The calendar of the Ethiopian Orthodox church came from Egypt and as to methods and dates agree with the calendar of the Coptic Church. But the two calendars differ with regard to the saints’ days and the time of observing them. The year of the Ethiopian calendar contains 365 days to which is added every fourth year an extra day. Each year in this four-year period is dedicated to one of the four Evangelists who come in the following order: Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. The year of Luke is the Ethiopian Leap year and is the year which precedes the western leap year.
As we know 43%of the populations in Ethiopia is Orthodox. The total number of fasting days amounts to about 250 a year, of which about 180 are obligatory for all, and the rest are only for priests, monks, nuns and other special groups in the church. In this fasting time they didn’t eat animals product like milk, butter meat …etc. Every Wednesday and Friday is days of fasting because on Wednesday the Jews held a council in which they rejected and condemned our Lord and on Friday they crucified him. The fasts are ordained in the Fetha Negestare:
- Fast for Hudadi or AbiyeTsome (Lent), 56 days.
- Fast of the Apostles, 10-40 days, which the Apostles kept after they had received the
Holy Spirit. It begins after Pentecost. - The fast of Assumption, 16 days.
- The gahad of Christmas (on the eve of Christmas).
- The fast-preceding Christmas, 40 days. It begins with Sibket on 15th Hedar and ends
on Christmas eve with the feast of Gena and the 28th of Tahsas. - The fast of Nineveh, commemorating the preaching of Jonah. It comes on Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday of the third week before Lent. - The gahad of Epiphany, fast on the eve of Epiphany.
Source: https://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/calendar.html
