I flew into the Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa yesterday on the kind invitation of the African Union to take part in the Conference of Youth Ministers IV (COMYIV) as a resource person.
As i made my way to immigration, i could not help but ponder over the recent demise of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi who died on August 20, 2012 at the age of 57. Its obvious Ethiopians are still mourning as his pictures were mounted in strategic positions in the airport to remind the people of Ethiopia and visitors alike that Ethiopa has lost a leader.
As i made my way into the city, i had a discussion with the driver who apologised for coming late to pick me at the airport and blamed the holiday mood in the country. He was the first person who informed me that the next day, (today) September 11 will be the beginning of a new year in Ethiopia.
By the next morning, as i mingled with staffs of the African Union Youth program, i was educated that Ethiopia runs a unique calendar, not only is today the beginning of a new year, the year is also 7 years behind the normal Gregorian calendar and so Ethiopia starts 2005 today. I first found this strange and laughable but i took a mental note to dig more into why this is so and wikipedia bailed me out with useful information.
According to Wikipedia, the Ethiopian calendar, also called the Ge’ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians in Eritrea belonging to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church and Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea. It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar, which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on August 29 or August 30 in the Julian calendar. A seven- to eight-year gap between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from alternate calculations in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus.
Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days, which comprise a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge’ez. The sixth epagomenal day is added every four years without exception on August 29 of the Julian calendar, six months before the Julian leap day. Thus the first day of the Ethiopian year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between 1901 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually September 11 (Gregorian), but falls on September 12 in years before the Gregorian leap year.
The current year according to the Ethiopian calendar is 2005, which began today, September 11, 2012 AD of the Gregorian calendar.
So while i left Abuja, Nigeria yesterday in September 2012, I woke up this morning in Addis Ababa in 2005.
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Rotimi Olawale
Rotimi Olawale, co-founder of youthhubafrica.org is a youth development expert. For more than six years he has been involved in leading youth advocacy efforts mainly around the Millennium Development Goals. In 2006, he represented Nigeria as a youth ambassador at the United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit held at the UN Headquarters in New York. Rotimi has held several global leadership positions including; member, UNFPA Global Youth Advisory Panel for 2 years; member, African Youth Panel. Rotimi is currently involved in shaping local, national and global policies to benefit youth and also leverage opportunities for young people. He was listed by the Nigerian government as one of 15 Nigerian youth on the world stage in 2008.
