| Ethiopia Travel & Tour Information
Ethiopian
New Year (Enkutatash)
Ethiopia
still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided
into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6
days in leap year. The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the
Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind
between September 11 and January 8.
Enkutatash
means the "gift of jewels". When the famous Queen of
Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in
Jerusalem
, her chiefs welcomed her bolts by replenishing her treasury with
inku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since this
early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and
singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside.
But
Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Today's
Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal new year
greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated - in lieu or the
traditional bouquet of flowers.
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Rena,
Oded, Uri & Ariella from Israel
I
will never forget Lalibela and the people we met there ...the sweet
children that adopted us and followed us all around.
We arrived in Lalibela on a Saturday and saw the long March to the
Market and it was so beautiful and also sad because we understood
how far the people had to work and carry. learn
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