Enkutatash is the name of Ethiopia’s New Year festival, usually celebrated on September 11.
Ethiopia follows the Ethiopian calendar, which places New Year’s Day at the beginning of the month of Meskerem. In most years Enkutatash falls on September 11; it falls on September 12 in the year before a Gregorian leap year. The holiday marks the end of the rainy season and the appearance of bright flowers across the highlands.
Celebrations may include church services, family gatherings, singing, dancing, and children presenting bouquets of yellow daisies called adey abeba. The word Enkutatash is commonly translated as “gift of jewels,” and tradition connects the name with the return of the Queen of Sheba.
Enkutatash is not the same as Timkat, the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, or Meskel, which commemorates the discovery of the True Cross. Those holidays also follow Ethiopia’s calendar but occur on different dates.