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The Suriyakati or Thai solar calendar is the official and prevalent calendar in Thailand, although the Western calendar is sometimes used, yet the only difference between the western and the Thai calendar is the year counting. History of Thai Solar calendar goes back to1888 when Thailand used a lunar calendar. However the new calendar was developed during the reign of King Chulalongkorn and was called ‘Ratana Kosindra
Sok’, which was nearly identical with the western Gregorian calendar, though year counting, however, was in reference to the date of the founding of the capital city of Bangkok. Thus, April 6, 1782 was changed and counting of years was done according to the Buddhist Era. In 1941 by announcement of the then Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram, January 1 became the official commencement of a new year .
In traditional Thai Solar calendar, the months and days of the week are the same as those used in the Western calendar, only their names differ. The year however is counted from the Buddhist Era which is 543 years earlier than the Christian era. The date set for ‘Song ran’ on the Thai Solar calendar was earlier held 'free time' as it did not belong to any particular year. The now popular ‘Song ran’ water fights grew out of the popular traditional new year cleansing ceremony. The months in the Thai Solar calendar begins with mokkarakhom which coincides with January and ends with thanwakhom on December.
Significance of Thai Solar calendar stems from the fact that it marks the beginning of Thai new year. The new year date coincides with the day the sun leaving Pisces and entering into Aries, usually falling on April 13 of each year. The word "Songkran" in Thai Solar calendar means a passage or course and refers to the position of the sun within the solar system. As the sun enters each of the houses of the zodiac constellation, a songkran cycle is completed.
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