The Burmese believe their year, adopted from Sakra-year of the northern Indian tradition, started from the grandfather of the Lord Buddha, Anchana. What more! when the Eastern Orthodox Christians, the Russians and Greeks celebrate Christmas, the Birthday of Jesus in February in stead of 25th December. The anno domini, AD, or the year of Our Lord is a confused one as most scholars now agree that Jesus was actually born much later than that date. The Christian year is supposed to have started the year Jesus was born. Nonetheless, they all agree roughly that the Buddhist era if commenced by the death of the Buddha, probably started in the 5th BC. There is a disagreement between southern and northern Buddhists as to the exact date of his mahaparinibbana (demise), although western scholars believe it to be 486 BC or even 386 BC. The Buddhist calendar began by the death of the historical Buddha, Gotama. Look at the Buddhist, Christ and Burmese calendar, to take some familiar ones as examples. Myths and novelty are often associated with the beginning of a calendar. It is this important question that this short paper intends to take as a point to begin with in our inevitably long search of cultural history.īefore embarking on what is largely theoretical propositions, I may call your attention to the nature of controversy around most of the calendars in the world. How and when did the Tai lunar year begin is a question increasingly asked among the Tais as we attempt to find the root of our culture to justify our place in modern world.
Today Tais, mainly the Tais of Shan State, celebrate 2096th New Year with religious and social significance. Around 80 million people in Asia speak some variation of the Tai language. Tai is a big family in the Mongoloid race consisting of “four major geographical groups associated with six rivers” : the Chao Phraya, the Mekong, Salween and the Black and Red rivers in Vietnam and Brhamaputra River in India.