Ethiopian Date Today
Today's date in the Ethiopian (Ge'ez) calendar used in Ethiopia and Eritrea — approximately 7–8 years behind the Gregorian calendar, with 13 months of 30 days (plus a short 5- or 6-day month).
Ethiopian ↔ Gregorian Converter
Convert between Gregorian and Ethiopian (Ge'ez) calendar dates.
The Ethiopian calendar
The Ethiopian calendar (also called the Ge'ez calendar) is the principal calendar of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is a solar calendar with 13 months: twelve months of exactly 30 days, plus a short 13th month called Pagumen with 5 days in a common year or 6 in a leap year.
The Ethiopian calendar runs approximately 7 years and 8 months behind the Gregorian calendar. So while the rest of the world was celebrating the year 2000, Ethiopia celebrated its own millennium on 11 September 2007 Gregorian — the start of Ethiopian year 2000.
The 13 Ethiopian months
| № | Month | Gregorian span (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meskerem | 11 Sep – 10 Oct |
| 2 | Tikimt | 11 Oct – 9 Nov |
| 3 | Hidar | 10 Nov – 9 Dec |
| 4 | Tahsas | 10 Dec – 8 Jan |
| 5 | Tir | 9 Jan – 7 Feb |
| 6 | Yakatit | 8 Feb – 9 Mar |
| 7 | Magabit | 10 Mar – 8 Apr |
| 8 | Miyazya | 9 Apr – 8 May |
| 9 | Ginbot | 9 May – 7 Jun |
| 10 | Sene | 8 Jun – 7 Jul |
| 11 | Hamle | 8 Jul – 6 Aug |
| 12 | Nehase | 7 Aug – 5 Sep |
| 13 | Pagumen | 6–10 Sep (5 or 6 days) |
Why the 7-year gap?
The Ethiopian church follows a different calculation of the year of the Annunciation (the conception of Jesus), placing it about seven years later than the calculation used in Europe. This calendrical difference has been preserved for over 1,500 years.
Ethiopian New Year: Enkutatash
Enkutatash — literally "gift of jewels" — is the Ethiopian New Year, falling on 1 Meskerem, which corresponds to 11 September in most Gregorian years (or 12 September in the year before a Gregorian leap year). It marks the end of the rainy season and the blooming of yellow Meskel daisies across the Ethiopian highlands.
The 13 months of sunshine
Ethiopia's tourism slogan — "Thirteen months of sunshine" — refers to the extra short month Pagumen, the 13th month of 5 or 6 days at the end of the Ethiopian year, falling in early September. This is not a poetic flourish; the Ge'ez calendar really does divide the year into 13 months, and Pagumen often enjoys clear, bright weather after the rainy season ends.
Ethiopian religious holidays
Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church observing a liturgical calendar that differs from both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions:
- Enkutatash (New Year) — 1 Meskerem / 11 September
- Meskel (Finding of the True Cross) — 17 Meskerem / 27 September
- Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) — 29 Tahsas / 7 January
- Timkat (Epiphany) — 11 Tir / 19 January
- Fasika (Ethiopian Easter) — a different date than Western Easter, calculated from the Alexandrian Paschal computus
Why Ethiopia is in 2018 while the world is in 2026
The gap comes from a 6th-century disagreement about the date of Jesus's birth. Dionysius Exiguus, the Roman monk who invented the AD dating system, calculated the Annunciation to have occurred in what Western tradition now calls 1 BC / 1 AD. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church inherited an earlier Alexandrian calculation placing the Annunciation about 7–8 years later. Both calendars have been internally consistent ever since; they simply count from slightly different starting points.
So: Ethiopian year 2018 EC (starting 11 September 2025 Gregorian) will run through 10 September 2026 Gregorian, at which point Ethiopia enters year 2019 EC.
Eritrea and the diaspora
Eritrea shares the same calendar, religious observances, and liturgical year with Ethiopia — a legacy of the two countries' shared history and Orthodox Christian tradition. Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora communities around the world celebrate Enkutatash and Genna on the traditional Ge'ez dates even while living in Gregorian-calendar countries.