Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Category Archives: calendar

Melkam Addis Amet / Happy New Year

Yadey Abeba -Meskal Daisy - Field in Gurage

Yadey Abeba – Meskal Daisy

We wish all or friends, family, supporters and partners Melkam Addis Amet: Happy New Year. Today – as the thirteenth month (Pagume) ends we say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016 in the Ethiopian Calendar.

In this past year (2015), known as a Lukas year, (there is one for each of the four evangelists) the thirteenth month has an extra 6th day in it  (today) – a leap month pushing the New Year date in the western calendar to tomorrow – 12 September. 

The western and Ethiopian calendars will be ‘out of sync’ until the leap day at the end of February.  So known dates like Timkat usually the 19th January will be on the 20th January in the coming year (a Yohannes Year). But Gena (Ethiopian Christmas) is even more

Tesfa Agenda

complicated. So probably the moment to get your hands on a Tesfa Calendar or Agenda/diary. 

The Tesfa Calendar and Agenda are available with all the Ethiopian dates set into the western calendar so you can see what is coming

Tesfa Agenda pages

up. Weaving the many saints days, annual festivals, fasting periods, Islamic holidays and various curiosities, and even the full moon dates has been a labour of love for 17 years now! Conscious of the environment for the 3rd year, we are printing this on recycled paper.  It is available from Tesfa Tours and in some other locations in town. Contact us on calendars@tesfatours.com to get your copy, or call our office 011 124 5178 / 092 349 0495.

We pray that 2016 will be a peaceful and happy year for Ethiopia!

 

 

 

 

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Calendars, Leap Year and Ancient Egypt

The new and unique Tesfa Calendar is coming out from the printers soon!

Calendar Cover page, Mequat Mariam at dawn

It runs from Sep 2023 – Aug 2024 (ie Ethiopian Year 2016) is now in its 17th year and is ready!  And since the 2014 edition it is printed on recycled paper!!!

The Tesfa Calendar is available again this year, with all the Ethiopian dates set into the western calendar so you can see what is coming up. Weaving the many saints days, annual festivals, fasting periods, Islamic holidays and various curiosities, and even the full moon dates has been a labour of love for 17 years now! Conscious of the environment for the 3rd year, we are printing this on recycled paper.

January page of the hanging calendar

January page of the calendar

The calendar has stunning photos that will make you want to get out of Addis, or fly over from where ever you have the calendar and see this beautiful country. The photos are taken from the Tesfa Community treks across the north of the country (the Agenda has photos from other additional places too).

 

The calendar comes in 2 versions:

  • Traditional hanging calendar, great in your kitchen or office -(29cm across ands 53cm down)- 12 months with 13 photos. 500birr donation
  • The Agenda or Diary format:- (approx 21cm x 15cm) in portrait format, has 1 week to a page and so 53 pages (52.14 weeks a year) – running from Monday to Sunday on one side on easy to write on paper, and with a photo to match on opposite page. 600 birr donation

    A page from the Agenda / diary

    A page from the Agenda / diary

We ask the donation to help support the Tesfa communities who have guesthouses around the country hosting visitors enabling them to walk through their beautiful landscapes.

Leap Years in the Ethiopian Calendar:

The Ethiopian calendar names the years in a 4 year procession, after the Evangelists- so this current year (2015) is a Lukas year and the coming year 2016 is a Yohannes year. At the end of a Lukas year there is an extra day in Pagumay – making it a 6 day ‘month’ which works like the 29th February in the western calendar. The effect for the coming 5 months is to knock the dates in the 2 calendars out of sync. So New Year in the Ethiopian Calendar will fall on 12th September in a Yohannes year (2016), Meskal on the 28th September, Gena (Ethiopian Christmas) – now that is more complicated – In Lalibela it shifts to the 8th January, but elsewhere in Ethiopia it remains on the 7th January (which means its on 28 Tahsas instead of the usual 29 Tahsas) – more on that later in the year! And the big one – Timkat will be on the 20 January. And around then of course all the big saints days such as Tsion Mariam are also going to shift – in this case from 30 November to 1 December. With the leap day on 29 February 2024 all the dates re-sync!  Confused?, then get your copy of this calendar or the Agenda.

The Origins of the Ethiopian Calendar:

As is so much in Ethiopian culture, the origin if the Ethiopian Calendar is shrouded in the mists of time. However it is very much the same as the ancient solar Coptic calendar from Egypt, which is the oldest in history.  It is believed that the famous Imhotep, the supreme official of King Djoser C.2670 B.C. played a part in the development of this calendar.

Nile flood waters at Giza

Nile flood waters at Giza by the Pyramids

Going further back the ancient Egyptians used a civil calendar based on a solar year that consisted of 365 days, without making any adjustment for the additional quarter of a day each year. Each year had 12 months and the heliacal rising of Sirius coincided with the highest point of river Nile flood at Memphis marking the first day of the year. The new year of the ancient Egyptians started on Meskerem 1 which is the date is an Ethiopian new year (which also signals the end of Noah’s flood). I’ve always enjoyed the fact that the Kremt rains in Ethiopia are what causes the Nile to flood, and marks the New year in Egypt – which became the New Year for Ethiopia too.

This ancient Egyptian Coptic solar calendar consisted of 12 x 30-day months with five extra festival days at the end of the year. This is the same concept as the Ethiopian Calendar -13 months, 12 of 30 days each and then Pagumay at the end of the year of 5

Deacons in Lalibela using Sistrum during a festival

or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The new year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar (G.C.) or on the 12th in (Gregorian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in a Gregorian Leap Year.

The connection between ancient Egypt and Ethiopia is unclear as the extent of territory connected to geographical names such as Nubia and Kush is debatable. However the calendar and artefacts such as the Sistrum have crossed between ancient Egypt and Ethiopia so it would seem that there was a significant cultural contact.

Get your copy of this Tesfa Calendar or Diary /Agenda and see all the upcoming dates for yourself.

To order your calendar contact Tesfa Tours 011 124 5178 / 092 349 0495, or email calendar@tesfatours.com

Our office is at Kebena, but other places around town will have copies too – contact us for more details.

 

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Melkam Addis Amet / Happy New Year

Waterfall in North Shoa on the Ride the Rift trip

Waterfall in North Shoa on the Ride the Rift trip

ለአዲሱ ዓመት እንኳን በሰላም አደረሳችሁ።

Yesterday (Sunday 11 Sep) Ethiopia entered into 2015. The Kremt – rainy season is still drenching the capital and much of the north of the country with its monsoon rains. Much of the highlands is is now green, rivers are running in torrents, with waterfalls impressive everywhere, and the ubiquitous yellow Meskal Daisy adding a splash of yellow to the landscape. Over the coming weeks the rains should begin to peter out and by early October, Ethiopian skies should be blue, and sunshine will turn the emerald fields of crops to gold as harvest time approaches in November. This is the time to travel in Ethiopia!

We at Tesfa Tours wish all our friends, clients, partners, team members, and all Ethiopians. everywhere a healthy, happy and peaceful 2015.

By the way you can follow the dates and holidays in 2015 with the Tesfa calendar or diary/agenda – out now

and remember our Ride the Rift Meskal trip to the green Gurage highlands is approaching. Sign up soon.

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Tesfa Diary / Agenda – Your Ethiopian companion in a bag!

I am very excited by this year’s diary/agenda. It will fit in your bag, so you can carry it around with you and write notes or appointments on the day pages. At the same time you can see more about that week- which saints days, when the fasting starts or ends, what holidays are coming up and so much more.  It also translates dates for you so 5/13/2014 -is 10th September 2022! And that is Pagume – the 13th month. And its a full moon that night! So much to find out!

Photos in the agenda are from across the country – there are Blue breasted bee-eaters (truly stunning) and Geladas, there are

Map of the community guesthouses comes at the start of the Agenda

festivals and harvesting, and the agenda is full of faces – smiling from the pages. Pictures that will give you a lift or inspire you to get out of the city!

As with the calendar it runs from September 2022 (NOW) to August 2023 ….. and at 500 birr its a bargain … and as with the calendar it is printed here in Ethiopia on recycled paper !!!

Copies available at our Kebena Office, and certain locations around town. Email calendars@tesfatours.com for more info.

 

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Tesfa Calendars ready

Its a labour of love: producing these calendars that are a synthesis of the Ethiopian Calendar with its 13 months starting on 11th September, and the western calendar with its 12 months. Woven into this are a multitude of Saints Days and cultural holidays, other special days in the Orthodox church including fasting periods, as well as the main Islamic holidays and some curiosities. I have even added the full moon dates. It has allowed me to learn a lot about the unique and intriguing Ethiopian Orthodox church .

Printed on recycled paper, hang it up in your office or kitchen. Use it to plan trips, learn when your neighbourhood church celebrates its annual day, or just covert Ethiopian dates to western ones. This is an essential key to life in Ethiopia.

At the same time the photographs show case the community guesthouses and treks that Tesfa have set up with local communities around the country. Proceeds go to support these communities. Copies are available for 400 birr from the Tesfa Tours Office at Kebena and several places in town.  The Agenda version will be out later this week.  Email calendars@tesfatours.com for more information

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Tesfa Ethiopian Calendar 2014 (EC) ready

Tesfa Tours Calendar

 

 

 

 

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Tesfa Tours Calendar

 

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Now we have copies of the magnificent agenda as well

The new and unique Tesfa Calendar Runs from Sep 2020 – Aug 2021 (ie Eth Year 2013) is now in its 14th year & is available.

This calendar is unique in that it details the Ethiopia dates, holidays, saints days, fasts, Islamic holidays and more on to a western calendar month format. This goes along side stunning photos that will make you want to get out of Addis, or fly over from where ever you have the calendar and see this beautiful country. The photos are taken from the Tesfa Community treks across the north of the country (the Agenda has photos from other additional places too).

The Hanging Calendar, great on your wall

The calendar comes in 3 versions:

Traditional hanging calendar (29.5cm across and 51cm opened hanging down) – 12 months with 13 photos. Donation 250birr.

Desktop version to fit on your desk (approx 20cm x 17cm) – same pages – with photos facing back and dates forward. We ask 150 birr donation for these calendars.

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The Agenda – packed with info

The Agenda (20.5cm x 14.5cm) in portrait format, has 1 week to a page and so 53 pages (52.14 weeks a year) – running from Monday to Sunday on one side on easy to write on paper, additional information on the day and with a photo to match on opposite page. Donation 350 birr.

We ask a donation to help support the Tesfa communities who have guesthouses around the country hosting visitors enabling them to walk through their beautiful landscapes.

The calendars are available from our offices at Kebena, but we will also have copies at various locations around Addis.

For further information email calendars@tesfatours.com

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The Tesfa Calendar is ready!

 

The new and unique Tesfa Calendar –

runs from Sep 2020 – Aug 2021 (ie Ethiopian Year 2013) is now in its 14th year and is ready!

This calendar is unique in that it details the Ethiopia dates, holidays, saints days, fasts, Islamic holidays and more on to a western calendar month format. This goes along side stunning photos that will make you want to get out of Addis, or fly over from where ever you have the calendar and see this beautiful country. The photos are taken from the Tesfa Community treks across the north of the country (the Agenda has photos from other additional places too).

 The Tesfa Agenda – 1 week to a page

The calendar comes in 3 versions:

Traditional hanging calendar (29.5cm across and 51cm opened hanging down) – 12 months with 13 photos. Donation 250birr.
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Desktop version to fit on your desk (approx 20cm x 17cm) – same

The Hanging Calendar

pages – with photos facing back and dates forward. We ask 150 birr donation for these calendars.

The Agenda (approx 21cm x 15cm) in portrait format, has 1 week to a page and so 53 pages (52.14 weeks a year) – running from Monday to Sunday on one side on easy to write on paper, additional information on the day and with a photo to match on opposite page. Donation 350birr.

We ask a donation to help support the Tesfa communities who have guesthouses around the country hosting visitors enabling them to walk through their beautiful landscapes.  The calendars are available from our offices at Kebena, but we will also have copies at various locations around Addis.

For further information email calendars@tesfatours.com

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COVID19, and Ethiopia re-opening for Tourism

Peering through the gap

Its been a while since I sent out an update on how things are progressing here in Ethiopia. The Kremt rains have been heavy this year,  for those of you that do not know this Ethiopia’s rainy season bought about by the same weather system that causes India’s monsoon, and like the monsoon it runs from its beginning at the end of June until it peters out in late September/or early October.

As anticipated the rains, which drive people indoors in confined spaces, and force people who would walk to use public transport, have seen a spike in cases of COVID 19 in Ethiopia with daily cases rising above the 500 mark in late July, and peaking at over 1,500 per day in late August (using the 7 day moving average on ‘worldometer’  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/ethiopia/).  However since then the spike has dropped off with the average back down to 500 a day for 14 September. The mortality figures are similar, peaking in later August at 22, and coming down now to 13 (again the moving 7 day average).

Mekdela – the mountain fortress of Emperor Tewedros

Although the New Year holiday on Saturday will have affected social distancing as people came together,  I anticipate that the figures allowing for a blip, will continue to fall as we move into October and could see new infections drop below 100 a day with the dry weather that we anticipate being the norm from mid October.

The other positive news is that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that Ethiopia will re-open for Tourism as of 1 October. There will be protocols in place, including use of face-masks and sanitiser, spacing in transport (vehicles will only operate with 50% capacity) and getting people to keep a safe distance. Although details have not been made clear it is understood that the requirement for incoming passengers to quarantine will be dropped, probably relying on testing before the flight and on arrival, and a procedure to allow any positives cases to be tracked.

Meskal flowers near the Simiens – traditional for the New Year


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For those eager and able to travel to Ethiopia we will offer lots of fresh air (most monuments are outside), and we anticipate that there will be so few visitors that tourist sites will be far emptier than usual, so this could be the time to book that special trip.

Additional news – the Tesfa Tours hanging calendar is out – with the Desktop version and Agenda soon to be ready.

Let me wish all our friends, customers, suppliers, and those who just picked up this blog – a happy new year, – and wish that 2013 (for that is the new year in Ethiopia) rapidly gets better for the whole world!

 

 

 

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Photographs for the new calendar – 2013!

Calendars produced by Tesfa Tours

Tesfa Tours 2012 Calendars

Hi Trekking Folks

Are there any Tesfa trekkers out there with photos from their trips that we could use in our new calendar (Wollo, Tigray, Janamora or Wof Washa community treks)? As usual we are planning to produce a Tesfa calendar again for 2020/21 – Ethiopian year starting 2013 – despite the virus.  We will desperately need to encourage clients into the mountains once this cloud is lifted and people can start to travel.

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We love photos (in landscape format) that highlight the guesthouses, the landscapes, the communities and treks and the wildlife… if you think you might have some please do get in touch with me – mark@tesfatours.com

I am also producing an agenda – although that could be scaled down a bit this year – and so will need photos from elsewhere in Ethiopia – as there are some 55 photos (in portrait format) in the Agenda. For any photo included we will off course give a credit on the photo and a complimentary copy of the calendar will be sent to you!

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