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While it's not a time zone as such, most Ethiopians use a time system where 12:00 is at dawn and dusk rather than noon and midnight. A similar system is in use

While it's not a time zone as such, most Ethiopians use a time system where 12:00 is at dawn and dusk rather than noon and midnight. A similar system is in use on Mount Athos.

nerdponx 6y ago
I assume most of Ethiopia is close enough to the equator that days don't change in length much throughout the year?
- sdiq 6y ago
  Indeed Ethiopia is close to the equator - just slightly to the north of the equator. We use the same convention in most of East Africa. In Swahili, which is spoken in Tanzania, Kenya, etc, you begin counting the hours from daybreak up to dusk which is around 12 and then start over from just before till dawn again. Surprisingly, in Somalia, this convention is used in the southern parts that were colonised by Italy. In the north, noon is 12p.
kirse 6y ago
Which makes sense for that region, fun fact given Easter weekend and all, most Biblical recordings of time use hour 0 == dawn. There are many of these, but Acts 2:15 is a good example -> https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2%3A14-47&version=NASB https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2%3A14-47&...
sb057 6y ago
>A similar system is in use on Mount Athos. Liturgically, both Catholics and Orthodox (and I believe various other more traditional Christian denominations) refer to dawn as the first hour, roughly midday as the sixth hour, etc.