Catching the Millennium in Ethiopia

Via Reuters AlertNet -

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The countdown has started on a flickering billboard high above a roundabout in Ethiopia's capital, blinking out recently in red and gold letters: only 209 days, 15 hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds to the Millennium.

Seven years after much of the world marked the beginning of the 21st century, Ethiopia is finally approaching the year 2000, thanks to a unique and ancient system of measuring time.
A variation on the archaic Julian calendar -- which started disappearing from the West in the 16th century -- means Ethiopia will not enter the year 2000 until Sept. 12 this year.

"When everyone else celebrated their millennium, they said all sorts of things were going to happen, but nothing happened," Addis Ababa-based film director Tatek Tadesse said.

"Now all the prophecies they made about 2000 will happen this time round on the true Millennium. It will be a new age for Ethiopia," said Tatek who is putting the final touches to a film inspired by the historic event.

Unlike the Gregorian calendar used widely in the West, Ethiopia's version squeezes 13 months into every year -- 12 months comprising 30 days each and a final month made up of just five or six days depending on whether it is a leap year.

Time is also measured differently in the Horn of Africa country. Days start at dawn rather than midnight.

"There is lots of opportunity for confusion when it comes to times and dates," said Tamrat Giorgis, editor of the country's largest English-language business newspaper, Fortune.