Ethiopia is approximately seven years behind the Western calender, according to TikTok videos that have recently gone viral.
While most of the world is living in 2022, Ethiopians are in 2014 and will ring in 2015 in September.
A video went viral where TikToker @The1Kevine broke it down.
“Ethiopia is behind like seven years. They have their own calendar, they have their own time zone and they have their own date,” she said.
She added that what makes it more interesting is that Ethiopia is the only African country that was not colonised.
In the Ethiopian calendar, the year has 12 months which have 30 days each and the 13th month has five or six days, depending on whether or not it is a leap year.
According to BBC, this is because the country calculates the birth year of Jesus Christ differently.
When the Catholic Church amended its calculation in 500 AD, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church did not.
Time is also counted differently. The day is divided into two 12-hour slots starting from 6am.
As mentioned earlier, Ethiopia is the only African country to never have been colonised.
Italy tried to invade Ethiopia, (or as it was then called, Abyssinia), in 1895, but it suffered a defeat.
A year later, Italy tried to push further into Ethiopia after it managed to occupy highlands on the coast, but they were once again defeated at the Battle of Adwa.
Italy was forced to sign a treaty recognising Ethiopia's independence. However, fascist leader Benito Mussolini violated the treaty, occupying the country for five years.
IOL