Ethiopia has its own calendar. It follows the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian one used by Europe and the Americans. The New year is September 11 (Meskerem 1), and end of year is September 10 or Pagume 5 (6 in leap year). All of the 12 months has equal 30 days and the 13 th month of Pagume has 5 or 6 in leap year days, hence it has 13 months of sunshine. Ethiopia is three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

Time remains constant throughout the year. The Ethiopian day is calculated in a manner similar to that in many equatorial countries, where day and night are always the same length: counting starts at Western 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Western 7:00 a.m. is therefore one o'clock, noon is six, 6:00 p.m. is twelve o'clock, and so on.