Enkutatash

September 11, 2007 2:02 AM

The Millenium is approaching. In a little under two hours, the Millenium will dawn again - in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is planning a major celebration, headlined by The Black Eyed Peas, and largely bankrolled by Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi. The plan is to have 13 months of celebrations to highlight the positive aspects of the country.

Some though will be concerned about previous conflicts and ongoing daily struggles as well as the pepperless New Year. But, to quote one resident (from the Guardian article) of Addis Ababa:

"This is like a birthday..." "...And on your birthday you don't talk about the appendix operation you had a few months ago."

posted by Myeral (23 comments total)

Maybe they'll do a better job of ushering in a new millennium than we did here in the U.S.

Hey guys, have fun, but here's a hint: don't vote for the Texan!
posted by lekvar at 2:09 AM on September 11, 2007

This millennium is being celebrated in Eritrea too, as the first wikipedia link implies. Here are some Ethiopic fonts, for anyone who's not seeing the Ge'ez characters in that article. And here is an on-line Ethiopian calendar.
posted by misteraitch at 3:12 AM on September 11, 2007

My apologies for missing out Eritrea.
posted by Myeral at 3:25 AM on September 11, 2007

Haven't those Ethiopians learned *anything* from the west?!?

We've been through this a thousand times, at least. The year 2000 is only the 1999th year. The millennium begins in 2001.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:54 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

When I go to their countdown website it shows there's almost 5 hours left.
It looks like the millennium starts there at 6:48PM (??)

Hope they don't think it'll be the 21st century for another year.
posted by MtDewd at 3:55 AM on September 11, 2007

When I go to their countdown website it shows there's almost 5 hours left.

That's strange, it now shows as completed for me.
posted by Myeral at 4:01 AM on September 11, 2007

Unfortunately my own religion won't be celebrating a milinium anytime soon. Its 3173 YOLD, so we've got a few centuries before we can celebrate a milinium.

Man, up 'till now I thought the Discordian litigurical calendar beat all the others.... Perhaps it'd be a good idea to adopt a year system that produces a milinium every decade or so, I mean the current calendar was only semi-divinely inspired.

Hmmmmm..... I'm off to consult my pineal gland.

And, less flippantly, this is damn cool.

And if that's not milinium enough for you, don't forget that the Mayan long count ends in 2012. I'm planning an end of the world party.
posted by sotonohito at 4:17 AM on September 11, 2007

Yeah, the party's been going on in my part of town for a couple of days now. I never realized how many Ethiopian and Eritrean businesses there were all in a row until I saw all the banners and everyone all decked out, little kids shaking noisemakers. It's pretty awesome.
posted by SassHat at 4:53 AM on September 11, 2007

Y2K bug, ethopian edition ?
posted by Baud at 4:55 AM on September 11, 2007

Myeral:
I tried it on 2 computers and IE and Firefox- Looks like it's calling for around 15:55 UCT, 6:55 PM Addis Ababa time. Why then I don't know. I thought maybe sunset, but that looks to be around 6:28. Civil Twilight?-6:49.

UbuRoivas: I don't know why, but I'm very picky about the 21st century starting in 2001 but I could care less about the millennium.
posted by MtDewd at 5:22 AM on September 11, 2007

Thanks Myeral, this is cool - I heard about the Ethiopian millenium during the long-distance track events at the World Athletics Championships, but forgot to go look it up.
posted by jacalata at 5:39 AM on September 11, 2007

Apparently the date isn't the only problem. Time o'day is also different from western ideas. The day begins at what we would call 6AM (or is it dawn?) which is 12 o'clock local time.

Also, Wiki says New Years Day is our Sept 12th (leap year!) so you shouldn't celebrate til the next sunrise.
posted by MtDewd at 5:53 AM on September 11, 2007

Nice post, thanks!

Also, bitching about how centuries don't begin until '01 is really, really tiresome. I should know, I used to do it until I started boring even myself, and that was over 30 years ago. Let it go already! The only people who care are the ones who already agree with you!
posted by languagehat at 5:55 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the post. My Ethiopian house-mate Abdi just woke up. I wished him a happy New Year. "How did you know?"
The thing to say on Enkutatash is "Inkan Aderasachew." It basically means: it's good that you have another new year. Abdi says Beyonce and 50 Cent are in Ethiopia right now for the big celebration.
posted by McLir at 6:10 AM on September 11, 2007

RE: Y2K bug, ethopian edition ?

If this hit Nigeria it could put an end to their bank business - I get emails from those guys all the time - they're rolling in it!
posted by 2shay at 6:31 AM on September 11, 2007

MtDewd: I can't figure that out. My first link is still showing me that the countdown's completed (same applies to the 12th September) I have some very close experience of Ethiopians (and Eritreans - my partner hails from there, which is why I'm really sorry I didn't mention that country in my original post) and most of those I've met have a fairly relaxed attitude towards time - especially when the coffee's going down nicely and the, er, chat takes off. Maybe that explains it.
posted by Myeral at 6:31 AM on September 11, 2007

There are two n's in Millennium.
It's from the Latin words "mille" (1000) and "annus" (year).
With only one n you are talking about anus not annus, you ass.
posted by w0mbat at 10:58 AM on September 11, 2007

Tell that to the Hiltons.

These guys too. Drives me nuts.
posted by Joey Bagels at 12:51 PM on September 11, 2007

Sometimes I wonder if humanity will ever achieve something a little better. Then I check out Metafilter, and I know it will not. When I was at school I used to pick on spelling errors and ignore the content. Then I grew up.
posted by Myeral at 1:48 PM on September 11, 2007

The day begins at what we would call 6AM (or is it dawn?) which is 12 o'clock local time.

Yes. Ever since visiting Ethiopia, I've actually switched to their clock. Everything is shifted six hours. Our 6am = 00:00, midday = 06:00, 6pm = 12:00 & so on.

Part of the reason they do this, apparently, is that almost every day in Ethiopia the sun rises at 6am & sets at 6pm, due to their position close to the equator. Thus, the first 12 hours of the day are 'day', and 12:00-24:00 are night, more or less.

I like it for that exact reason - our 6am-6pm (Ethiopian 00:00-12:00) are the hours of the day when you do your administrative-type stuff: exercise, work, shopping etc, and 6pm onwards is recreational time. it also helps one get out of bed nice & early...get up at 7:30 & think "damn, wasted 1 1/2 hours of the day already!" (YMMV)
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:37 PM on September 11, 2007

Oh, and considering that the Ark of the Covenant is said, by many, to be hidden in Ethiopia, maybe now is the time for all those millennarian prophecies to come true...?

(and languagehat: i don't even care, myself. i was just fishing for a favourite. which i got. i see you got one too. that would have been from the person who already agreed with your perspective. personally, i think that bitching about bitching about how centuries don't begin until '01 is really, really, really tiresome, so i guess we're even)
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:43 PM on September 11, 2007

LekVar: "here's a hint: don't vote for the Texan!"

For the record, George W Bush is NOT a Texan. He was born in Connecticut. He's just a pretender because it gets him more votes.

As someone who was actually born a Texan, this is a major pet peeve of mine. Bush is not one of ours. He's a wolf in the henhouse. I'm glad we could clarify that.

Carry on with your tardy party.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:57 PM on September 11, 2007

Note that there are 13 months in the Ethiopian calendar. All months have 30 days and they throw the extras on in a 13th month at the end.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:50 PM on September 11, 2007