The Ethiopian Calendar, Pagume, & “The Opening of Heaven”

“Why are you fasting Pagume?” a friend asked me.

“I have never done it before,” I replied with a smile, “so why not?”

That simple exchange opened a doorway into something far greater. To fast during Pagume is not merely to deny the body; it is to step into a rhythm older than empires, a spiritual cadence that predates calendars imposed by others. It is to align oneself with the Ethiopian calendar, a living map of heaven and earth, woven with mysticism, cosmic order, and the enduring wisdom of our ancestors.

Ethiopia’s Calendar: A Cosmic Blueprint

The Ethiopian calendar, known in its ancient form as the Ge’ez calendar, has twelve months of thirty days each, plus a thirteenth month, Pagume, of five or six days depending on whether it is a leap year. This unique structure is not arbitrary. It is a solar calendar closely related to the Coptic calendar of the Coptic Orthodox Church of  a legacy of ancient astronomical calculations. Every four-year cycle is dedicated to the Four Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John with the year of Luke serving as the leap year. This interweaving of scripture and cosmos consecrates time itself.

Ethiopia counts its years differently from the Western world, not because it lags, but due to an alternate calculation of the Annunciation of Jesus Christ. While the West marks 2025, we celebrate 2017 & 2018, moving to the pulse of an ancestral light that has always guided us. The year count is approximately seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar, a testament to a unique and unbroken lineage of faith and timekeeping.

Pagume is the seam of time—the hidden month that completes the cosmic circle before the New Year dawns. It is a sacred pause where the old year can be released and a new one embraced.

Pagume: The Opening of Heaven (Rehiwe Semay)

The thirteenth month is called Rehiwe Semay, a Ge'ez phrase meaning “The Opening of Heaven.” For these brief, final days of the year, the veil between our prayers and the divine is believed to be exceptionally thin. The twelve months are given to human labor, but the thirteenth belongs to the angels. It is a time for heightened fasting, prayer, and silence, observed to prepare the spirit for blessings and to step fully into sacred alignment.

It is also a time of purging and healing—a chance to release what no longer serves, to cleanse the heart, body, and mind of the previous year’s burdens, and to make space for new beginnings. Pain, fear, resentment, and fatigue are surrendered to the sacred rhythm of Pagume, to be carried away by the purifying rains and the fire of gratitude.

On the third day of Pagume, the miracles of Saint Raphael are remembered. He is the archangel who heals, protects marriages, and blesses childbirth. Rain that falls on this day is considered holy, carrying blessings into homes, into the land, and into the people. Children laugh and dance in it; women may even sprinkle it into their Injera dough. Nature itself seems to bend to the rhythm of heaven during this powerful interlude.

Cosmos & Calendar

The Ethiopian calendar is both astronomical and mystical. Months align with the sun’s journey through the sky and the stars our ancestors watched. Enkutatash, the New Year, arrives on September 11th (or the 12th in a leap year), a date that often coincides with the sun entering the zodiac sign of Virgo, a season of harvest, renewal, and rebirth.

Pagume serves as the cosmic adjustment, a bridge between Earth’s imperfect orbit and heaven’s perfect design. Mystics speak of the calendar as a living cross:

 * The vertical line is heaven’s eternal rhythm—the sun, stars, and angels.

 * The horizontal line is Earth’s cycle—the days, months, and human life.

 * At the intersection stands Pagume, where heaven kisses Earth, where the old year is released, and where humanity is invited to begin anew.

My Silent Retreat

This year, I chose to step into Pagume consciously. For five days, I fasted and kept silence, meditating on this sacred doorway. On the third day, the heavens themselves confirmed the mystery it rained. I walked into it, letting the holy water wash me clean, purging the fatigue, worries, and attachments of the year past from my body, my home, and my spirit.

The reward was profound clarity, peace, and renewal. My spirit opened, as if heaven itself had stepped inside me. It was a powerful lesson in surrendering to a divine rhythm. Even the Netflix series Lost, which I happened to watch, seemed to echo these truths: faith, fate, love, and the invisible threads connecting us all. Everything aligned from the stars above to the stories we live on Earth.

Pagume is more than just a few extra days. It is a mystical pause, a holy seam in the fabric of time. It is where Earth’s imperfect count is corrected by heaven’s perfect order. It is where angels walk among us. Where rain turns holy. Where fasting sharpens the soul, and prayers rise like incense into the open sky. It is where the old year is released, purged, and carried away to make space for new beginnings.

As Ethiopia steps into 2017, I carry the blessings of Pagume the silence, the cleansing, the discipline, and the sacred reminder that time itself is alive, healing, and ready to renew us.

Enkuan Aderesachu. Happy New Year.

By Dutchess@deldeyoch