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pontifical archives. Renowned for
his scholarliness, in 525, Dionysius
Exiguus was assigned the task of
calculating the birth of Christ. This
is where he made the unforgiv-
able mistake of using the Roman
system that marks the founding of
Rome, for calculating the birth of
Jesus Christ. The mistake end-
ed up adding extra 8-year to the
birth of Christ. Despite this error,
Dionysius influenced the modern
world as the inventor of Anno
Domini (AD). Ethiopia had already
adopted Christianity by this time,
and strictly observed the calendar,
which had not been tampered with
and tweaked by Denis the Little. In
the end, the rest of the world fails
to correct the error while accept-
“Timkat”. It’s a celebration done on January 19th. A three-day celebra- ing it. In the end, we are all living
tion of remembering the baptism of Christ. in 2014, even if most assume it’s
2022.
The Bible makes no reference to
an exact date, but there are refer-
of nationality in religion. As you shine. That is correct, we have 13 ences to the season. We can find
will come to discover hereunder, months! Here is why. Each month the Bible reference in statements
I am simply implying the distinct in Ethiopia has 30 days. You may from Luke 2:10-21. While the Bible
features of Christmas in Ethiopia. be concerned about the remaining does not mention the birth date of
Let us begin with the calendar and 5 or 6 days. Well, we have gathered Jesus Christ, the reference made
progress to other variations. the remaining days together and to shepherds and sheep spending
created a 13th month consisting the night out when first hearing of
Ethiopians continue to use a cal- of 5 days, and 6 days every fourth Christ’s birth, indicates spring rath-
endar which resembles both Julian year. We call this month, Puagme. er than winter. If this is the truth,
and Gregorian calendars, and yet And the reference to ‘sunshine’ is then why do Christians in Euro-
is different in a major way. We do made to show that even the rainy pean and other nations celebrate it
have a year with 365 days with the season, unlike winter, allows the during winter?
4th year having 366 days, but we sun to shine on the people.
have more months. Ethiopia or Saturnalia and Christmas
Abyssinia is among the few nations This still does not answer the
who possess a fully developed eight-year difference, so let us ex- To answer this question, we will
momentarily shift our focus to
language: spoken and written. I am pound a little on it. An Ethiopian
referring to the Geez language. Of writer named Solomon Abebe Che- Christmas in European nations,
Semitic origin, ‘Geez’ was the lan- kol wrote about the issue in 2007, and come back to Ethiopia after-
guage of the ancient Abyssinian/ and thanks to his article, I was led wards. Here, I would like to point
Ethiopian empire. Geez remains to various literatures. According- out that the reference to Europe
applies to the rest of the world
functional in Ethiopia, primarily as ly, we discover that the mistake is
the language of Ethiopian Ortho- attributed to a monk/abbot by the that was under the influence of
dox Church. The Ethiopian cal- name Dionysius Exiguus, AKA Europe. The influence finds its
endar uses a system developed by Denis the Little. Dionysius Exiguus origins in colonization, slavery and
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. arrived in Rome in 496, at the re- Westernization in the name of
globalization. Most contend that
Accordingly, Ethiopia is referred as quest of Pope St. Gelasius. He was
a land with 13 months of sun- given the task of organizing the Westernized Christmas resembles,
in time and manner of celebration,

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