Would you believe that I live in a place where the year is 2553? No, I am not insane, I didn’t watch one too many science fiction movies, 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.
The Christian (Gregorian) calendar starts with the birth of Jesus, 2010 years ago. The Buddhist calendar starts with the birth of Buddha, 2553 years ago. Most dates in Thailand are written using the Buddhist year which tends to be very confusing for westerners. The secret is to subtract 543 years and you are right back to 2010.
The celebration of the Buddhist New Year happens in mid-April, the hottest and dryest season of the year. To deal with the intense heat the celebrations consist mostly of throwing water, and plenty of it, on every body in sight for one or several days depending on where you are in Thailand. The length of the event differs regionally from one day to the extreme of seven days in Chiang Mai.
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 from the Buddhist calendar.
The actual Buddhist calendar is quite complex and is generally used to calculate dates for religious events and big festivals. The calendar is more of a timing tool for calculating the ideal dates for crucial events or decisions in life rather than a time keeping system. So this calendar is more than a way to keep track of time. The younger Thais nowadays don’t know how to calculate and use the Buddhist calendar anymore. The tradition is being kept alive by monks and the older generation.
Thailand actually has a third New Year which is based on the Chinese tradition and is celebrated by six million Thai-Chinese. They have their own calendar again and their own colorful and noisy New Year’s celebration in late January or early February. You can always tell a Chinese celebration by what I call “machine gun firecrackers”. These are small firecrackers strung up one after another, and they explode in rapid-fire fashion. Another unique Chinese tradition is the lion dance where two men slip into the same colorful costume and together perform sometimes incredibly acrobatic dances that truly look like a gigantic animal is moving about.
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 also and is celebrated just like in the west with countdown and big fireworks.
In Thailand any excuse is good enough for a party, and the Thais have an impressive collection of them: Flower festivals, food festivals, New Year (all three of them), Buddha days, temple festivals, the king’s birthday and quite a few more. 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. And yes, we have three New Year’s celebrations every year, and if you are confused about what date it is on which calendar, 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”. When you visit Thailand, that’s a great word to know, since it can deflect many problems and it expresses the Thai way of thinking perfectly.
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 a non-Buddhist affair and therefore has no place here, or that there might be a conflict with the Buddhist religion. In contrast, can you imagine any western country celebrating a Buddhist festival or making it a national holiday? No chance! But the Thais are highly tolerant, fun loving and non judgmental when it comes to other religions. In Thailand you never have to wait for long until another festival is happening in your neighborhood. This is one of the great pleasures of living here.