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Thai Buddhist

Thailand's civil calendar · years from the Buddha's passing

Thailand’s civil calendar, and the one its official documents are dated in: Gregorian in structure — the same months, the same leap rules — with the year counted from the Buddha’s passing in 543 BCE, so it runs 543 years ahead. Its years are written BE, the Buddhist Era, the same two letters the Bahá’í Era uses for an entirely unrelated count. Note that this is not the calendar that fixes Vesak and the uposatha days: those follow a separate lunisolar reckoning, set by arithmetic rather than by the observed moon, whose months and day-names are its own. Two calendars share the era; only this one shares the Gregorian year.

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In UTC at 02:02 on October 27, 2026, this calendar read October 27, 2569 BE. The reading above is live, in your own time zone.

At a glance

Type
Solar — the Gregorian year under a Buddhist era
Origin
Thailand’s civil reckoning: the Buddhist Era since 1912, the year from 1 January since 1941
Year
365 days, or 366 in a leap year, from 1 January
Months
12 — the Gregorian months
Week
7 days, each with its own color
Leap rule
The Gregorian rule
Counts from
The Buddha’s passing, reckoned as 543 BCE (BE)
Where it’s used
Thailand’s official calendar
How it’s worked out here
Your browser’s own calendar data (ICU), in your time zone

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