Even though many civilizations prefer their own calendars to the Gregorian calendar used in the West, the majority still adhere to the unwritten “12 months to a year” guideline. Ethiopian is not. Always one to defy convention, the Ethiopians adopted Spinal Tap’s maxim that “one more is always better” and have been counting down the days to the new year ever since. Why does this matter? That 2017 is still 2009 there, I guess. Additionally, clever tourism boards might assert that the nation actually does have “13 months of sunshine.” Ethiopians use a different system to calculate the hours in a day. They believe it’s less because of a line of reasoning that’s somewhat difficult to contest. Locals will never get tired of telling you that Ethiopia is the only African nation that has never been colonially ruled. Fair enough as well. The Ethiopian forces were conducting a military resistance the entire time, and the entire country was never brought under control. The Italians did attempt colonisation in 1935 and were successful in doing so for six years. “We waited until they had built us railways and nice buildings… and then kicked them out,” other people said. Ethiopia is a vibrant and vivid nation with many colourful celebrations. The largest, Timket, is a three-day annual event that commemorates Jesus Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River.
