Monday 31 January 2011

Monday Fact // The Ethiopian Calendar

My initial reaction of surprise has been replaced by the realisation that the Gregorian calendar is equally arbitrary.

Based on the Coptic Calendar, the calendar of Ethiopia is divided into 13 months. Leap days are added every year, without exception. The seven-year divergence arises from the use of different dates as 'the birth of Christ'. While the Ethiopian calendar accepts the calculations of Annianus of Alexandria, Europeans eventually adopted the calculations made by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 AD.

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