive. This is because they start the new year on different dates. Currently, it is 2016 on the Geez calendar, and not 2024.

Reference notes

1. Aberra Molla (2008) The Ethiopic Calendar. An Ethiopian Journal. Retrieved from https://tseday.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/ethiopian-calendar/ ↩︎
2. Malan, Solomon Caesar (2017). The Book of Adam and Eve – A Book of the Early Eastern Church, Translated From the Ethiopic, With Notes From the Kufale, Talmud, Midrashim, and Other Eastern Works. ↩︎
3. Book of Adam and Eve 3:1-6. ↩︎
4. 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. ↩︎
5. 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. ↩︎
6. Owen, Hugh (2012) The Traditional Catholic Doctrine of Creation. Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation. Accessed 02/28/2024. Retrieved from https://kolbecenter.org/the-traditional-catholic-doctrine-of-creation/ ↩︎