Our story
The Ethiopian calendar, in your pocket since 2003 ዓ.ም.
EtCal is the trusted Ethiopian calendar app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android, serving users in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and across the global Habesha diaspora.
The app brings thirteen months, holidays, fasts, feasts, Bahire Hasab, date conversion, reminders, PDF Export, ICS sharing, widgets, and offline access into one familiar experience.
What is EtCal?
A practical app for Ethiopian timekeeping.
EtCal answers the everyday question: what is today's Ethiopian date, and what important dates are coming next?
The Ethiopian calendar is unlike any other in everyday use: thirteen months, a tradition older than most living calendars, and a year that is currently seven to eight years behind the Western one. EtCal keeps that calendar close to daily life on phones, watches, and home screens.
Users can check Ethiopian and Gregorian dates together, browse national holidays and Orthodox fasts and feasts, follow Muslim and regional observances, convert dates, set reminders, create printable PDF calendars, and share holidays or events as ICS calendar files.
Sixteen years of carrying Ethiopian time
From feature phones to modern iOS and Android.
EtCal began as a small utility for the devices Habesha users actually carried, then grew with the community.
EtCal began as a compact Ethiopian calendar utility for J2ME-era feature phones, showing the 13 months and essential holidays on small screens.
The app was rebuilt for modern smartphones, adding richer holiday data, navigation, conversion, and familiar mobile interaction.
The latest generation brings reminders, countdowns, PDF Export, ICS sharing, widgets, Apple Watch support, search, and stronger multilingual holiday content.
What you get in the app
Calendar tools with cultural context.
The website previews EtCal. The complete experience lives in the iOS and Android apps.
The Ethiopian calendar
A calendar older than most living traditions.
EtCal presents Ethiopian dates together with Gregorian context so the calendar is practical for family, work, faith, and travel.
Thirteen months
A full Ethiopian year has twelve months of exactly thirty days, plus Pagume (ጳጉሜን), the short thirteenth month with five days in a normal year and six in a leap year.
Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash, usually falls on September 11 Gregorian, or September 12 in years preceding a Gregorian leap year.
Seven to eight years different
The Ethiopian year differs from the Gregorian year because of older era calculations about the birth of Christ. The practical result is familiar to EtCal users: the Ethiopian year is usually seven or eight years behind the Western calendar.
Credits and sources
Calendar details are reviewed carefully.
EtCal checks holiday names, dates, and history against app data and trusted references.
History and calendar context
- The older EtCal WordPress material that documented the app and calendar background.
- EtCal iOS and Android app source data as the product source of truth.
Holiday and cultural review
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church material for Orthodox holidays, fasts, and feasts.
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage material for cultural festivals.
- Sewasew and Ethiopian public sources for Amharic spelling, Ge'ez terminology, and civic context.
Get in touch
Support, corrections, and feedback.
EtCal is created and maintained by Elias Haileselassie Tsigie. The app has been free since 2003 ዓ.ም and remains focused on serving the community.