✦ zenith calendar · the theravada (thailand) almanac
the thai lunar year's holy days in one quiet layer of your sky, each one explained in its own tradition's words.
theravada (thailand) is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the buddhist holy days of thailand by the thai lunar calendar, as they are announced each year.
where a day falls on a sunday the government gives the monday off; the day itself is the one here. nothing is worked out on your phone. tap a day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
lunar · the thai lunar months, as announced each year
the full moon of the 3rd thai lunar month (the 4th, in a year with an added month)
the day thai buddhists honour the sangha, the community of the buddha's disciples: the day of the whole teaching in brief, do no evil, do good, purify the mind.
people give alms in the morning, keep the precepts, listen to the dhamma and meditate. in the evening they walk three times around the ordination hall with a lit candle, incense and flowers, the wian tian.
the full moon of the 6th thai lunar month (the 7th, in a year with an added month)
the holiest day of the buddhist year, remembering the buddha's birth, his awakening and his passing into final nibbāna on the one day.
people give alms in the morning, take the five or eight precepts, and spend the day at the temple hearing sermons and meditating. in the evening comes the wian tian by candlelight.
the full moon of the 8th thai lunar month
the day of the buddha's first teaching, the turning of the wheel of the dhamma, when the triple gem first stood complete: the buddha, the dhamma and the sangha.
people give alms in the morning, go to the temple to hear the dhamma, often the first sermon itself, and walk the wian tian by candlelight in the evening. the rains retreat begins the next day.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, theravada (thailand) puts its days on their dates on that ring, in lilac, the colour every buddhist reckoning wears. its mark is ☸, the dharma wheel.
each day carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
theravada (thailand) arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
theravada (thailand) shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
theravada (thailand) is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
theravada (thailand) is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
theravada (thailand) · buddhist reckonings ·
Makha Bucha falls on 21 February 2027, the full moon of the third Thai lunar month. In Zenith Calendar it sits on the ring of your year in the theravada (thailand) almanac.
Visakha Bucha falls on 20 May 2027. It remembers the Buddha's birth, his awakening and his passing into final nibbāna, all on one full moon.
Asarnha Bucha falls on 18 July 2027, the day of the Buddha's first teaching. Khao phansa, the start of the rains retreat, follows the next day.
The government gives the Monday off. In Zenith Calendar the day itself stays on its own date.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called theravada (thailand): the Buddhist holy days of Thailand by the Thai lunar calendar, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
Thailand and Sri Lanka keep the same full moons by their own reckonings, so the dates can differ, some years by a month. In Zenith Calendar each is its own almanac, so you light the one you keep.