Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed, Regional Presidents, senior government officials and top leaders of competitive political parties, who recently returned back home, are presided over the official celebration of the New Year at the Millennium Hall.
The carnival being celebrated under the motto of “let’s unite and leap with forgiveness” is expected to strengthen unity among Ethiopians.
Ethiopians are celebrating the New Year with unprecedented paraphernalia and national synergy to promote peace, love, unity and reconciliation.
As Ethiopian uses its own calendar, Enkutatash is the first day of the New Year in Ethiopia, which falls on the 11th of September or on the 12th during a leap year.
The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of 30 days plus five or six epagomenal days, which comprise a thirteenth month. The sixth epagomenal day is added every four years.
The Ethiopian New Year marks the end of the main rainy season and countryside turns into gold with daisies (adey abeba) covering the entire fields in rural areas in bloom at this time of the year.
The holiday is celebrated with the singing of special songs by girls dressed in traditional clothes and giving bouquets of flowers (adey abeba) to each household.