The Burmese calendar is a lunisolar calendar in which the months are based on lunar months and years are based on sidereal years. The calendar is largely based on an older version of the Hindu calendar, though unlike the Indian systems, it employs a version of the Metonic cycle.
The calendar has been used continuously in various Burmese states since its purported launch in 640 CE in the Sri Ksetra Kingdom, also called the Pyu era. 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.
Date of issue : 15-04-2019
Tagu is the first month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Thingyan which means "transit [of the Sun from Pisces to Aries] is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. Water-throwing or dousing one another from any shape or form of vessel or device that delivers water is the distinguishing feature of this festival and may be done on the first four days of the festival. The New Year takes place at virtually the same time as the new year celebrations of many countries in South Asia like China (Dai People of Yunnan Province), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.
Flower : Mesua ferrea ( Ceylon ironwood )
Date of issue : 04-05-2019
Kason (May) is the second month of the Burmese lunar calendar.
As it falls in the middle of summer, the water in ponds and lakes reduces to its lowest level. Burmese celebrates by pouring water at the holy Bodhi tree where the Buddha enlightened to keep it green. As the month of kason is at the middle of the hot reason. the earth is dry and people pour water at the Maha-Bodhi tree to make sure it does not die of drought during the hot summer. This has become an integral part of Myanmar culture and on every full-moon day of kason, the Buddhist people would march in a grand procession to the Bodhi tree or to the pagodas to pour scented water.
Flowers: Sagarwar [Michelia Champaca]
Date of issue : 3-06-2019
Nayone, the third month of Myanmar calendar - everything is wet .... just WET through and through.Dark skies, torrential rains and storms. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair " sort of weather.Anyway it is a change, perhaps not so nice as one would wish, but a change from those hot days.Nature is in full splendour and the mind "creates a green thought in a green shade".The weather is ideal for curling up on a sofa with a nice book.It is also story time when kids gather round the old granny.
It is in this month of Nayon that scriptural examinations for monks and nuns are held.The lay people, mindful of the service of the monks and their life-long-dedication to the study of the Buddha's teachings, do their best to supply the comforts and amenities of the candidates.It is necessary to offer daily alms food to those who come from other towns to the examination centres.Contributions to the cause are donated by the community and organizations. Apart from written examinations, there are those where the candidates have to recite all the scriptures by rote. It is a tremendous undertaking to commit to memory all the Buddha's discourse, known as the Three Baskets of Learning.
Flower : Jasmine
Date of issue : 2-07-2019
Waso is the fourth month of Myanmar calendar.
Among them. although shaving the hair and wearing the robe seem to be easy, it is difficult to believe firmly in Buddha. As it is difficult to pronounce perfectly the novice to be has to learn at least one month ahead how to ask for the robe from the presiding monk and how to pronounce properly the three venerables and how to say beats and so on in Pali language.
Buddhists in Myanmar believed that if their sons have been initiated into novice-hood at least in this life, the parents will not suffer in hell in next existence.
Flower : Jasminium grandiflorum ( Royal Jasmine )
Date of issue : 1-08-2019
Wagaung ( August) is the month for what is called ' Maha-Dok' ( Sayedanmè ) festival named after a very poor man who became rich over-night for his offerings to 'Kas-sa-pa Buddha'. On the festival day, a large marquee is built to place as many alms bowls as there are monks (bikkhus) in the locality. People passing by contribute what they can by putting alms into the bowls, which get filled up and are finally distributed to the 'Sangha', and also the 'Sangha' ate assigned to the donors, with the drawing of lots in both cases.
Flower : Crinum amoenum ( Spider lily )
This is a month of boat races. From what we learn from songs and poems of old, boat races during the time of Myanmar kings displayed not only speed but also skill and grace.There are 37 styles of rowing on record. Each style has a name suggestive of a symbolic image and it is up to the people of today to stretch their imagination to visualize what it might look like.
Reagattas of olden days were help under royal patronage.The royal family, the king, queen, princes and princesses, had their own boats participating in the race. There was fun, colour and music galore. Boat songs were composed especially for the occasion. The boatmen wore varicoloured liveries matching the banners of their boats.Music boomed as the supporters of the compertitors hurled picturesque limmericks at one another.
Flower : Chukrasia velutina ( Indian Mahogany )
Date of issue : 29-09-2019
Thadingyut ' (October ) is the seventh month in Burmese calendar and is the end of the Buddhist Lent or the rains retreat. It is the festival of lights on the full-moon day, one day before and one day after. Houses and streets in cities and towns are brilliantly illuminated. Pagodas are also crowded with people doing meritorious deeds. It is not only a time of joy but also of thanksgiving and playing homage to teachers, parents and elders, and asking pardon for whatever misdeeds in speech or thought they might have committed during the year, and elders also readily forgive if thete is anything to forhive. This beautiful custom of Myanmar people serves as a bridge across the generation gap which often is the cause of trouble in many other countries.
Flower : Sacred Lotus
Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists in Bangladesh (known as Kaṭhina Cībar Dān), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. ... It is a time of giving, for the laity to express gratitude to bhikkhus (Buddhist monks). The monsoon retreat was started for the reasons to prevent the wandering monks from harming wildlife and crops during the monsoon.
Flower : Wild Cucumber
Date of issue : 27-11-2019
Nadaw is the ninth month of the Myanmar calendar. The stamp commemorates the Literary festivals that happen during the month
Flower : Bulbophyllum auricomum (Thazin flower)
The month Kason usually falls during the May of English calendar. During the month of Kason the length of the day is longer and the night is shorter. People of Myanmar regard the month of Kason as Taurus season. The seasonal flower is Champaca and this festival is water pouring ceremony at the maha-Bodhi tree,the holy Banyan tree at the foot of which the Buddha attained Buddhahood or enlightenment.
As the month of kason is at the middle of the hot reason. the earth is dry and people pour water at the Maha-Bodhi tree to make sure it does not die of drought during the hot summer. This has become an integral part of Myanmar culture and on every full-moon day of kason. the Buddhist people would march in a grand procession to the Bodhi tree or to the pagodas to pour scented water.
 First day cover |
The full-moon day of kason is significant for other seasons too. It is the day on which Gotama Buddha was born. attained enlightenment and passed away. It also is the day on which the original Bodhi tree arose from out of the earth as an assurance of the coming of the Gotoma Buddha.
The Bodhi tree has relations with lord Buddha so it becomes respectable for the Buddhists. Lord Buddha attained enlightenment underneath the Bodhi tree so the Buddhists revere the tree. On the Fullmoon day of Kason Buddhist devotees celebrate not only water pouring ceremony at the Bodhi tree but also perform meritorious deeds by keeping Sabbath , meditation, offering flowers, light, water and incense to the images of lord Buddha.
Thanks MG Sein for this beautiful cover with also the first day postmark !!
Early civilisations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Burma. In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo dynasty, the country was for a brief period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia.
The British took over the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar was granted independence in 1948, as a democratic nation. Following a coup d'état in 1962, it became a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party.
For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife and its myriad ethnic groups have been involved in one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. This, along with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, has improved the country's human rights record and foreign relations, and has led to the easing of trade and other economic sanctions. However, the Burmese military remains a powerful force in politics.
60th anniversary of the Announcement if the Five Principles of peaceful coexistence by Myanmar, China and India
Date of issue : 28 - 06 - 2014
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known as the Panchsheel Treaty (from Sanskrit, panch: five, sheel: virtues), are a set of principles to govern relations between states. Their first formal codification in treaty form was in an agreement between China and India in 1954. They were enunciated in the preamble to the "Agreement (with exchange of notes) on trade and intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India", which was signed at Peking on 28 April 1954. This agreement stated the five principles as:
Myanmar traditional music is based from the sounds made from instruments grouped in the following five categories:
1) Kyee (kyay), bronze instruments such as gongs;
2) Kyoo (kyo), string instruments such as harps;
3) Tha Yey Tha Yey, hide instruments like drums;
4) Lei (Lay), wind instruments such as flutes; and
5) Let Khok (lekkoke), clappers, particularly bamboo clappers.
Myanmar musical instruments can further be placed in two categories: concert (anyeint) and orchestra (saing-waing). In today's modern musical troupe: piano, accordion, trumpet, guitars, organs and other Western instruments are also included to compose songs.
Many musical instruments were invented and fell into disuse throughout the ages. The anyeint (concert of chamber) musical instruments of the past that are no longer used include are the saniara (an extinct stringed instrument), aung galay (an extinct stringed instrument), don-min (an extinct dulcimer-like instrument) and hnyin (extinct reed pipes). Among those are still played are the boat-shaped harp, crocodile zither, xylophone, flute, oboe and than-lwin (small cymbals). However, only six instruments were prescribed for anyeint, intended as intimate musical entertainment of the royal chambers.
Shan Osi (Shan Long Drum, or Stone Drum) is actually is not a musical instrument. We just present it as a peculiarity. A drum made of stone?. It consists of a somewhat a flat piece of rock. usual hung at a pagoda or monastery. You can ring it by hitting with a stick. The purpose of using these is just like using bells.
Myanmar calendar - Month of Tagu
Date of issue : 15-04-2019
The Burmese calendar is a lunisolar calendar in which the months are based on lunar months and years are based on sidereal years. The calendar is largely based on an older version of the Hindu calendar, though unlike the Indian systems, it employs a version of the Metonic cycle.
The calendar has been used continuously in various Burmese states since its purported launch in 640 CE in the Sri Ksetra Kingdom, also called the Pyu era. 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.
