By Omer Redi

For Jason McLure, an American journalist based in Ethiopia’s capital, and his family, the only place they could celebrate the new year was either at their own or their American friends’ homes, or few hotels in the city.

Out of these places, it is as if nothing happened in the world.

Every office in Ethiopia is open Friday, January 01, 2010, as every Ethiopian worker is on their job despite a holiday for most of the world, a new year.

No clamor, no festivity in the families of the second most populous country in Africa, either on the eve or on the first day of the year. No dazzling lights on the streets, no fireworks in major squares, no official statement from either religious or political leaders of Ethiopia.

Thursday night, when most of the world witnessed the transition from 2009 to 2010 with big celebrations and messages of wishes and intents from leaders, Ethiopians spent the day on their job and the night on their beds, hushed.

This is simply because the Horn of African state uses its own calendar and has its own distinctive annual celebrations – religious, historic or cultural – which happen days, months and years after the rest of the world. Neither the last night of 2009, nor the first day of 2010 are on the list its calendar’s days for huge festivities.

For example it will celebrate its own Christmas called Ghanna next week on the 7 January, 14 days after the rest of the world.

Ethiopians call the December 25 Christmas yeferenjoch (foreigners’ – mainly whites’) Ghanna and the New Year a week after, yefenrenjoch addis amet (foreigners’ New Year).

Thus, it is mostly foreigners residing in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and some Ethiopians most of whom are either half-caste or returnees from abroad who celebrated yeferenjoch New Year eve with the only two official events at Sheraton Addis, the city’s most luxuries hotel, and Hilton Addis, a preferred place for foreigners and business people in the city; the other place, their own or friends’ home.

But these jubilants of the Gregorian calendar New Year do not obviously add up to even a percentage of the nearly 80 million people in the country and cannot feel the festivity if they are few hundred meters away from these spots.

The streets of the city are as normal as any other day.

“There is certainly a big difference in the way I celebrate New Year in Ethiopia from the way we do it back home,” McLure, said.

With his wife and 15 months-old son, the American journalist celebrated the eve at a friend’s house.

But there were no official New Year wishes or statements from statesmen or religious figures in Ethiopia to the McLures and their friend, unlike the case in the US.

And there is something else that takes away the petite holiday mood people like the McLures have created.

“When I wake up this morning, it is a regular day for Ethiopians and everyone is going to work,” the journalist who celebrated a third New Year in Ethiopia said.

This has always been the case in Ethiopia at least for 2000 years, except for holidays celebrated by Muslim Ethiopians – almost half of the population. Major holidays in Islam, EId-Al-Fitir and Eid-Al-Adha are celebrated on the same day everywhere in the world for Muslims globally use lunar calendar. Ethiopia is no exception.

“Ethiopia's ancient culture reflects Animist, Judaic, Byzantine, Christian and Islamic heritages. One of its notable qualities is its calendar,” said Nita Bhalla, a traveler from the west.

The Ethiopian Calendar has more in common with the Coptic Egyptian Calendar. The Ethiopic and Coptic calendars have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not. Ethiopians call it Puagime.

With a year of 13 months, 365 days and 366 days in a leap year (every fourth year) the calendar is much influenced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which follows its ancient calendar rules and beliefs. A new year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian calendar or on the 12th in (Gregorian) leap years. The Coptic leap year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in a Gregorian leap year.

Hence, Ethiopians will celebrate their New Year nine months after the rest of the world on 11 September, 2010.

The Ethiopic calendar differs from both the Coptic and the Julian calendars. The difference between the Ethiopic and Coptic is 276 years. In spite of this, the Ethiopic Calendar is closely associated with the rules and the different calculations influenced by the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Based on the ancient Coptic Calendar, the Ethiopian Calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar, depending on which month the calculation is done. This is owing to alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus.

And that is why it is still 2002 in Ethiopia; eight months behind, and when it becomes 2003 nine months later, seven years behind the rest of the world.

Accordingly, with the infamous theme “Become Seven Years Younger,” Ethiopia’s millennium was celebrated on September 11, 2007, giving the world a second chance to celebrate a millennium years after it did so.