Ethiopia, the country that follows a 13-month calendar, and is 7 years behind the rest of the world! (2023)

FAQs

Is it true that Ethiopia is 7 years behind? ›

But why so? Ethiopia's calendar takes its inspiration from the idea that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years before they were expelled for their sins. After they repented, God promised to save them after 5,500 years. And, that explains why Ethiopians are seven years behind us.

The main point of difference lies in the calculation of the date of the birth of Jesus, which means that the Ethiopian calendar is 7 to 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar.

But one country that is exception to that rule is: Ethiopia. Yes, the African country has a calendar that remarkably has 13 months in a year. A video recently went viral where a TikToker @The1Kevine explained: "Ethiopia is behind like seven years. They have their own calendar, they have their own date."

2014 is the new 2022

But can you imagine dealing with completely different years? As mind-boggling as it sounds, this is the case in Ethiopia. While the rest of the world is currently living in 2022, in Ethiopia the year is currently 2014.

— see Manuscript #23, a calendar book in the Thomas Kane Manuscript Collection at the African and Middle East Division — and Adam was born 5500 years before the birth of Jesus who, according to the teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, was born on January 7.

The 13-month calendar was devised by Auguste Comte in 1849. It was based on a 364-day year which included the one or two "blank" days that Abbé Mastrofini, an Italian Roman Catholic priest, had devised 15 years before. Each of the 13 months had 28 days and exactly four weeks.

In Ethiopia the first month of the year is September and the last (thirteenth) month of the year is Pagumiene, which comes after August. Each month has 30 days (from September to August) and the thirteenth month, Pagumiene, has 5 days (6 days in a leap year).

The International Fixed Calendar (also known as the IFC, Cotsworth plan, the Cotsworth calendar and the Eastman plan) is a proposed calendar reform designed by Moses B. Cotsworth, first presented in 1902. The solar calendar divides the year into 13 months of 28 days each.

It Is Year 2015 In Ethiopia, 7 Years Behind India And The Rest Of The World.

Ethiopians are marking the start of a new year, with feasting in many homes despite the difficulties caused by rising prices and the war and hunger crisis raging in the north. Find out more about Ethiopia's unique calendar and cultural heritage.

Which country uses 13 month calendar? ›

The Ethiopian calendar consists of 13 months, where the first 12 months have 30 days each. The 13th month has 5 days in a common year and 6 days in a leap year.

The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of thirty days plus five or six epagomenal days, which form a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge'ez.

Ethiopia will dramatically transform in the coming decades. In a business as usual scenario, the Ethiopian population is expected to reach 188 million by 2050, from about 99 million today, and the size of the economy to almost quintuple.

Based upon the ancient Coptic Calendar, the Ethiopian Calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar, owing to alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus.

The two calendar systems that would have been prevalent prior the birth of Jesus Christ were the Hebrew calendar and the Julian calendar.

Christmas is on Dec. 25, but it wasn't always. Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem.

While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas on December 25th, Ethiopians, alongside Russian, Greek, Eritrean, and Serbian Orthodox churches, celebrate Christmas Day which is called “Genna” on January 7th.

In 46BC, Julius Caesar introduced a 12 month calendar that eliminated the need for additional months. By removing the requirement to keep in step with the Moon, the length of a year could be chosen so that it was very close to that of a solar year.

To compute your pro-rated 13th-month pay, take the amount of your basic salary per month, multiply it by the number of months you have worked for the year and then divide it by 12. Based on the computation, the employee's 13th-month pay will be equivalent to P7,000.

When was the calendar changed from 13 months to 12 months? ›

The 1752 Calendar Change

Today, Americans are used to a calendar with a "year" based the earth's rotation around the sun, with "months" having no relationship to the cycles of the moon and New Years Day falling on January 1. However, that system was not adopted in England and its colonies until 1752.

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced on February 24 with a papal bull, and went into effect in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar.

The Jewish Leap Year. A leap year in the Jewish calendar has 13 months and occurs 7 times in a 19-year cycle. In Hebrew, a leap year is referred to as Shanah Me'uberet, or pregnant year.

Nearly all Eastern Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar to establish the dates of movable feasts such as Easter. The current discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is 13 days. However, the difference will become 14 days in 2100.

While much of the world is counting down the days to finally flip their calendars to 2021, Ethiopia is still living in the year 2013. They're not time travelers, but instead use their own unique calendar system which puts them about seven years behind the rest of the globe.

The website adds: "The Ethiopian Calendar has 12 months of 30 days each, plus five or six additional days (sometimes known as the 13th month), which are added at the end of the year to match the calendar to the solar cycle." That means the year in Ethiopia is currently 2014, while in other parts of the world it's 2022.

In English, and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was historically known as Abyssinia. This toponym was derived from the Latinized form of the ancient Habash.

What is Ethiopia famous for? Ethiopia is famous for its high-quality coffee it produces, its rich culture and national parks. Find out more about how Ethiopia will surprise you with its monolithic churches, stunning national parks, ornate palaces and welcoming tribespeople on an Intrepid tour of Ethiopia.

According to the Global Times, “Ethiopia has its own calendar with 13 months, and each of the 12 months has 30 days, while the 13th month called Pagumen has five days, which becomes six in each leap year.” Compared to the Gregorian calendar, the Ethiopian calendar is living 8 years behind.

Kiritimati, which is part of the Kiribati Islands, is the first city that will be welcoming 2023 before anyone else. Kiribati is a Pacific Ocean Island country with around 811 square kilometers (313 square miles) of land spread across 33 atolls and coral islands.

Does China have 13 months? ›

The Chinese calendar features 12 months. However, an extra month is inserted in the calendar when a leap year occurs. Therefore, leap years in the Chinese calendar have 13 months, unlike leap years in the Gregorian calendar in which an extra day is included.

Projections show that by 2050, Africa's population will double. By 2100, one in three people on Earth will be African. This means that, by the end of the century, sub-Saharan Africa—which already has an extraordinarily young population—will be home to almost half of the young people in the world.

The life expectancy for Ethiopia in 2022 was 67.44 years, a 0.55% increase from 2021. The life expectancy for Ethiopia in 2021 was 67.07 years, a 0.55% increase from 2020.

“Ethiopia is behind like seven years. They have their own calendar, they have their own time zone and they have their own date,” she said. She added that what makes it more interesting is that Ethiopia is the only African country that was not colonised.

Ethiopia is old, even older than Egypt, but its antiquity is somewhat different.

The Solar Hijri Calendar

It is based on astronomical observations of the Sun and is the most accurate calendar in the world. Like the Islamic Hijri calendar, the year count for the Solar Hijri calendar also began with the Prophet Mohammed's migration to Medina in 622 CE.

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Haiti are ringing in the new year. US President Joe Biden is also celebrating 2023, slightly ahead of the rest of his country.

The current year in Ethiopia is 2014.

Anno mundi 5783 (meaning the 5,783rd year since the creation of the world) began at sunset on 25 September 2022 according to the Gregorian calendar.

Is it 2013 or 2014 in Ethiopia? ›

1) The year lasts 13 months

Not only that - the Ethiopian calendar is also seven years and eight months behind the Western calendar, making Saturday the start of 2014. This is because it calculates the birth year of Jesus Christ differently.

An Ethiopian year is comprised of 13 months, and is seven years behind the Gregorian calendar. In fact, Ethiopians celebrated the new millennium on September 11, 2007; this is because the Ethiopians continued with the same calendar that the Roman church amended in 525 AD.

Based upon the ancient Coptic Calendar, the Ethiopian Calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar, owing to alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus.

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. What are believed to be the oldest remains of a human ancestor ever found, which have been dated as being some five million years old, were discovered in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, is a landlocked country in the East of Africa. It shares one of its borders with Somalia, to the East. Sudan to the West, South Sudan to the South West.

A gap of seven to eight years between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from an alternative calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation. The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of thirty days plus five or six epagomenal days, which form a thirteenth month.

Undecimber or Undecember is a name for a thirteenth month in a calendar that normally has twelve months. Duodecimber or Duodecember is similarly a fourteenth month.

Ethiopia is old, even older than Egypt, but its antiquity is somewhat different.

In 2016, deadly floods hit Ethiopia, leaving at least 200 people dead and over 200,000 people homeless as seasonal rains come early to the country. The majority of these deaths occurred in the city of Jijiga while elsewhere, heavy downpours of rain were reported with more floods expected in the next few days.

On 12 September 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a Soviet-backed military junta that consequently ruled Ethiopia as the Derg until 1991.