Why Is Ethiopia 7 Years Behind & Has 13 Months?

• Khalid Al Mansoor
• . May 9, 2022
• . Update: May 10, 2022 12:14 am
• 1,480 Views
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Ethiopia-While the world is in the year 2022, the current year in Ethiopia is 2014. They welcomed the new year on 11th September. You might be asking why this East African country lags behind compared to the rest of the world by seven years. Well, Ethiopia uses a calendar comparable to the ancient Julian calendar, which began to recede from the Western world in the sixteenth century.

Ethiopia follows the Coptic calendar which has 13 months every year, but as you know the rest of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, which has 12 months only.

Why Does Ethiopia Have a Different Calendar?

The disparity in year numbering is thought to be due to a disagreement between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church over the date of Christ’s birth.

The Gregorian calendar is based upon the factored calculation of the year Jesus was born. But the Coptic calendar is based upon the conception or proclamation of Alexandria, an Egyptian monk and historian.

What Year Is It In Ethiopia Today?

Ethiopia is now in the year 2014. The Ethiopian year begins on September 11th, or September 12th in Gregorian leap years. Due to different calculations in estimating the date of the annunciation of Jesus’ birth, it is 7-8 years behind the Gregorian year.

Ethiopian Calendar v/s Coptic & Julian Calendars

Both the Coptic and Julian calendars differ from Ethiopia’s calendar. The difference between the Coptic and Ethiopian calendars is 276 years. Despite this, Ethiopia’s calendar strongly follows the Coptic Church’s norms, rules of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as well as distinct calculations.