Javanese calendar

The Javanese calendar (Javanese: ꦥꦤꦁꦒꦭ꧀ꦭꦤ꧀ꦗꦮ, translit. Pananggalan Jawa) is the calendar of the Javanese people. It is used concurrently with two other calendars, the Gregorian calendar and the Islamic calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar of the Republic of Indonesia and civil society, while the Islamic calendar is used by Muslims and Indonesian government for religious worship and deciding relevant Islamic holidays.

The Javanese calendar is used by the main ethnicities of Java island: Javanese, Madurese and Sundanese people  – primarily as a cultural icon, a cultural identifier and as an object and tradition of antiquity to be kept alive. The Javanese calendar is used for cultural and metaphysical purposes of these Javanese peoples.

The current system of Javanese calendar was inaugurated by Sultan Agung of Mataram in the Gregorian year 1633.Prior to that, Javanese had used the Hindu calendar or Saka calendar which that starts in 78 CE and uses the solar cycle for calculating time.Sultan Agung's calendar retained the Saka calendar year counting but differs by using the same lunar year measurement system as the Islamic calendar, rather than using the old solar year. Occasionally it is referred by its Latin name Anno Javanico or AJ (Javanese Year).

Calendar cycles
The Javanese calendar contains multiple, overlapping but separate measurements of times, called cycles. These include:
the native five-day week, called Pasaran
the common Gregorian and Islamic seven-day week
the Solar month, called Mangsa
the Lunar month, called Wulan
the lunar year, or Tahun
the octo-ennia (8 year) cycles, or Windu
the 120-year cycle of 15 Windu, called Kurup



Division of time
Days in Javanese calendar, like in the Islamic calendar, start at sunset.[2] Traditionally Javanese people didn't divide day and night into hours, but divided it into phases.[4] The division of a day and night are:[4]
Division of time
Start End Javanese name Meaning
6 am 8 am esuk
ꦲꦺꦱꦸꦏ꧀ morning
8 am 12 pm teng'angi
ꦠꦼꦁꦲꦔꦶ midday
12 pm 1 pm bedug'
ꦧꦼꦢꦸꦒ꧀ time for bedug prayer
1 pm 3 pm lingsir kulon
ꦭꦶꦁꦱꦶꦂꦏꦸꦭꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (sun) moving west
3 pm 6 pm asar
ꦲꦱꦂ time for asar prayer
6 pm 8 pm sore
ꦱꦺꦴꦉ evening
8 pm 11 pm sirap
ꦱꦶꦫꦥ꧀ sleepy time
11 pm 1 am tengah wengi
ꦠꦼꦔꦃꦮꦼꦔꦶ midnight
1 am 3 am lingsir wengi
ꦭꦶꦁꦱꦶꦂꦮꦼꦔꦶ late night
3 am 6 am bangun
ꦧꦔꦸꦤ꧀ awakening
Cycles of days
Five-day week (Pasaran)
The native Javanese system groups days into a five-day week called Pasaran, unlike many calendars that used seven-days week. The name, pasaran, is derived from the root word pasar ("market"). Historically, but also still today, Javanese villagers gather communally at local markets to meet socially, engage in commerce, and buy and sell farm produce, cooked foods, home industry crafted items and so on. John Crawfurd (1820) suggested that the length of the week/cycle is related to the number of fingers on the hand, and that itinerant merchants would rotate their visits to different villages according to a five-day "roster".

The days of the cycle have two names each, because the Javanese language has distinct vocabulary associated with two different registers of politeness: ngoko (informal) and krama (formal). The krama names for the days are much less common, and so are given in parentheses.


Signs of the Pasaran cycle
ꦊꦒꦶ (Legi) – ꦩꦤꦶꦱ꧀ (Manis)
ꦥꦲꦶꦁ (Pahing) – ꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀ (Pait)
ꦥꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (Pon) – ꦥꦼꦠꦏ꧀ (Petak)
ꦮꦒꦺ (Wagé) – ꦕꦼꦩꦺꦁ (Cemeng)
ꦏ꧀ꦭꦶꦮꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (Kliwon) – ꦲꦱꦶꦃ (Asih)
The origin of the names is unclear, and their etymology remains obscure. Possibly, the names may be derived from indigenous gods, like the European and Asian names. An ancient Javanese manuscript illustrates the week with five human figures (shown at right below the day names): a man seizing a suppliant by the hair, a woman holding a horn to receive an offering, a man pointing a drawn sword at another, a woman holding agricultural produce, and a man holding a spear leading a bull.

Additionally, Javanese consider these days' names to have a mystical relation to colors and cardinal direction:

Legi : white and East
Pahing : red and South
Pon : yellow and West
Wage : black and North
Kliwon : blurred colors/focus and 'center'.
Markets no longer operate under this traditional Pasaran cycle, instead pragmatically remaining open every day of the Gregorian week. However many markets in Java still retain traditional names that indicated that once the markets only operated on certain Pasaran days, such as Pasar Legi, or Pasar Kliwon.

Javanese astrological belief dictates that individual characteristics or future are attributable to the combination of the Pasaran day and the 'common' weekdays of the Islamic calendar of that person's birthday. Javanese people find great interest in their astrological interpretations in this combination, which is called the Wetonan cycle.

Seven-day week
The seven-day-long week cycle (dina pitu, "seven days") is derived from the Islamic calendar, adopted following the spread of Islam in Indonesian archipelago. The names of the days of the week in Javanese are derived from their Arabic counterparts, namely:

Days of Seven-day Week
Javanese Arabic English
Senin (ꦱꦼꦤꦶꦤ꧀) yaum al-ithnayn ( يوم الاثنين ) Monday
Selasa (ꦱꦼꦭꦱ) yaum ath-thalatha' ( يوم الثلاثاء ) Tuesday
Rebo (ꦉꦧꦸ) yaum al-arba`a' ( يوم الأربعاء ) Wednesday
Kemis (ꦏꦼꦩꦶꦱ꧀) yaum al-khamis ( يوم الخميس ) Thursday
Jemuwah (ꦗꦼꦩꦸꦮꦃ) yaum al-jum`a ( يوم الجمعة ) Friday
Setu (ꦱꦼꦠꦸ) yaum as-sabt ( يوم السبت ) Saturday
Minggu/Ahad (ꦩꦶꦁꦒꦸ/ꦄꦲꦢ꧀) yaum al-ahad ( يوم الأحد ) Sunday
These two week systems occurred concurrently, thus a certain Friday may fall on a Kliwon day, and thus called Jumat Kliwon. This combination form the wetonan cycle explained below.
Wetonan cycle Edit
The Wetonan cycle superimposes the five-day Pasaran' cycle with the seven-day week cycle. Each Wetonan cycle lasts 35 (7x5) days. An example of wetonan cycle:

The "Wetonan" Cycle for 2nd week of May (Mei) 2008:
English Monday 5 Tuesday 6 Wednesday 7 Thursday 8 Friday 9 Saturday 10 Sunday 11
Javanese seven-day week Senin 5 Selasa 6 Rebo 7 Kemis 8 Jumat 9 Setu 10 Minggu/ Ahad 11
Javanese Pasaran week 28 Pon 29 Wage 1 Kliwon 2 Legi 3 Pahing 4 Pon 5 Wage
From the example above, the Weton for Tuesday May 6, 2008 would be read as Selasa Wage.
The Wetonan cycle is especially important for divinatory systems, and important celebrations, rites of passage, commemorations and so forth are held on days considered to be auspicious.
An especially prominent example widely still taught at primary schools is the Weton for the Proclamation of Independence of Indonesia on August 17, 1945, which was at Jumat (Friday) Legi. It was also coinciding with the Weton for the birth and death of Sultan Agung, considered one of the greatest kings of Java history,. Therefore, Jumat Legi is considered an important night for pilgrimage. There are also taboos that relate to the cycle; for example, the ritual dance bedhaya can only be performed on Kemis (Thursday) Kliwon.
The coincidence of the Pasaran day with the common day on the day of birth is considered by Javanese to indicate the personal characteristics of that person, similar to the Western Zodiac and planetary positioning in Western astrology.

Pawukon cycle
Main article: Pawukon
Pawukon is a 210-day cycle in Javanese calendar, related to Hindu tradition. Though most associated with Bali, it is still used in Java for special purposes. The calendar consists of concurrent weeks, and has a set of ten weeks, which have a duration of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 days.
The first day of the year is considered the first day of all ten weeks. As 210 is not divisible by 4, 8, or 9, extra days must be added to the 4-, 8-, and 9-day weeks.

Dates numbering
For timekeeping, days are numbered within the lunar month (wulan) as is common in other calendar systems. The date indicates the change in the moon, and symbolizes the life of a human in the world. This process of revolving life is known as cakra manggilingan or heru cakra.
On the first day of the month, when the moon is small, it is compared to a newborn baby. The 14th day, called Purnama Sidhi (full moon), represents a married adult. The next day, called Purnama, occurs as the moon begins to wane. The 20th day, Panglong, symbolizes the point at which people begin to lose their memory. The 25th day, Sumurup, represents the point at which the adult requires care like when they were young. The 26th day, Manjing, represents the return of the human to his or her origin.