Tomorrow is the last day of the year in Ethiopia—05.13.2017. The calendar has 13 months, 12 of which last exactly 30 days. The last month, Pagume, has 5 or 6 days. The entire “month” is devoted to preparations for the new year.

How is it possible that we’re celebrating the New Year? How is it that we’re only just starting 2018? I know, it’s difficult to understand, and it intrigues everyone. Nevertheless, the calendar is a matter of convention, isn’t it? In Ethiopia, the calendar was simply different from the beginning. And historians calculated Christ’s birth differently. Was Jesus born 2025 years ago or 2018? Who really knows? (Apparently, even the Ethiopian calendar is closer to the truth.) 2017 is ending in Ethiopia, and no one here is going to suddenly convince anyone otherwise.