Also known as: Kudus Yohannes · Ethiopian New Year · Addis Amet
Enkutatash (እንቁጣጣሽ) is the Ethiopian New Year, celebrated on Meskerem 1 — the first day of the first month of the Ethiopian calendar. On the Gregorian calendar it falls on September 11, or September 12 in the year following an Ethiopian leap year. The timing is no accident of history: the Ethiopian year begins as the long kiremt rains end, when the highlands are at their greenest, the air is washed clean, and the yellow adey abeba daisies that blanket the hills every September have become the holiday's living emblem. More than a date change, Enkutatash is Ethiopia's festival of renewal — new clothes, new grass on the floor of the house, and the greeting መልካም አዲስ ዓመት (Melkam Addis Amet, "happy new year") exchanged for days.
What the name means — and the Queen of Sheba legend
Enkutatash is usually translated as "gift of jewels." The name is tied by long tradition to the Queen of Sheba, Ethiopia's legendary monarch: when she returned from her celebrated visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem — the journey recounted in the Kebra Nagast, Ethiopia's national epic — her chiefs are said to have welcomed her home by replenishing her treasury with enku, jewels. The new year festival, the story goes, has carried the name of that homecoming gift ever since.
The day also has a church name: Kudus Yohannes, St. John's day, because the new year season in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar is associated with the feast of John the Baptist. In everyday speech Ethiopians simply call the holiday Addis Amet — "new year."
Why the Ethiopian year begins in September
The Ethiopian calendar is a solar calendar of thirteen months — twelve months of thirty days each, followed by Pagume, a short month of five days (six in a leap year). Its year begins at the end of the main rainy season, when a new agricultural cycle begins: fields are planted, rivers are full, and the famine months are behind. Meskerem 1 is therefore both a calendrical and an ecological new year.
Because the Ethiopian calendar reckons the year of Christ's Annunciation differently from the Gregorian calendar, it runs seven to eight years behind — seven from Meskerem 1 (September) to December 31, and eight from January 1 until the next Enkutatash. That is why Ethiopia famously celebrated its own millennium on September 11, 2007 of the Gregorian calendar, with festivities across the country and the diaspora.
How Enkutatash is celebrated
The celebration begins the night before. On New Year's Eve households light chibo — torches of bundled dry wood — a flame for the old year going out and the new one coming in. Homes are freshened for the day: floors strewn with cut grass and adey abeba flowers, coffee roasted, and in many families a sheep or chicken readied for the holiday table.
New Year's morning belongs to children. Girls in new white dresses go from house to house singing Abebayehosh, the new-year song, giving out adey abeba flowers and receiving small gifts of money or bread in return; boys traditionally present paintings they have made. Families then gather for the meal — classically doro wat, the slow-cooked chicken stew, with injera — followed by the coffee ceremony, and the day dissolves into visits between relatives and neighbors.
For Ethiopians abroad, Enkutatash is one of the great diaspora holidays of the year, celebrated with concerts, church services and community festivals in cities around the world.
Enkutatash and the public-holiday calendar
Enkutatash is a full national public holiday: government offices, banks and most businesses close. It opens the densest festive stretch of the Ethiopian year — Meskel, the festival of the True Cross, follows just sixteen days later on Meskerem 17, so the first month of the year is carried on celebration from beginning to end.
Frequently asked questions
- When is Ethiopian New Year in 2026?
- Friday, September 11, 2026 — Meskerem 1, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar.
- Why is Ethiopian New Year in September?
- The Ethiopian calendar begins its year at the end of the main rainy season (kiremt), when the landscape renews and a new agricultural cycle begins. Meskerem 1 corresponds to September 11, or September 12 in the year following an Ethiopian leap year.
- What does Enkutatash mean?
- It is usually translated as "gift of jewels." Tradition ties the name to the Queen of Sheba's homecoming from Jerusalem, when her chiefs replenished her treasury with jewels (enku).
- What year is it in Ethiopia?
- The Ethiopian calendar runs seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar because it reckons the year of the Annunciation differently. Ethiopia celebrated its millennium on September 11, 2007 of the Gregorian calendar.
- How do you say Happy New Year in Amharic?
- መልካም አዲስ ዓመት — Melkam Addis Amet. You will hear it, along with the song Abebayehosh sung by girls going door to door on New Year's morning.
- Is Enkutatash a public holiday?
- Yes — a full national public holiday. Offices and banks close, and the day is spent with family meals, the coffee ceremony, and visits.