Ethiopian calendar tool
Twelve thirty-day months plus a five or six-day Pagume. Convert both directions, see the festival calendar, and share or embed the result.
Converts at midnight UTC for a stable, shareable date.
11 Sene 2018 EC
ሰኔ Sene
Genna
ገና · 29 Tahsas 2018 EC
Ethiopian Christmas, 29 Tahsas.
Jan 7, 2026 · 162 days ago
Timkat
ጥምቀት · 11 Tir 2018 EC
Ethiopian Epiphany, 11 Tir.
Jan 19, 2026 · 150 days ago
Adwa Victory Day
የአድዋ ድል በዓል · 23 Yekatit 2018 EC
Commemorates the 1896 victory at Adwa.
Mar 2, 2026 · 108 days ago
Fasika
ፋሲካ · 4 Miazia 2018 EC
Ethiopian Orthodox Easter (Julian-rule Eastern computation).
Apr 12, 2026 · 67 days ago
Enkutatash
እንቁጣጣሽ · 1 Meskerem 2019 EC
Ethiopian New Year, first day of Meskerem.
Sep 11, 2026 · in 85 days
Meskel
መስቀል · 17 Meskerem 2019 EC
Finding of the True Cross, 17 Meskerem.
Sep 27, 2026 · in 101 days
The seven or eight year gap is not a rounding error. It is a different answer to the question "when was Christ born?". In the sixth century, Dionysius Exiguus calculated a date for the Annunciation that became the basis of the western Anno Domini system. The Ethiopian church kept an older calculation by Annianus of Alexandria, about seven years earlier. From New Year (Enkutatash, on 11 September Gregorian) through to 10 September the next year, the Ethiopian year trails the Gregorian by 7. From 1 January up to that New Year, it trails by 8. Same Christ, different arithmetic.
The Ethiopian calendar inherits the Coptic structure: twelve months of exactly thirty days each, plus a short thirteenth month called Pagume (from Greek epagomenai, "days added on"). Pagume has five days in a common year and six in a leap year, which falls every four years on a fixed rule (Ethiopian year mod 4 equals 3). This makes month length predictable in a way Gregorian months simply are not. A salary cycle, a school term, or a rotation can be defined as "two months" without anyone needing to remember whether February is short.
Enkutatash, 1 Meskerem, marks the New Year at the end of the rainy season. Sixteen days later is Meskel, the Finding of the True Cross, celebrated with a public bonfire (the Demera) inscribed by UNESCO. Genna, on 29 Tahsas, is Ethiopian Christmas (7 January Gregorian). Twelve days later comes Timkat, the Epiphany, marked by processions of the Tabot. In spring, Fasika (Ethiopian Orthodox Easter) follows the Julian-rule paschal computation, so it can fall a week or more after western Easter. Civil dates (Adwa Victory, 23 Yekatit) sit alongside the religious calendar without conflict.