Enkutatash

The Ethiopian year is tied to the rains rather than to the solstice. Kiremt, the long wet season, breaks in early September, the rivers drop, and the highlands come up covered in adey abeba, the yellow meskel daisy. Starting the year there matches how the farming year actually works, and it is the reason the celebration feels like spring even though it falls in September.

The day is also the feast of Saint John the Baptist in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, so many families call it Kidus Yohannes. The religious and the seasonal observance sit on the same date and have done for centuries.

Enkutatash translates roughly as gift of jewels. The name is traditionally traced to the Queen of Sheba returning from her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, met by her chiefs who welcomed her back with jewels. Whether or not the story is history, it has shaped how the day is understood: a return, a restocking, a fresh start.

Girls dress in white, go house to house singing Abebayehosh, and are given small amounts of money or bread. Boys paint pictures and hand them out. Families slaughter a sheep or a chicken, brew tella, and visit relatives. Bundles of daisies are carried into houses and given as gifts.

In the diaspora the day is often marked on the nearest weekend rather than on the date itself, so a community celebration and the actual New Year can be several days apart.

Meskerem 1 falls on 11 September in an ordinary year. After an Ethiopian leap year, which is a year that leaves a remainder of 3 when divided by 4, the extra sixth day of Pagume pushes the New Year to 12 September. The Ethiopian year 2019 is a leap year, so 2020 begins on 12 September 2027.

The Ethiopian year number is 7 lower than the Gregorian one from Enkutatash to 31 December, and 8 lower from 1 January to the following Enkutatash.