Traditional Burmese Calendar
The Burmese calendar (Burmese: မြန်မာသက္ကရာဇ်, or ကောဇာသက္ကရာဇ်, ; also called Burmese Era (BE) or Myanmar Era (ME)) is a lunisolar calendar in which the months are based on lunar months and years are based on solar years. The calendar is largely is based on an older version of the Hindu calendar though unlike the Indian systems, it employs a 19-year Metonic cycle. The calendar therefore has to reconcile the sidereal years of the Hindu calendar with Metonic cycle's tropical years by adding intercalary months and days on irregular intervals.
The calendar has been used continuously in various Burmese states since its launch in 640 CE in Sri Ksetra Kingdom. It was also used as the official calendar in other mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms of Arakan, Lan Na, Xishuangbanna, Lan Xang, Siam, and Cambodia down to the late 19th century. Today, the calendar is used only in Myanmar as the traditional civil calendar, alongside the Buddhist calendar. It is still used to mark traditional holidays such as the Burmese New Year, and other traditional festivals, many of which are Burmese Buddhist in nature.
Read more about Traditional Burmese Calendar: Accuracy, Variants, Current Usage
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