Next Tuesday the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the Coptic New Year 1729
The Coptic calendar has its origin in the ancient Egyptian calendar of 12 30-day months plus a “small month” of five days in a simple year and six in a leap year. There are three seasons based on the agricultural cycle: the season of inundation, sowing, and harvest. The months still bear the names of the ancient Egyptian deities.
Even though Khedive Isamil, Egypt’s 18th century ruler, annulled the official use of the Coptic calendar in favour of the more international Gregorian one, Egyptian farmers to this day use their ancestor’s calendar.
The Coptic Church too follows that calendar, hence the name the ‘Coptic calendar’. The Copts used the year AD 284, the year the Roman Emperor Diocletian who martyred thousands of Egyptian Christians, ascended the throne as the beginning of their calendar—the one still in use by the Church today.
To honour the New Year day, Copts will be celebrating Holy Mass and singing their special praise for the occasion: “Lord, crown the year with the blessings of Your goodness.”
And, yes, they will be eating the red dates now in season; recalling the red blood of the martyrs, their pure white hearts, and their stiff, stanch faith. All in a wonderful red date with its white heart and stiff stone.
WATANI International
9 September 2012
