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Thai solar calendar facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Thai solar calendar is the official calendar used in Thailand. It is a solar calendar, which means it is based on the Earth's movement around the Sun, much like the Gregorian calendar used in many parts of the world.

How Thailand Got Its Calendar

King Chulalongkorn of Thailand made the Thai solar calendar official in 1888. Before this, Thailand used a different system. King Chulalongkorn wanted Thailand's calendar to be more like the calendars used by Western countries. This would help with international trade and communication.

Instead of counting years from the birth of Jesus (which is called the Christian Era or AD), the Thai calendar counts years from the passing of Buddha. This is known as the Buddhist Era (BE). For example, the year 2024 AD is 2567 BE.

A Change in the New Year

For a long time, the Thai New Year was celebrated on April 1st. However, on September 6, 1940, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, made a big change. He announced that starting from 1941, the new year would begin on January 1st.

This meant that the year 2483 BE (which was 1940 AD) became a bit shorter. It only had nine months, from April to December. From then on, every year in Thailand has started on January 1st, just like in many other countries.

Images for kids

  • August2004rs

    A panel from a typical calendar, showing the month of August 2004 (B.E. 2547). Notice that lunar dates are also included.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Calendario solar tailandés para niños

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