Astrophysicist explains about unique features of the Ethiopian calendar

 According to the Ethiopian calendar, today is the 4th of Pagumen 2015. Ethiopians are bracing to celebrate the New Year, 2016 after two days. One of the unique cultural features of Ethiopia is its calendar. The country sticks to a Julian calendar based on solar days, which has 365 days where 12 months have 30 days each and the thirteenth month, Pagumen has five days normally and 6 days on leap years. Since this year is a leap year according to Ethiopian Calendar the month is 6 days long.

Today’s guest, Getnet Feleke (PhD), is an Astrophysicist. He studied for a doctoral degree in South Africa. Back home, he is currently working in the physics department at Kotebe Education University. In his short stay with him, the Ethiopian Herald raised various inquiries related to the Ethiopian calendar, astronomy, and the New Year. Have a nice read!

 What does astronomy mean? What is its importance?

Astronomy is a science that deals with the origin, evolution, composition, distance, and motion of all bodies and scattered matter in the universe. It includes astrophysics, which discusses the physical properties and structure of all cosmic matter. So, we can study about stars, planets, galaxies, etc.

Is there any difference between astrology and astronomy? How far has Ethiopia been going in this regard?

People confuse these two terms: astrology and astronomy. Astronomy is the actual science of stars. But astrology is not a science. It’s a kind of pseudoscience. So it is related to fortune-telling. They may consider stars, planets, or other celestial objects. But it’s kind of a prediction, not a science; it’s not provable. So it is a way of determining the fate of humans. This is not the topic of astronomy and there is a huge difference between these two fields.

How did Ethiopia manage to develop its calendar?

Well, that is a big question. Ethiopians have their calendar. First of all, we have to ask: when did we start counting time or using a calendar? To answer this question, we have considered the Ethiopian calendar and the Gregorian calendar specifically. We have had our coding system since the creation of human beings.

We started with our concept. So the creation of human beings is the baseline of coding for the Ethiopian calendar; Ethiopian counting is more than 7000 years old. For example, the coming New Year is 2016 according to the Ethiopian calendar. If you count the whole year—the years before and after the birth of Jesus Christ—it will be 7516 years. As I previously stated, the baseline of our calendar is the creation of the world. So, we have 5500 years before Jesus Christ and 2016 after the coming of Jesus. There is some kind of history there.

So, people were counting the time since Adam and Eve made some kinds of mistakes. They have been counting time using the stars, moon, and sun. So, different groups of people were counting time. So they have been counting down from 5500 to the birth of Jesus Christ. We again started counting just after the birth of Jesus Christ, and this year it is 2016.

So our basis for counting calendars is the creation of the world. It goes to the history of Adam in the Bible. But when we consider the Gregorian calendar, it is not based on the Bible or such kinds of things; it is instead based on the establishment of Rome. It is about 503 years from the birth of Christ. So, their calendar is based on the establishment of Rome.

This means we have a basic difference in how to start counting time. So, the baseline of counting time, or initial point of counting, brought a seven- and eight-year difference between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars. There was a Roman monk named Dionysius Exiguus. He was responsible for discovering the name of Christ as the starting point of computation.

He considered the establishment of Rome, and he also actually tried to refer to many religious documents that made a seven- and eight-year difference. So they believed in different versions of Rome, and they were convinced that this man had made a mistake. Different professionals who wrote a book concerning calendar computation mentioned him as having made a mistake in calendar computation. So that’s the basic difference between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars. The initial point of our calendar is different from theirs.

Could you tell us about the 13th month of Ethiopia, known as Pagumen, and how it joined the list of months in the Ethiopian calendar?

When we consider the Ethiopian calendar, the other point people want to focus on is Pagumen, or Pagumenal, as we can say in Greek. Again, when we count time in astronomy, we have to define first what a day is, what a month is, and what a year is because the calculation of time is related to the celestial objects.

So when we try to find the definition of a day in Ethiopia and science, it is very different; a month and a year are also different. In science, a day might be considered an average of 24 hours. But it’s still been in science for exactly 24  hours. There is some variation because we consider the rotation or evolution of the Earth around the sun. So it’s not exactly 24 hours. Sometimes it becomes less, and sometimes it’s about 24 hours—taking an average solar day or a mean solar day. That is what we use currently for watches, computers and things like that. So when you consider an Ethiopian calendar, it’s not twenty-four hours, or 24 hours, 21 minutes, and 0.4 seconds. There are additional time fractions.

So, what does this mean when we say we have additional minutes and seconds? What does that bring to our calendar? If you count these 21 minutes, or if you collect all these 21 minutes, it gives us five, six, or seven pagumenal days. Every year, the Pagume becomes five days. Once within four years, it becomes six. And every 600 years, it becomes seven Pagume days.

If there is a 0.4-second difference per day and if you collect the 0.4 seconds, it becomes a day every 600 years. This is how the difference has been raised in our calendar due to our definition of time: a day, a month, and a year.

What was the reason for the Ethiopian calendar to start in September?

Human beings should count time. If you are not counting time, you cannot do any activity. Our calendar should be related to seasons, as the main objective of the calendar is to synchronize with seasons so we can accomplish our daily activities or lead our lives properly. So when it’s a new year, especially for us, it means a lot because people plan for their future.

In the 2015 Ethiopian calendar, we have been doing a lot of things. When the New Year comes, people frame resolutions to do new things. They change a lot of things. The new year is a way of planning something for ourselves to make ourselves better than the previous year.

The New year is also related to our history. For example, if you want to write about Ethiopian history, you have to go back to the era of Noah and the big floods in the Bible. When we go to the time of Noah, they have been counting the time, especially the year starting from September or a month to start a year. And September is again related to the creation of the world, according to Ethiopians but not the Gregorian calendar.

According to the Ethiopian calendar, we usually celebrate our new year in September because we believe that the creation of human beings was in September. Noah (Character in the Bible) and his family came to Ethiopia in September. They started a new chapter of life. This month, they saw a yellow flower. There are some specific species in Ethiopia—about eight. So when they came here in September, the land was covered with yellow flowers. He said I have got some special gifts from this land.

So, the 1st of Meskerem (September 11) is a new year. Since then, we are still celebrating September as the first Month of the New Year. So, it is everything for us. We are also celebrating many of our traditions and religious festivals this month. If we take Meskel, the finding of the true cross is celebrated in this special month, September. Irrecha, a Thanksgiving day for the Oromo people, is also taking place this month. September is also a special day for girls who are chanting and dancing about the coming of the New Year. September is also related to our history: the queen of Sheba and King Solomon 2000 years ago, and Enkutatash is also related to that one. By and large, it is special for us.

To what extent is astronomy studied and developed in Ethiopia? Some say Ethiopians were the first to invent the science of stars. So what is your impression of that?

Some scholars argue that Ethiopians invented the science of the stars and even got the names of planets and stars. Many foreign authors wrote about Ethiopia, especially about astronomy-related cases. I said earlier that we have our calendar. This means if we do not know about astronomy, we basically cannot have our calendar. Unless it has documented knowledge of stars, planets, moons, or suns, a given country cannot bring its calendar. So, at least because we have our calendar, it means that we have a lot of knowledge back in time. That’s the case. So many people wrote about us.

As I’ve said, our definition of time and day is different according to our astronomy than that of science. We have to define the first day and then the most important events throughout the year. So, our definition of a year’s event is different from the Gregorian calendar due to the documented knowledge of this wisdom in astronomy.

Could you say something about the level

 of astronomy research in Ethiopia?

Over the last 10 or 15 years, it has been growing fast, especially since the establishment of the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS). A lot of things were done; for example, the Entoto Observatory Research Center is one result of ESSS. I was also part of this group. So, we have only two telescopes. I think the observatory is one of the indicators of space science growth in Ethiopia. And we have been trying to build a big telescope in Lalibela. So this telescope is still under construction.

There is also research conducted by professionals drawn from Bahir Dar University, Woldia University, and Mekelle University. So, we are doing a lot. Currently, for example, people can join Masters and PhD programs in astronomy, which is a big change. In our road map, which was launched seven years ago, we planned to start astronomy at the undergraduate level, but we still didn’t do that. It may be a reality in the future.

Previously, you mentioned some points about the Ethiopian Space Science Society and the Entoto Observatory Research Center. Could you say something about these two concepts?

 The Ethiopian Space Science Society is mostly doing outreach activities to raise awareness among the public. It is not engaged in the actual science. For example, they were teaching kids about astronomy concepts. To do the actual science, they need to have an observatory. Ethiopian Space Science Society started about 16 years ago, and it has been bringing Ethiopian space science and Geodesy institute. So this institute has come to mean a research center called an observatory. There is a research centre for other satellites in it.

At Entoto, you can find this telescope observatory and our satellites together with the receiver. So a lot of things are currently going on there. There are master’s and PhD students who have already been conducting research. However, some construction gaps are observed due to various reasons. By and large, we have this science facility.

As the board chairman of Ethiopian indigenous knowledge, what do you say about home-grown knowledge?

I am also the board chairman of the Ethiopian Indigenous Knowledge Research and Educational Centre. We are doing a lot of things. For example, this year, for the first time, our students graduated with indigenous knowledge, which is very imperative for the country. So we have been examining indigenous astronomy manuscripts to those essays which were written in Geez.

We also have plant science or herbal science indigenous knowledge. Medicine is one important segment. Several home-grown experiments need to be supported and developed through scientific research. We have also been teaching them cultural conflict resolution methods. In modern science, there are such kinds of things. But we need additional religious, cultural, and indigenous conflict resolution methods to be part of this. And there are also other things that we have included in this year and the coming years. About six cases were observed; we have to adopt some indigenous knowledge. That’s what we have been doing up until now.

About astronomy, what do you wish for Ethiopia to do?

Currently, especially among youngsters, the kids are highly motivated in astronomy. I wish to have special centres, especially for gifted and talented students. It is imperative to establish educational centres for such students in Addis Ababa and at least some major cities in Ethiopia. I want to have some because those highly motivated kids can solve a lot of problems in our country in science and different fields. I wish to have a huge telescope in the capital city. I wish to have big telescopes in different parts of our country. In addition to that, I wish to have additional space and satellites, especially communication satellites, for our country.

Thank you very much for your time and we wish you a Happy New Year!

It is my pleasure.

BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2023

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