👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Mystery of the #New #Year, the Month of #Meskerem, and the Commemoration of Saint John (2018)
Beloved in Christ, children of the Holy Church, grace and peace be to you. Let us now meditate on the mystery of the New Year as it is revealed to us in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaḥedo Church, and let us uncover why the first day of Meskerem is sanctified, why it is adorned with the remembrance of Saint John the Baptist, and how this holy time calls us to repentance and renewal.
1. When is the New Year Celebrated?
When the measure of an era is fulfilled and the old cycle comes to its end, the Church marks this turning of time with a holy day. This day is called by many names: the change of the year, the beginning of the year,Enkutatash and in Gëʿëz, the “ርዕሰ አውዳ ዓመት” (Ri-E'se Awdamet ). Each year, on the first day of the month of (Meskerem 1 by the Ethiopian reckoning), the faithful gather to proclaim the passage from one age into another.
It marks the passing of the old time and the beginning of a new one. The Church teaches us that this day belongs to God, for He is the Lord of time.
2,Why is the New Year Celebrated in Meskerem?
The fathers of the Church teach that the reason Ethiopia celebrates the New Year in Meskerem is that the sun, the moon, and the stars complete their yearly cycle in the small month of Pagumē and begin anew in "Meskerem". At this sacred turning, day and night are equal, each being twelve hours, just as in the beginning when God created balance and order.
The year, carefully counted, has 364 days, and thus the transition into Meskerem marks the fullness of creation’s cycle.
The Scriptures themselves bear witness:
“He created the sun, the moon, and the stars to mark the days” (1 Enoch 21:49).
Moreover, the Holy Tradition remembers that in this very month the waters of the great flood receded, and the earth appeared once again after sin had been washed away from the generation of Noah (Gen. 8:13; Kufal 7:1). Thus "Meskerem" is not only the renewal of the stars but also the renewal of the earth.
3. The Evangelists and the Order of the Year
The Church divides the times of the year according to the four Evangelists, for all history must be understood in the light of the Gospel:
He was conceived in the time of John and born in the time of Matthew.
He was baptized in the time of Mark.
He was crucified in the time of Luke and freed the world from sin and curse.
The fathers devised a sacred calculation: to determine which Evangelist governs a year, one must take the year of Mercy (the current year since the coming of Christ) and add it to 5500, the years of the Old Testament. Then The sum is divided by four, and the remainder reveals the Evangelist:
If remainder is 1, it is the time of Matthew.
If remainder is 2, it is the time of Mark.
If remainder is 3, it is the time of Luke.
If no remainder, it is the time of John.
In this way, time itself is joined to the preaching of the Gospel, and every year is sanctified under the voice of an Evangelist.
This calculation can be seen with an example:
2017 A.D. + 5500 = 7517.
When 7517 is divided by 4, the remainder is 1, which means the year belongs to Matthew.
2018 A.D. + 5500 = 7518.
When 7518 is divided by 4, the remainder is 2, which means the year belongs to Mark.
4. The Beauty of Enkutatash
The word Enkutatash also carries a deeper story. Tradition tells us that when the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting Solomon, he gifted her a ring of pearls ,saying: “Gold for your finger.” or enku le-tatsh) From this, the New Year in Ethiopia came to be called "Enkutatash," meaning a jewel, a gift, or a crown of time.
In Ethiopia, this is also the season when the land is renewed by rain and filled with blossoms. Children and young girls dress in white, carry green grass and bright yellow flowers, and sing songs of thanksgiving to God for blessing the new year.
Continues 👇🏾