Would you believe that I live in a place where the year is 2553? No, I am not crazy, I did not allow my fantasies to go wild, and I do not live on another planet. Such a place does exist, it is called Thailand, and here they use a different calendar which puts us in the year 2553.

Our western calendar begins at the birth of Jesus, 2010 years ago. Not surprisingly, the Buddhist calendar starts at the time when Buddha was born, 2553 years ago. Most dates in Thailand are written with the Buddhist year which tends to be quite confusing for westerners. The trick is to subtract 543 years and you are right back to 2010.

The Buddhist New Year is celebrated in mid-April which is the hottest time of the year. This New Year’s celebration is for the most part a water throwing event where everyone comes out and soaks whoever is in range with plenty of water. The length of the event varies regionally from one day to the extreme of seven days in Chiang Mai.

Although the Buddhist New Year is celebrated in April, the official start date of the year is January 1 of the Christian calendar. When you see a date written in Thailand, it is generally a blend of two calendars: the day and the month are based on the Christian calendar and the year is from the Buddhist calendar.

The original Buddhist calendar is very complex and is not so much used for time keeping as for determining dates of festivals, religious events and favorable or unfavorable days for weddings, business ventures or ceremonies. All the calendar days have special meanings and establish if a specific day is favorable for certain occasions like marriages, burials or other significant ceremonies and decisions. So this calendar is more than a way to keep track of time. The younger generation is not so familiar with the Buddhist calendar anymore. It is mostly the older people and scholarly monks who are still familiar with it.

Believe it or not, there is a third New Year in Thailand, and that is celebrated by the six million Chinese that are part of the ethnic mix here. They have yet another calendar and they celebrate their New Year at the end of January or beginning of February with a colorful and noisy festival. You can always tell a Chinese celebration by what I call “machine gun firecrackers”.These are small firecrackers strung up one after another, and they explode in rapid-fire fashion. Another typical and unique Chinese event is the lion dance, a sometimes highly acrobatic dance performance of two men in a lion’s costume.

Most international business in the world uses the Gregorian Christian calendar, and the Thais do so as well. They use both calendars, and the western New Year is a public holiday in Thailand also with fireworks and celebrations just like in the West.

In Thailand any excuse is good enough for a party, and the Thais have an impressive collection of them: Flower festivals, food festivals, New Year (all three of them), Buddha days, temple festivals, the king’s birthday and quite a few more. Some festivals last several days and include huge parades, lavish festivities with spectacular floats, colorful parades, performances of singing, dancing, and of course feasting. Festival dates change every year since most of them are calculated with the Buddhist calendar.

Now it is 2010 in Thailand and it is also 2553. So we celebrate New Year three times a year, and we are sometimes confused about what the date is, but we don’t worry about it and just join the party! The Thais have a saying that expresses the Thai view of life: “maipenrai” – meaning “don’t worry”, “it doesn’t matter”,  “no big deal”, “it’s okay”, “forget about it”, “let it go”. This is a useful word to know when you visit Thailand since it reflects the Thai attitude about life beautifully.

Here are some possible applications:“January 1 New Year is not really part of our tradition, but maipenrai, it’s a great opportunity to have a fantastic party, so let’s celebrate it”. Or: “Christmas has nothing to do with Buddhism, but maipenrai, it’s another reason to have a party, so let’s celebrate it anyway”.

It would never occur to the Thais to argue that Christmas is not a Buddhist affair and therefore has no place here, or that there might be a conflict with the Buddhist religion. Now can you imagine the USA or any western country putting on a national festival for a Buddhist holiday just for the fun of it? Not likely! But the Thais are highly tolerant, fun loving and non judgmental when it comes to other religions. Thais are fun loving people, and there is always one festival or another happening wherever you are. This is one of the great pleasures of living here.