The Country Operating on a Unique Calendar System: An Exploration of a Year without 12 Months Displaying 2016 on the Calendar
While most of the planet organizes its life around a 12-month calendar and takes for granted that we are in 2025, there is a nation that follows its own temporal compass. With a unique calendar system, this country lives according to a completely different system, literally placing it in another time. Discovering its history is like traveling to a place where time has different rules.
A calendar that challenges the rest of the world
In the midst of the 21st century, there exists a country that adheres to a calendar marking the year 2016, not divided into the traditional 12 months, but into 13. This unique time measurement system is not a recent eccentricity but a millennia-old practice that is still in effect.
This place is Ethiopia. Located in the Horn of Africa, this nation follows a calendar derived from the ancient Alexandrian calendar. The difference with the Gregorian calendar used in most countries dates back to a religious discrepancy: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church did not adopt the modifications introduced by the Catholic Church in the 6th century to correct the date of Christ’s birth. As a result, their calendar is approximately seven years and eight months behind the Western one.
Additionally, the Ethiopian calendar divides the year into 12 months of exactly 30 days each, and an additional month—known as Pagumē—of five or six days, depending on whether it is a leap year. Their new year begins between September 11 and 12, and interestingly, the day is also divided differently: Ethiopians count hours starting from 6:00 a.m., so for them, 7:00 a.m. marks the “first hour of the day.”
A unique case in the African continent
But the uniqueness of Ethiopia does not end with its way of counting time. Unlike the rest of the African continent, this nation prides itself on not having been formally colonized by any European power. In 1895, when Italy attempted to subdue it, Ethiopia defeated them in the famous Battle of Adwa a year later. This victory not only preserved their sovereignty but also reinforced a deep sense of national identity.
Years later, Ethiopia played a key role in African history again: Emperor Haile Selassie was one of the driving forces behind the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the current African Union. His leadership symbolized a vision of unity and independence at a time when much of the continent was still under foreign domination.
A land with history, culture, and coffee
Ethiopia not only surprises with its independence and unique calendar. It is also considered by many scientists as the “cradle of humanity.” Fossil remains of hominids found on its territory allow tracing the origins of our species. The most famous of these discoveries is that of “Lucy,” a female Australopithecus afarensis found in 1974, who lived over three million years ago.
And if that were not enough to highlight its contribution to the world, Ethiopia is also credited with the birth of one of the most consumed beverages on the planet: coffee. According to legend, it was a shepherd named Kaldi who noticed that his goats became more active after eating certain fruits. Intrigued, he tried them and discovered their energizing effect. Thus began a tradition that, centuries later, would conquer coffee shops in every corner of the globe.
Ethiopia is a living proof that time is not a universal truth but a cultural convention. In an increasingly globalized world where digital clocks dictate the rhythm of our lives, this African country reminds us that there are other ways to measure and experience time, deeply rooted in the history, spirituality, and identity of a people.
Ethiopia not only lives in 2016. It also lives in its own way.
