Festival · Festivals & Events
Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year)
Ethiopia follows its own calendar of thirteen months, and welcomes its New Year on 11 September (12 in leap years).
- Best Time
- 11 September
- Suggested Stay
- 1 day
- Altitude
- Nationwide
- Region
- Festivals & Events
Why We Go
Yellow flowers, songs and new beginnings as the rains end on 11 September.
Enkutatash means “gift of jewels”. Tradition holds that when the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting King Solomon, her chiefs welcomed her by replenishing her treasury with jewels.
The festival coincides with the end of the long rains, when the highlands burst into green and yellow flowers. Families exchange greetings, share festive meals and children sing traditional songs from house to house.
Highlights
- Fields covered with yellow adey abeba flowers
- Girls singing door-to-door with bouquets
- Church services and family feasts
- A countryside at its greenest after the rains
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