Ethiopian Clocks and Time

 

Ethiopia has also it own way of telling time. Each day has 24 hours of day light followed by the night. In other words, 24 hours are equally divided into day and night, each consisting of 12 hours from sunrise to sunset and vice versa.
Ethiopian days begin at sunrise with hour 1 and the end is around the sunset at around 12. However, it should be clear that the Ethiopian clock time is six hours different from international usage. For instance; one o’clock in the morning Ethiopian time is actually seven o’clock in the international time. In addition, the local time here is three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Coordinated Universal Time (CUT). For example, seven hours in Ethiopia is equal to four hours GMT.

The names of the days of a week are reflections of the story of creation. Each day is named after the order of the days of creation is indicated in the table below.
Name of the Day in English
Name of the Day in Amharic
The Meaning of the Original Term
Monday
Segno
Second day of creation
Tuesday
Maksegno
Third day of creation
Wednesday
Irob
Fourth day of creation
Thursday
Hamus
Fifth day of creation
Friday
Arb
The last day for creation
Saturday
Kidame
The former Sabbath
Sunday
Ihud
First day of creation

Name of Ethiopian Months

No
Ethiopian Month
Gregorian Equivalent Dates
1
Meskerem
September 11 – October 10
2
Tikimet
October 11 – November 9
3
Hidar
November 10 – December 9
4
Tahsas
December – January 8
5
Tir
January 9 – February 7
6
Yekatit
February – March 9
7
Megabit
March 10 – April 8
8
Miyazia
April 9 – May 8
9
Ginbot
May 9 – June 7
10
Sene
June 8 – July 7
11
Hamle
July 8 – August 6
12
Nahassie
August 7 – September 5
13
Pagumie

September 6 – September 10

(Ends September 11 during leap years