Thai lunar calendar
Buddhist calendar used in Thailand
The Thai lunar calendar (Thai: ปฏิทินจันทรคติ, RTGS: patithin chanthrakhati, pronounced [pà.tì.tʰīn t͡ɕān.tʰrá(ʔ).kʰā.tìʔ], literally, Specific days according to lunar norms), or Tai calendar, is a lunisolar Buddhist calendar. It is used for calculating lunar-regulated holy days. Based on the SuriyaYatra, with likely influence from the traditional Hindu Surya Siddhanta, it has its own unique structure that does not require the Surya Siddhanta to calculate. Lunisolar calendars combine lunar and solar calendars for a nominal year of 12 months. An extra day or an extra 30-day month is intercalated at irregular intervals.
Legal versus religious calendar
The Thai solar calendar (Thai: ปฏิทินสุริยคติ, RTGS: patithin suriyakhati, [pà.tì.tʰin sù.rí.já.kʰàʔ.tìʔ]), Thailand's version of the Gregorian calendar, replaced the patithin chanthrakhati in AD 1888 / 2431 BE for legal and commercial purposes. In both calendars, the four principal lunar phases determine Buddhist Uposathas, obligatory holy days for observant Buddhists. Significant days also include feast days.
Note that the Thai and the Chinese lunar calendars do not directly correspond. Thai Chinese likewise observe their Uposatha and traditional Chinese holidays according to solar terms, two of which correspond to one lunar phase.
“Thai lunar calendar” enters the record as buddhist calendar used in Thailand. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thai, lunar and calendar can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1284624. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1888.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thai lunar calendar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.