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Buddhist Era · Lunar months · Holy days · Lent

The Thai Buddhist calendar

Thailand runs on two calendars. The civil calendar has Western months and Buddhist Era years; the lunar calendar sets the great Buddhist holidays and the weekly holy days, and moves them every year. Here is how both work, why Makha Bucha and the Buddhist Lent never fall on the same date twice, and the dates for 2026 and 2027.

The Buddhist Era

Thai years are counted in the Buddhist Era (พุทธศักราช, phutthasakkarat, written พ.ศ. or B.E.), which runs 543 years ahead of the Western count: 2026 is 2569, 2027 is 2570. It has been the official era since 1912, and since 1941 the Buddhist year has started on 1 January. Everything official uses it: newspapers, contracts, receipts, school certificates and the expiry dates on visas and cards.

The months of the civil calendar are Western months with Sanskrit-based Thai names, and their endings give away their length: months ending in -คม (-khom), such as มกราคม, January, have 31 days; months ending in -ยน (-yon), such as เมษายน, April, have 30; and February, กุมภาพันธ์, is the odd one out.

The lunar calendar

The religious calendar (จันทรคติ, chanthrakhati) follows the moon. Its twelve months alternate between 29 and 30 days, and each month has two halves: the waxing moon (ข้างขึ้น, khang khuen), fifteen days from new moon to full, and the waning moon (ข้างแรม, khang raem), fourteen or fifteen days. A lunar date names the half, the day and the month: ขึ้น ๑๕ ค่ำ เดือน ๓, the 15th waxing day of the 3rd month, is Makha Bucha. Most Thai wall calendars print the lunar date beside the civil one.

The months are numbered rather than named, starting around December: the first month is เดือนอ้าย (duean ai), the second เดือนยี่ (duean yi), and from the third on they simply take their number. In the north the old Lanna calendar counts two months ahead of central Thailand, so the 12th central month, when Loi Krathong falls, is the 2nd northern month, and Chiang Mai calls its lantern festival Yi Peng, the full moon of the second month.

Why the holy days move

Twelve lunar months make about 354 days, eleven short of the solar year. Left alone, the holy days would drift through the seasons, and the rains retreat could fall in the dry season. To keep step, the calendar adds a whole extra month in some years, about seven times in nineteen years, by doubling the 8th month (อธิกมาส, athikamat), and in other years an extra day. In a year with a doubled 8th month, Makha Bucha and Visakha Bucha move to the full moons of the 4th and 7th months, and Asalha Bucha and Khao Phansa fall in the second 8th month. That is why the dates jump by ten days to three weeks from one year to the next.

The main holy days

Holy dayThaiWhenWhat it marks20262027
Makha BuchaมาฆบูชาFull moon of the 3rd monthThe gathering of 1,250 monks who came to hear the Buddha without being called, and his summary of the teachingTue 3 MarSun 21 Feb
Visakha BuchaวิสาขบูชาFull moon of the 6th monthThe Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and passing, all on the same day of the yearSun 31 MayThu 20 May
Asalha BuchaอาสาฬหบูชาFull moon of the 8th monthThe first sermon, and with it the first monk: the founding of the SanghaWed 29 JulSun 18 Jul
Khao Phansaเข้าพรรษา1st day of the waning 8th monthMonks begin the three-month rains retreat, staying at one templeThu 30 JulMon 19 Jul
Ok PhansaออกพรรษาFull moon of the 11th monthThe end of the retreat, and the start of the month for giving robes (kathin)Mon 26 OctMid-October

Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha and Asalha Bucha are public holidays; Khao Phansa is a holiday for government offices but not for banks; Ok Phansa is a working day. On the three Bucha days people go to the temple in the evening for wian thian (เวียนเทียน), walking three times around the ordination hall with a candle, incense and flowers. Alcohol sales are restricted on all five days, and shops will refuse to sell it. The public holidays guide shows which days off fall where in each year.

The rains retreat

The three months from Khao Phansa to Ok Phansa are the Buddhist Lent, phansa. Monks stay at one temple for the whole rainy season, as the Buddha’s monks did so as not to trample the young rice. Many young men ordain for these months. Before it begins, lay people present candles to the temples, large enough to burn for three months, and Ubon Ratchathani turns the custom into a festival of carved candles. At the end, on the day after Ok Phansa, many temples hold tak bat thewo, a great alms giving that recalls the Buddha’s return from heaven, and the month of kathin follows, when lay people give new robes to the monks.

Wan phra, the weekly holy days

Four days in every lunar month are holy days, wan phra (วันพระ): the 8th and the 15th days of the waxing moon, the 8th day of the waning moon, and the last day of the month, the 15th waning day, or the 14th in a short month. They fall roughly a week apart, which is why they are sometimes called the Buddhist sabbath. Monks hold their twice-monthly recitation of the monastic rules on the full-moon and new-moon days, and lay people bring food to the temple, listen to a sermon and keep the eight precepts. Calendars mark wan phra with a small dharma wheel or the word พระ.

Sources

Checked against the sources below. Rules, fees and dates change, sometimes at short notice: confirm with the Bank of Thailand or the Department of Religious Affairs before you rely on them.

Questions people ask

Why is the Thai year 543 years ahead?

Thailand counts from the year after the Buddha’s passing, which tradition places 543 years before the start of the Western era. Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Laos and Cambodia count from the passing itself and are usually one year further ahead. Thailand adopted the Buddhist Era for official use in 1912.

Is wan phra a holiday?

No. The four holy days of each lunar month are ordinary working days. Devout Buddhists go to the temple, keep eight precepts and may wear white, and some people avoid meat or alcohol, but offices and shops keep normal hours.

When is Makha Bucha in a given year?

At the full moon of the third lunar month, which falls between mid-February and mid-March. In a year with an extra lunar month it moves to the fourth month’s full moon, which is why it was as late as 3 March in 2026. The Bank of Thailand and the government publish the exact date with the year’s holidays.

Related

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