QUICK FACTS

Time: GMT +7 hours

Year: 2004 A.D. + 543 years = 2547 B.E.

Months: Officially same as Gregorian calendar though the lunar calendar is used for religious holidays.

DAYS OF THE WEEK

The days of the week are named after the planets in the same order as some Western countries. In Thai, day means wan (pronounced wun) and it comes before the name of the planet. When talking about the actual planets, then each word should be prefixed by dao (i.e. dao ahtit - the sun). Each day is also associated with a colour. Traditionally, people would wear items of clothing according to the colour of the day. However, this is not often seen now.

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

The calendar in Thailand can be a little confusing because of the different methods used for telling the months (duan) and the years (bee). However, the names of the months are remarkably straightforward, particularly if you want to know how many days in each month. Months that end in yon have 30 days and months that end in kom have 31 days. For example, January is called Mogarakom in Thai and so therefore has 30 days.

Lunar Calendar. The lunar calendar was adopted from the Chinese hundreds of years ago. It is very complicated to understand and these days it is only used for religious events. The lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon. Each complete cycle is 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes long, which is the time it takes for the Moon to complete its orbit around the Earth. Each month begins on the first day of the waxing moon (Wan Kuen 1 Kham). The middle of the month is on the full moon (Wan Kuen 15 Kham). Alternative months have either 29 or 30 days so the last day (Wan Dub) is either called Wan Ram 15 Kham or Wan Ram 14 Kham. In order to keep it synchronized with the seasons, an extra month is added every two or three years. Wan Phra are special holy days which fall on the 8th, 15th, 23rd, and 29th or 30th day of the lunar month. These are to Buddhists what Sundays are to Christians.

Solar Calendar. Thailand adopted the solar calendar during the reign of King Rama V in 1889, though using April 1st as the first day of the year. This was later changed in 1941 to January 1st in order to be in align with the Gregorian calendar which is now the official international calendar.

THE YEARS

In Thailand, there are several methods for telling the years. (The Thai word for year is bee.)

12 Year-Cycle. One of them is the 12 year-cycle which originally came from China and has been adapted slightly. Every twelve years people will have a special celebration either for a birthday or the anniversary of an important event.

Buddhist Era. The official year in Thailand is reckoned by the death of the Buddha. The year the Buddha reached nirvana is 0 B.E. To convert from A.D. to B.E., just add 543. For example, the year 2001 A.D. is 2544 B.E. in Thailand. Although the Buddhist Era dates are widely used, most people are aware of the anno domini dates. All credit cards issued in Thailand use A.D. dates. (It should be noted that India, Sri Lanka and Burma date the Buddha's death as 1 B.E., whereas Thailand, Laos and Cambodia date it as 0 B.E.)