The '''[[Coptic]] calendar''', also called the '''Alexandrian Calendar''', is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is based on the Ancient [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar Egyptian calendar]. Egyptians were the first to calculate time. They divided the year into 12 months, according to their knowledge of the stars. They later discovered the solar year, and became dependent upon it. Each of the 12 months was 30 days long, and they added five more days, which they called the small month. Therefore, their year became 365 days long. To avoid the calendar creep of the latterAncient Egyptian calendar, a reform of the Ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of Ptolemy III (Decree of Canopus, in 238 BC) which consisted in the intercalation of a 6th epagomenal (auxiliary) day every fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the idea was not adopted until 25 BC, when the Roman Emperor Augustus formally reformed the calendar of Egypt, keeping it forever synchronized with the newly introduced Julian calendar. To distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the [[Ethiopian calendar]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_calendar] but have different Amharic names.

The Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Liturgy. This calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. (Egypt used the Coptic Calendar till the Khedive Ismael adopted the Western Gregorian in the nineteenth century and applied it in Egypt's government departments.) 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 [[August 29|29 August]] in the Julian Calendar or on the 30th in the year before (Julian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year.

:Thout also known as Tout is the first month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between [[September 11]] and [[October 10]] of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Thout is also the first month of the Season of 'Akhet' (Inundation- flood of the Nile) in Ancient Egypt, where the Nile floods cover the land of Egypt. The name of the month of Thout comes from Thot, the Ancient Egyptian God of Wisdom.