Ethiopians celebrate New Year, which begins on the 11th of September and on September 12th during the leap year. The Ethiopian calendar, like that of the Coptic, has 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days or 6 days every fourth year and is seven years back from the Gregorian calendar. This coming September Ethiopians will celebrate their own millennium. Ethiopians in the United States will also celebrate this important event.

The Washington DC area is the largest concentration of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia. General estimates are around a hundred thousand. Washington DC is therefore the ideal venue for Ethiopian communities across North America, and perhaps other places where the Ethiopian Diaspora lives, to come together and mark the day.

Ethiopia's unique and historically old cultures are the pride of Africa, and we expect many communities from Africa and other admirers of the Ethiopian cultural heritage to join the marking of this important day.

African Americans in particular will be interested to have closer look at one of the most fascinating traditions of Africa. This will be an opportunity to once more introduce Ethiopia to other communities and show that Ethiopia is not a place of misery and poverty alone and that it has huge contributions to the world and humanity.