Ethiogeekery

[muckefuck]

Sunday, monshu and I lazed about like modern Egyptian aristocracy. The gray weather was not enticing and our efforts the previous day tired us out way more than I feel they should have. Paging through the Reader, I noticed a restaurant ad that made mention of Ethiopian New Year. Who knew it was in September? We exchanged what little knowledge we had of Ethiopic timekeeping (which was little more than speculation that their calendar was based on the Coptic calendar, itself a modification of the Julian) and could find not rationale for a New Year's date in September, unless it was some holdover from Judaism. We promised ourselves to look it up later, after we had dragged ourselves to the grocery store. We were so sluggish, shopping took far longer than it really should have. One glance at the checkout clerk's name tag--combined with her complexion and the background demographics of the area--and I surmised she was Ethiopian, so I said, "Happy New Year!" She nodded, proceeded with her work, then stopped and asked, "How did you know?" I only smiled.

I love reactions like that.

When we got back home, I jumped on the computer and searched "Ethiopic calendar". This page has a wealth of information, far too much to summarise here. Suffice it to say that (1) it is derived from the Coptic calendar; (2) the Coptic calendar is not as close to the Julian as we thought; and (3) in particular, the Coptic calendar begins on the date of crest of the Nile flood, which is mid-September for middle Egypt. The Ethiopes borrowed the New Year's date when they borrowed--and further modified--the calendar. When monshu entred the room, I told him all this, plus some trivia about the discrepancy in Jesus' birth date between the Ethiopic calendar and the Gregorian. He found it all very interesting and added, "Isn't the Nile fed by monsoon rains?" I told him, no, I thought it was mostly snowmelt. As I found out today, I was wrong and he was dead right.

I love boyfriends like that.

(BTW, monshu asked the clerk the actual date and she said, "Last friday". So perhaps the title of my previous entry should be "New Year's in September.")

Comments

[0595.livejournal.com]

I knew it was the Ethiopian New Year because there was something mentioned about it at church yesterday, but I would have thought that you already knew all about it.