The Coptic Calendar

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The exact date of the origin of the Coptic calendar is unknown , but it is believed that Imhotep , the supreme official of King Djoser C . 2670 BC was the one who first created the old Egyptian calendar , thus it is the oldest in history that was originated three millennia before Christ .
The Egyptians were the first to construct a solar calendar . They first formed a solar year of twelve months of thirty days each , plus one small month comprising five days only . Their year began with the heliacal rising of the star "Sirius" , which usually occurred at the beginning of the Nile flood season . The civil year of that era had only 365 days , though Egyptian scientists had recognized the true duration of the solar year .
However , in the meantime , they knew an astronomical calendar which is based on an astronomical concept of the heliacal rising of a bright star called Sirius "Canis Major , the Dog Star" , at the dawn of the eastern horizon . They called it 'Spdt' or 'Sotis' . The day on which the heliacal rising of Sirius occurs marks the first day of the year . Sirius or Spdt lies about 8 . 6 light years from earth . The first day coincides with the arrival of the highest point of River Nile flood at Memphis .
Ancient Egyptians realized that the heliacal rising of the star Sirius , or Sothis , coincides with the new year's day of the civil calendar , precisely every 1460 years .
Some sightings were recorded in the 7th year of the reign of King Senusert III (1878-1841 BC) . The dating of the event was the sixteenth day of the fourth month of the second season . The first day of the Egyptian Civil Year coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius , marking the end of a Sothic cycle .
Also a record exists by the 3rd century AD grammarian Censorinus who noticed that , in AD 139 , the first day of the Egyptian Civil Year coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius . This phenomenon was celebrated by issuing coins , on the back of which appears the Greek inscription 'A ION' , indicating an end of an Era .
Discrepancies between the yearly Stellar cycle and Solar cycle were realized along the course of centuries or millennia . The difference is very slight , however , along the course of time it became visible and chaotic . The following Ancient Egyptian interesting stories illustrate the resulting effect of the widening gap .
A record from an inscription from the reign of King Amenemhet III (1842-1797 BC) describes a visit of his treasurer Harurre to Serabit elKhadem , in Sinai , to extract turquoise ore in the third month of what was , according to the Civil Calendar , winter . The fact was , according to the inscription , the weather was that of high summer . Harurre describes how he and his men suffered badly from the mountains that brand the skin with the intense heat . The Civil calendar , then , was out of phase with Solar cycles by about seven months . A papyrus of the Ramesside Period describes in the 13th century BC: "Winter is come in Summer , the months are reversed , the hours in confusion . "
It should be noted that ancient Egyptian Civil Calendar relates to regal years of each king and their Dynasties . By counting forwards and backwards the chronological order was then related to three heliacal risings of the star Sirus mentioned above . By the year 664 BC , the beginning of the Twenty-six Dynasty (Saite Period) , the Egyptian chronology became more accurate . However , in spite of the stories mentioned above , the subdivision of the year into three seasons based on the regular River Nile flood and agricultural activities namely , inundation of the River Nile "Acht" , sowing "Bert" and harvesting "Shemmo" , remained accurately observed along the millennia . This subdivision possibly occurred during the Ramesside Period of the Nineteenth Dynasty .
The Romans imitated the Egyptians in constructing a solar calendar . The Egyptian scientist , Sosigenes , designed the Roman Calendar and Julius Caesar enforced it in the Roman Empire from the year 46 BC , in place of the lunar calendar . Augustus enforced the sixth intercalary day of the small month in the Egyptian calendar in 26 BC .
The present Coptic Calendar Year was started on the 29th August , 284 AD , the acute time of Christian martyrdom . The solar year adopted in the calendar is eleven minutes and fourteen seconds longer than the precise average solar year . The difference has accumulated since the beginning of the Coptic Era causing a 13-day delay in the Coptic Calendar on the present time . The Coptic Christmas is on January 7th .
The Coptic Year is the extension of the Ancient Egyptian Civil Year retaining its subdivision into the three seasons , four months each . This subdivision is maintained in the Coptic Calendar . The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Divine Liturgy .
The Coptic months are those inherited from their distant forbears of the Dynastic Period of Ancient Egypt . The farmers of the Coptic Period used them , and so do the Muslim farmers of present-day Egypt .
The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic Calendar known as the Year of the Martyrs "ANO MARTYRUM , A . M . " Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month named Tut , the first month of the Coptic Year , which usually coincides with the 11th day of September .
The Coptic Calendar has 13 months , 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not . The year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar or on the 12th in the year before (Gregorian) Leap Years . The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in the year before a Gregorian Leap Year . The names of the months and their starting dates are as follows:

:Wout (Tout) 11-Sep 12-Sep
Paopi (Baba) 11-Oct or 12-Oct
A;or (Hator) 10-Nov or 11-Nov
Aoiak (Kiahk) 10-Dec or 11-Dec
Twbi (Toba) 09-Jan or 10-Jan
Mesir (Amshir) 08-Feb or 09-Feb
Paremhat (Baramhat) 10-Mar
Varmoi (Baramouda) 09-Apr
Pasanc (Bashans) 09-May
Pawni (Paona) 08-Jun
Epyp (Epep) 08-Jul
Mecwry (Mesra) 07-Aug
Pikouji'n'abot (Nasie) 06-Sep