What is Ethiopian calendar?
The '''Ethiopian calendar''' is the main [[calendar]] used in [[Ethiopia]]. It serves as the [[Liturgy|liturgical]] calendar for [[Christian]]s in [[Eritrea]] and Ethiopia belonging to the Orthodox Tewahedo churches, Eastern Catholic Church and [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic]] Orthodox Church. It is a [[solar calendar]] which comes from the [[Egypt]]ian calendar. But like the [[Julian calendar]], it adds a [[leap day]] every four years. It begins the year on August 29 or August 30 in the Julian calendar. A seven to eight-year gap between the Ethiopian and [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian]] calendars results from an alternate calculation in determining the date of the [[annunciation]] of [[Jesus]].{{efn|In the Christian faith the annunciation is the date the [[angel]] [[Gabriel]] told the [[Virgin Mary]] she would give birth to Jesus.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/annunciation |title=annunciation |publisher=Dictionary.com, LLC |access-date=16 December 2015}}</ref>}} ==Makeup== Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopic calendar has twelve [[month]]s of 30 days plus five or six [[Intercalation (timekeeping)|epagomenal days]], which make up a thirteenth month.<ref name=Birx128>''Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture'', Volume 1, ed. H. James Birx (Los Angeles: Sage, 2009), p. 128</ref> The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar. The names of the days are in [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]]. The sixth epagomenal day is added every four years without exception on August 29 of the Julian calendar. This occurs six months before the Julian leap day. Thus the first day of the Ethiopian year, ''1 Mäskäräm'', for years between 1900 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually September 11 (Gregorian). It, however, falls on September 12 in years before the Gregorian leap year.<ref name=Birx128/> The Ethiopian [[New Year]] falls on September 11 of the Gregorian calendar. On leap years it falls on September 12.<ref name=Birx128/> ==History== In 1582 t