Can you imagine living in a place where the official date is not 2010, but 2553? No, I am not crazy, I did not allow my fantasies to go wild, and I do not live on another planet. Such a place does exist, it is called Thailand, and here they use a different calendar which puts us in the year 2553.
Our western calendar begins at the birth of Jesus, 2010 years ago. The Buddhist calendar begins with the birth of Buddha, 2553 years ago. The dates in Thailand generally use the Buddhist year which can be quite confusing for anyone not familiar with this system. Buddha was born 543 years before Jesus, so if you add this number to the year 2010 you will arrive at 2553 of the Buddhist calendar.
The Buddhist New Year is celebrated in mid-April which is the hottest time of the year. This New Year’s celebration is for the most part a water throwing event where everyone comes out and soaks whoever is in range with plenty of water. Where I live, in Chiang Mai, the water throwing goes on for a solid seven days.
Although the Thais celebrate their New Year in April, they start counting it as of January 1. When you see a date written in Thailand, it is generally a combination of two calendars: the day and the month are based on the Christian calendar and the year is taken from the Buddhist calendar.
The actual Buddhist calendar is quite complicated and is generally used to calculate dates for religious events and big festivals. Each calendar day has a specific significance and can tell you if it is a good time for important decisions, financial transactions, weddings, or travel. So this calendar is more than a way to keep track of time. The younger Thais nowadays don’t understand how to calculate and use the Buddhist calendar anymore. It is mostly the older people and scholarly monks who are still familiar with it.
Believe it or not, there is a third New Year in Thailand, and that is celebrated by the six million Chinese that are part of the ethnic mix here. They have their own calendar again and their own colorful and noisy New Year’s celebration in late January or early February. The tell tale sign of a Chinese party is the machine gun like sound of small firecrackers.These are small firecrackers strung up one after another, and they explode in rapid-fire fashion. Another typical and characteristic Chinese event is the lion dance, a sometimes highly acrobatic dance performance of two men in a lion’s costume.
Most international business in the world uses the Gregorian Christian calendar, and the Thais do so as well. They are familiar with both systems, and January 1 is a public holiday here as well and is celebrated just like in the west with countdown and big fireworks.
Thais love a good party and take every opportunity to celebrate something - flower festivals, food festivals, New Year’s festivals, temple festivals, the king’s birthday, Buddha days, and many others. Some festivals last several days and include huge parades, lavish festivities with spectacular floats, colorful parades, performances of singing, dancing, and of course eating. Their dates vary since they are mostly based on the Buddhist calendar.
Now it is 2010 in Thailand and it is also 2553. So we celebrate New Year three times a year, and we are sometimes confused about what the date is, but we don’t worry about it and just join the party! The Thai way of saying that is “maipenrai” – meaning “don’t worry”, “it doesn’t matter”, “it’s no big deal”, “it’s ok”. This is a useful word to know when you visit Thailand since it reflects the Thai attitude about life beautifully.
I give you some examples how to use it:“January 1 New Year is not really part of our tradition, but maipenrai, it’s a great opportunity to have a fantastic party, so let’s celebrate it”. Or: “Christmas has nothing to do with Buddhism, but maipenrai, it’s another reason to have a party, so let’s celebrate it anyway”.
It would never occur to the Thais to argue that Christmas is not a Buddhist affair and therefore has no place here, or that there might be a conflict with the Buddhist religion. Now can you imagine the USA or any western country putting on a national festival for a Buddhist holiday just for the fun of it? Not likely! But the Thais are highly tolerant, fun loving and non judgmental when it comes to other religions. Thais are fun loving people, and there is always one festival or another happening wherever you are. This is one of the great pleasures of living here.