Ethiopia celebrated Enkutatash, its New Year, on Thursday as people across the country marked the start of 2018 on the Ethiopian calendar with flowers, food and music.
The Ethiopian calendar runs about seven years behind the Western (Gregorian) calendar because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church did not adopt a change made by the Catholic Church in 500 AD to the calculation of the birth year of Jesus. The national holiday, however, is not solely a religious observance and is observed widely by Ethiopians of different faiths as a time of renewal and optimism.
Stalls across Addis Ababa filled with adey ababa, the yellow flowers associated with the holiday, and freshly cut grass used in traditional coffee ceremonies. Vendors said small bunches of the blooms changed hands for about 50 Ethiopian birr (roughly $0.35). Coffee, which has its origins in the Ethiopian highlands, is central to many celebrations: beans are traditionally roasted over an open fire, ground and brewed in a clay pot, and homes are decorated with flowers and grass for the ritual.
Markets were busy despite rain as residents hurried to prepare celebratory meals. Many households serve doro wat, a spicy chicken stew accompanied by injera, the fermented flatbread that is a staple of Ethiopian cuisine. Chickens were reported selling for between 2,000 and 3,000 birr. For larger celebrations, families buy mutton — sellers offered sheep for between 15,000 and 22,000 birr — and some households slaughter oxen for communal feasts, a practice that can cost as much as 300,000 birr.
A 19-year-old vendor, Tamirat Dejene, who traveled from Chancho, about 40 kilometres north of the capital, said he had a busy market day selling chickens. Live music and concerts were also part of the evening celebrations as people gathered in halls and hotels to welcome the new year. In Addis Ababa some larger venues advertised New Year performances, while smaller clubs and lounges hosted bands that marked midnight with music and sparklers.
On New Year’s Day itself, a traditional song called "Abebayehosh" was heard in neighbourhoods across the city. The song, typically performed by young girls who sometimes go door-to-door, is part of the cultural expression that accompanies the holiday. Later in the day, many Orthodox Christians attended church services. Near some churches, vendors sold ceremonial umbrellas and priests led congregations in prayers for the year ahead.
The Ethiopian calendar consists of 13 months: 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month that has five days, or six in a leap year. Ethiopians commonly switch between the two systems depending on language and context: in local languages people referred to the year as 2018, while in English conversations they often used the Western year 2025.
The timing of Enkutatash also coincides with the end of the rainy season and the start of spring in Ethiopia, reinforcing themes of renewal. This year the festivities took on added public resonance after the recent formal launch of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on a tributary of the Nile, an event officials and many citizens said had fostered a sense of national unity and pride.
Across the country, Enkutatash remained a broadly observed holiday that blended cultural, communal and religious practices, from street-level songs and floral displays to family feasts and formal worship services.