# The Burmese & Arakanese Calendars/Chapter 6

135. Table I exhibits all the essential elements of the calendar as actually observed in Burma Proper for the last 170 years. The years 1909 and 1910 are added because the calendars of those years have been officially promulgated.
136. The day of the week on which the luni-solar year begins is shown in column 5, and its date by the English calendar in columns 6 and 7. The time of mean new moon obtained from European sources (Guinness's tables) is shown in columns 2 to 4 for comparison with the Lagwè of Tabaung, the last day of the expired luni-solar year.
137. The day, hour, minute, and second at which the solar year begins (Thingyan Tet, or Mean Mesha Sankranti) are shown in columns 8 to 14, English date, week day and Burmese date. The time of Thingyan Kya, or apparent Mesha Sankranti, can be found from this by subtracting 2 days, 4 hours, 1 minute, 12 seconds.
138. Columns 18 and 19 give the watat years; 18 shows whether there is an intercalary day or not; 19 shows the day of July on which the full moon of the intercalary month falls. An examination of column 19 is the easiest way of ascertaining whether Lent is maintaining its place among the seasons or moving forward or backward.
139. Table 1 agrees with Moyle's Calendars, so far as they go, except in the period from 9th June, 1877, to 5th June, 1880. Mr. Moyle makes B. E. 1239 (A. D. 1877) a wa-gyi-tat, and B. E. 1242 (A. D. 1880) a wa-ngè-tat. All the other authorities I have been able to consult agree in making 1239 a wa-ngè-tat and 1242 a wa-gyi-tat. This is confirmed by notes of certain new and full moons in my own diary for 1878. For this period, therefore, I think Mr. Moyle has an error of one day.
140. Table II is in the same form, and gives the elements of the Burmese calendar compiled by Thandeikta methods for the next 92 years. The wa-tat are regulated by the yet-lun as described in paragraph 85. It is not absolutely certain that this rule will be followed in future. There is also some uncertainty about the yet-ngin in the years 1291, 1307, 1337 and 1348, as indicated in paragraphs 97 to 99. Each of these years and the next following watat year must be, one a wagyitat and the other a wangètat. The uncertainty is whether the wagyitat will precede or follow the wangetat. In the uncertain, years the yet-​ngin are placed as shown in table VI. In columns 10 and 11 the year 1292 is shown as 108 seconds longer than any other year in the table by reason of the correction described in paragraph 55.
141. Table III is an alternative to table II. It embodies the suggestions made in paragraphs 116 to 127 for removing all doubts, simplifying the regulation of future calendars, and keeping lent in its proper season by using de Cheseaux's cycle of 1040 years. The cycle would commence in 1281, (A. D. 1919), and in the ten years preceding that year one intercalary day more than Thandeikta would allow is inserted in order to bring the calendar months into nearer conformity with mean and apparent lunations (paragraph 125). The times of mean new moon are omitted as they would be a mere repetition of the times shown in table II. The hour, minute and second of Thingyan Tet are omitted because it is proposed that Thingyan Tet should in future be fixed at midnight (paragraph 124). In this table the watat years happen to be the same as in table II (para. 128); the yet-ngin are placed according to the rule set out in paragraph 127.
142. Table IV exhibits the elements of the Arakanese calendar for 262 years, in the same form as table III except that a special column is retained for the English date of Thingyan Tet because that date continues to change slowly in consequence of the error in the length of the Makaranta solar year (paragraph 36), whereas in table III Thingyan Tet is fixed for all time at 8th April and it therefore requires no separate column for the English date.
143. Table V is copied by permission of Mr. Htoon Chan from his book. It shows the week-day on which the Labyi of Wazo falls in Arakan each year for 2000 years. It also shows the watat, in this way. When two consecutive years have the same week-day figure, the later of the two is a wagyitat. When the later of two consecutive years has a weck-day figure either I less or 6 more than that of the preceding year, the later year is a wa-ngè-tat.
144. Table VI exhibits the results of the calculations by which the intercalary days were placed in table II, column 18. See paragraphs 88 to 100.
145. Table VII compares the moon's age at midnight of solar New Year's Day, as found from European sources, with the same as found by Makaranta methods. Column 2 shows approximately, in days and hours, the European computation for mean new moon, Mandalay civil time. Column 3 shows solar New Year's Day. Column 4 shows the moon's age as calculated from columns 2 and 3, expressed in days and hours. Column 5 shows the moon's age as calculated by Makaranta, expressed in didi and fraction. The differences are very small. The Burmese computations put the mean new moon slightly later than the European ones.
​146. Table VIII shows the divergence between the mean new moon and the lagwè every month for 29 years. The effect of the intercalary months and days can be traced by reference to the entries in the last column. The "Mandalay time" in column 6 is 6 hours, 21 minutes in advance of Greenwich time. This is in point of fact a nearer approximation to Pagan time than to Mandalay time, but Mandalay is a more distinctive name now, and an error of 4 or 5 minutes one way or the other is of no importance. The object of this table will be seen in paragraph 125.
147. Table IX shows the English month and day for the first day of each Burmese month, corresponding to each day on which the 1st waxing of Tagu can fall. It is in three parts, for common, wangètat and wagyitat years. In the last column of parts II and III all dates later than 28th February are left blank because of the ambiguity caused by English leap-years.
Example.—To find the English date corresponding to B. E. 1255, Natdaw waning 2nd. In table I, column 15, find 1255. On the same line columns 1, 6 and 7 show that Tagu waxing 1st was A. D. 1893 March 17th, and column 18 shows that the year 1255 was a wangètat. In table IX, part II (wangètat years), column 1 (Tagu), find March 17th. On the same line in column Natdaw is December 8th. This was 1st waxing Natdaw 1255. Therefore 2nd waning of the same month was 24th December.
If the given Burmese date be in Hnaung Tagu or Hnaung Kason, add 1 to the year. Thus, 1244 Hnaung Tagu waxing 5. Look in table I opposite 1245. The date is 12th March 1883.
148. Table X is used in the same way to find the week-day of any given Burmese date. Thus table I shows in column 5 that in 1255 Tagu waxing Ist was Friday. In table X, part II, on the line Tagu find Fri. In the same column on the line Natdaw is Fri. Natdaw waxing 1st was Friday; therefore Natdaw waning 2nd was Sunday.
149. In column 14 of tables I & II, and the corresponding columns of tables III & IV, the days of the Burmese month are reckoned in one series for the sake of brevity. Thus 22 means the 7th day of the waning half of the month.