Enkutatash – Ethiopia's New Year

Supraja Nair
7 hours ago
3 min read

C.O.O.L.ᵀᴹ Time Capsule: This Month in the World — September

Written by: Supraja Nair

Picture this: it's September in Ethiopia, a country in Africa, the rain has finally stopped after months of grey skies, and the hills around you have turned bright yellow overnight — covered in wildflowers. Children in new clothes are going door to door, singing and handing out flowers. Families are cooking their favorite meal together. As night falls, a bonfire is lit outside every home.

This is Enkutatash — the Ethiopian New Year, which falls on September 11 in the Gregorian calendar, and on September 12 during a leap year (Meskerem 1 on the Ethiopian calendar), and one of the most joyful days on Ethiopia's calendar.

Men joining to celebrate Enkutatash, Ethiopian New Year's Eve (Image source: iStock)

Ethiopia on the world map (Image created with MapChart)

A Name Built on a Legend

Enkutatash means "gift of jewels" in Amharic, Ethiopia's official language. The name comes from an old story: the Queen of Sheba once traveled to Jerusalem to visit King Solomon, bringing him gold, spices, and jewels. According to Ethiopian tradition, when she returned home, her people welcomed her back with gifts of their own — jewels to refill her treasury. That joyful homecoming is said to have happened around New Year, and the name stuck.

It's a legend, not a history lesson — but it's one Ethiopians have told for generations, and it sets the tone for the holiday itself: welcome, gratitude, and giving.

A Calendar All Its Own

Here's something that surprises a lot of people: Ethiopia doesn't follow the Gregorian calendar, the standard calendar most of the world uses today, the one with January through December that's probably on your phone or wall right now. Ethiopia has its own calendar entirely, with 13 months instead of 12 — the first 12 months are exactly 30 days each, while the 13th month is a short extra month at the end of the year with just 5 or 6 days

Why September Feels Like a Fresh Start

In a lot of the world, September means the weather is turning colder. In Ethiopia, it's the opposite. The country just comes out of its long rainy season, and Enkutatash arrives right as the sky clears and the sun returns.

That shift is dramatic. Fields that were soaked and grey for months suddenly burst into color, covered in a yellow wildflower called Adey Abeba — sometimes called the Meskal daisy. For farming families especially, this is a welcome turning point: the hardest, wettest part of the year is over, there's a chance to rest, and the next harvest is on the way. It's easy to see why a new year would start right here — with color coming back to the land, and a season of renewal beginning.

Adey Abeba or Meskal daisy (Image source: iStock)

How the Day Is Celebrated

Church in the morning. For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, the day begins with a special New Year service.

Flowers and songs. Young girls dress in traditional clothing, gather bunches of the yellow Adey Abeba flowers, and go house to house singing New Year songs. In exchange, they're often given a small gift of money.

A meal together. Families gather for a festive meal — almost always injera (a soft flatbread) and doro wat (a rich, spiced chicken stew), alongside a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Many families visit more than one household in a day, so the celebration often stretches from relative to relative.

New clothes. Wearing something new is part of the day too — a small, simple way of stepping into the year fresh.

Bonfires at night. As evening comes, families light a bonfire outside their homes. It's treated as a symbolic goodbye to the old year and a welcome to the new one — a wish for a bright, peaceful year ahead.

More Than a Date on a Calendar

In Ethiopian culture, Enkutatash is celebrated across all religions — Ethiopian Orthodox Christians hold it close, but people across faiths take part, and Ethiopians and Eritreans everywhere, from Addis Ababa to diaspora communities like Washington, D.C., mark it together too. What travels with the holiday, wherever it's celebrated, is the same feeling: rain giving way to sun, fields turning gold, and a whole community sitting down to start the year together.