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A man holds the Ethiopian national flag during a pro-government rally to denounce what the organisers say is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Western countries' interference in internal affairs of the country, at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 7, 2021. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Ethiopia entered 2017 with fireworks and a concert headlined by Afrobeats star Davido. This New Year’s celebration, typically reserved for December by the rest of the world, left many non-Ethiopian netizens confused.
Amid the rise of deep fakes, videos of Davido performing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, while the East Africans rang in the new year might seem suspicious. However, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali confirmed the reality of the situation by tweeting “Happy New Year 2017” from his verified X account, seven years after the rest of the world did.
Ethiopia’s new year is celebrated on either September 11th or 12th in the Ethiopian calendar (Ge’ez calendar), which is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar, owing to alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus.
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