Copts in ancient Egyptian memory

Today, Egypt celebrates the Coptic new year of 1737, the feast of "Nayrouz". A lot of Coptic aspects take after ancient Egypt and the Coptic calendar is no different. The Copts themselves are the reason behind the more modern naming of Egypt derived from "the land of the Copts". Whatever evidence we have of ancient Egyptian pronunciation is based on the Coptic language, which is heavily derived from Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics but written in modified Greek letters.

The Coptic Calendar: commemorating the martyrs

The Coptic calendar we know today has officially started to commemorate the memory of the martyrs of the widespread persecutions conducted by the Roman empire, especially during the years of emperor Diocletian. Theses events led to the formation of the independent Coptic church and its adoption of the Coptic calendar to start with the month of "Tout", the month of the Martyrs coinciding with the start of Diocletian's bloody reign in 284 AD.  

The calendar has 13 months starting on the 11th of September on today's Georgian calendar or the 12th on the year before the Georgian or Julian leap years. Each month has 30 days except for the last intermediate month "Nasie" which has only five days becoming 6 in leap years. With the Coptic calendar, we use the suffix A.M. Anno Martyrum or the Year of the Martyrs.

The ancient Egyptian calendar

The Civil calendar originally dates far back to Djoser's vizier and extraordinary polymath Imhottep. The Egyptians essentially observed the Dog Star Sirius, which appeared just before sunrise on certain intervals and heralded the flooding of the Nile, therefore introducing the three seasons. The ancient Egyptian calendar was the first recorded using the solar year containing 365 days. It had 12 months of 30 days and an extra month of five. So, the first month of Tout in the Coptic calendar is actually the month of Thot (God of Science and Wisdom), the first month of inundation. Arranging the year according to the seasons of flood, growth and harvest was the most convenient to governing the agriculturally based economy of Egypt and keeping the order in the country. However, this calendar did not have a leap year introducing inaccuracies in its dating. 

This makes the Coptic calendar not only born from sacrifice, but derived from the toil of the ancient Egyptians in all authenticity. 

Ancient Egyptian Calendar at Kom Ombo
This Civil calendar at the Temple of Kom Ombo shows the days according to the three seasons of "Peret", "Akhet" and "Shemu"

Sources:
World Book Encyclopedia

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