The 'Thai solar calendar', 'Suriyakati' (
Thai: สุริยคติ), has been the official and prevalent
calendar in
Thailand since it was adopted by King
Chulalongkorn in
1888, although the Western calendar year is sometimes used in business, and quite often in banking.
August 2004/2547BE
Label
Thai calendars show both the 'Buddhist Era' ('BE', ''Phuttasakarat''), abbreviated ''Pho So'' (); and the
Christian Era (, ''kritsakarat'') , abbreviated ''Kho So'' (). They also show Chinese numerals for the Common Era and
Chinese Lunar dates. As lunar dates determine
Buddhist Sabbaths ( ''Wan Phra''), as well as many
Chinese traditional festivals, both
lunar calendar and
Chinese lunar dates are shown.
★ ''Wan Pra'' are marked with a Buddha image, and Chinese holidays with red
Chinese characters.
★ Scrawled blue figures (in this example ''078'' on the 15th and, above left, ''538'' on the 19th and ''2576'' on the 31st) mark dates national lottery numbers were drawn.
★ Lunar dates and the year's
Animal are recorded on Thai birth certificates after the official date. The Thai reckon their ages by the Twelve-Animal sequence, though the official calendar determines age at law; as, for instance, the
Queen's Birthday, August 12, a public holiday also celebrated as Thai Mothers' Day.
The months and days of the week are the same as those used in the western
Gregorian calendar. Names of the months derive from
Hindu names of the signs of the zodiac.
Days of the week are named after the Sun and Moon, and translations of the names of the five classical planets. The year is counted from the
'Buddhist Era' (B.E.), which is 543 years earlier than the Christian Era (
A.D.). For example, A.D.
2007 is equivalent to 2550 B.E. The era is based on the passing away (Parinibbana) of
Gautama Buddha, which is dated to
543 BC by the Thai (although some sources state that Buddha died in
483 BC). It is important to remember that only from
January 1,
1941 onwards does this 543 addition/subtraction rule work perfectly — see below.
The calendar,decreed by King
Chulalongkorn (Rama V), was called ''Ratana Kosindra Sok'' (), and was nearly identical with the western
Gregorian calendar. Year counting, however, was in reference of the date of the founding of
Bangkok (Ratana Kosindra),
April 6 1782 (the first day of Year 1 Ratana Kosindra Era (), abbr. () ro so). King
Vajiravudh (Rama VI) changed the year counting to Buddhist Era in
1912 and fixed the start of a year to April 1.
In
1941 (2484 B.E.) as
World War II loomed on the horizon, Prime Minister
Phibunsongkhram per decree made January 1 the official start of a new year (so year 2483 B.E. had only nine months). When converting a date prior to that year, check whether it falls between January 1 and March 31: if so the number to add or subtract is 542, not 543.
This chart shows changed Thai new year day in 2484 BE comparing with AD.
Today, both the Common-Era New Year's Day (January 1) and the traditional
''Songkran'' () celebrations (April 13-15) are public holidays on the official calendar. Public holidays on the official calendar for Buddhist and Chinese
feasts are still calculated according to the lunar calendar, so their dates change with respect to the solar calendar every year.
Thirty-day-month names end with -yon, which is from the Sanskrit root -ayana, meaning ''the arrival of''; 31-day-month names with -khom, which is from Sanskrit -agama which also means ''the arrival of''. February's name ends with , ''fettered'' or ''bound''. The day added to February in a solar leap year is named ''Athikasuratin'' ; respelled to aid pronunciation .
[1]
Note: The colours are the traditional Thai birthday colours associated with the
days of the week:
red,
yellow,
pink,
green,
orange,
blue and
purple.
See also
★
Buddhist calendar
★
Public holidays in Thailand
References
★ นายเปลื้อง ณ นคร ผู้รวบรวม ปทานุกรมนักเรียน ไทยวัฒนาพานิช กทม. Mr. Bleung na Nakorn, Compiler, Student's Handbook, Thai Wattana Panit, Bangkok 2514
★ Thai calendar for August 2004
★ Sethaputra, So. ''New Model English - Thai Dictionary'', ISBN 974-08-3253-9
★
Web dictionary Thai-English English-Thai
★ J.C. Eade. ''The calendrical systems of mainland south-east Asia''. ISBN 90-04-10437-2
External link
★
Thai Time by Anthony Diller
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