Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Calendars-and-Clocks

This is a list of calendar and timekeeping around the world.

Further reading: Is There a Perfect Calendar?

Calendar

Gregorian calendar

• The epoch is the year of presumed birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the presumed day of circumcision of Jesus of Nazareth.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• Days for months without leap are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31.
• The start of a day is the midnight in Greenwich added or subtracted by multiples of 1 hour, and in some cases further adding or subtracting 1/2 or 1/4 hours.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 2^nd month, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

Akan calendar

• There are 7 days in a week.
• There are 6 weeks in a 42-day cycle.
• There are 9 42-day cycles in a year.

Arakanese Kawza calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year of the usurpation by King Popa Sawrahan.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• The first day of a year is the day when the Sun enters Aries.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 days in months of an odd number, 30 days in months of an even number without leap.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The start of a day is at sunrise.
• There is 1 leap month added after spring equinox (the 1^st month) in a small or big leap year, for year 1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 in a 19-year cycle.
• There is 1 leap day added to the 1^st month in a big leap year.
• (There are about 7 leap months in 19 years.)

Armenian calendar

• The epoch is the year when date tables compiled by Andreas of Byzantium exhausted.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the day when date tables compiled by Andreas of Byzantium exhausted.
• There are 12 months and 5 days in a year.
• There are 30 days for every month.

Assamese calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Bhaskaravarman.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The days for months are 31, 31, 32, 31, 31, 31, 30, 29, 29, 30, 30, 30.
• The start of a day is at sunrise.
• There is 1 leap day added to any month.

Assyrian calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year of presumed year of the calming of the great flood.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of a year is the day with new moon.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• There are 31 days in the first 6 months, 30 days in the next 5 months, 29 days in the last month without leap.
• There is 1 leap day added to the last month.

Baháʼí calendar

• The epoch is the year when Báb began teaching.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of a year is the day with spring equinox.
• There are 19 weeks and 4 days in a year without leap.
• There are 19 days in a week.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 4 days, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

Balinese saka calendar

• The epoch is the year of enthronement of Chashtana.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 30 days in months of an odd number, 29 days in months of an even number.
• There is 1 leap month added to the end of the year.
• The first day of a month is the day after new moon.

Bengali calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year before King Shashanka unified Bengal.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The start of a day is at sunrise.
• There are 31 days in the first 6 months, 30 days in the next 4 months and the last month, 29 days in the second last month without leap.
• There is 1 leap day added to the 11^th month.

Borona calendar

• There are 12 months in a year.
• There are 29 or 30 days in a month.
• The start of a year is when Triangulum is in conjunction with the new moon.
• The start of a month is when the moon is in conjunction with a star or star system Triangulum, Pleiades, Aldebaran, Bellatrix, Central Orion-Saiph, Sirius and the follower moon phases full moon, gibbous moon, quarter moon, large crescent, medium crescent, small crescent.

Burmese Kawza calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year of the usurpation by King Popa Sawrahan.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• The first day of a year is the day when the Sun enters Aries.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 days in months of an odd number, 30 days in months of an even number without leap.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The start of a day is at sunrise.
• There is 1 leap month added after summer solstice (the 4^th month) in a small or big leap year, for year 1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 in a 19-year cycle.
• There is 1 leap day added to the 3^rd month in a big leap year.
• (There are about 7 leap months in 19 years.)

Chinese agricultural calendar

• The epoch is the year of presumed enthronement of Yellow Thearch.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is possibly the presumed day of enthronement of Thearch Shun.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• The first month is the month with winter solstice.
• The first day of a month is the day with new moon.
• (There are 29 or 30 days in a month.)
• The start of a day is the midnight.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• (There are about 7 leaps in 19 years.)

Coptic calendar

• The epoch is the year of presumed birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the day of the Feast of Neyrouz.
• There are 13 months in a year.
• There are 30 days for the first 12 months, 5 days for the last month without leap.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the last month.

Ethiopian calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Diocletian.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the presumed day of circumcision of Jesus of Nazareth.
• There are 13 months in a year.
• There are 30 days for the first 12 months, 5 days for the last month without leap.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the last month.

Hebrew calendar

• The epoch is the creation of the world in Genesis.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the presumed day of creation of the world in Genesis.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• The start of a day is at sunset.
• There are 13 months for year 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19 in a 19-year cycle.
• The leap month is placed at the end of the year.
• (There are about 7 leaps in 19 years.)

Igbo calendars

• There are 13 months and 1 day in a year.
• There are 7 weeks in a month.
• There are 4 days in a week.

Indian Bengali calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year before King Shashanka unified Bengal.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The start of a day is at sunrise.
• There are 31 days in the first 5 months, 30 days in the other 7 months without leap.
• There is 1 leap day added to the 11^th month.

Indian national calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Chashtana.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• The first day of a year is the day when the Sun enters Aries.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The start of a month is the day when the Sun enters an astrological sign.

ISO week date

• The epoch is the year of presumed birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of a year is the Monday closer to the first day of the first month in Gregorian calendar.
• There are 52 weeks in a year without leap.
• There are 7 days in a week.
• The leap week is added to the end of the year.

Japanese calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of the current Emperor.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the first day of the year of the reign of the current Emperor in Gregorian calendar.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• Days for months without leap are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31.
• The start of a day is the midnight in Greenwich added by 9 hours.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 2^nd month, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

Javanese calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Chashtana.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The 14^th day of a month is the day with full moon.
• There are 30 days in months of an odd number, 29 days in months of an even number without leap.
• There is 1 leap day added to the last month.
• The start of a day is at sunset.

Korean Dangun calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Dangun.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is possibly the presumed day of enthronement of Thearch Shun in Chinese agricultural calendar.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• The first month is the month with winter solstice.
• The first day of a month is the day with new moon.
• (There are 29 or 30 days in a month.)
• The start of a day is the midnight.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• (There are about 7 leaps in 19 years.)

Korean Juche calendar

• The epoch is the year of the birth of Kim Il-Sung.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the first day of the year of the birth of Kim Il-Sung in Gregorian calendar.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• Days for months without leap are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31.
• The start of a day is the midnight in Greenwich added by 9 hours.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 2^nd month, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

lunar Hijri calendar

• The epoch is the year of Hijrah.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• The first day of a month is the day with new moon.
• (There are 29 or 30 days in a month.)
• The start of a day is at sunset.

Nepali Vikram calendar

• The epoch is the year when King Vikramaditya of Ujjain defeated the Śaka people.
• The year starts with the 2^nd month.
• The first day of a month is the day with new moon.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 to 32 days in a month.
• A leap month is sometimes added or subtracted in a year.

Republic of China calendar

• The epoch is the year of the foundation of the Republic of China.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the first day of the year of the foundation of the Republic of China in Gregorian calendar.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• Days for months without leap are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31.
• The start of a day is the midnight in Greenwich added by 8 hours.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 2^nd month, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

scheduled lunar Hijri calendar

• The epoch is the year of Hijrah.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• There are 30 days in months of an odd number, 29 days in months of an even number without leap.
• There are 30 days in the last month, if the number of the year in a 30-year cycle multiplied by 11/30 minus the number of past leaps in the 30-year cycle is higher than 1/2. (Years with a leap in the 30-year cycle are 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29.)
• The start of a day is at sunset.
• (There are 11 leaps in 30 years.)

solar Hijri calendar

• The epoch is the year of Hijrah.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of a year is the spring equinox.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• There are 31 days in the first 6 months, 30 days in the next 5 months, 29 days in the last month without leap.
• The start of a day is at sunset.
• (There are about 8 leaps in 33 years.)

Thai lunar calendar

• The epoch is possibly the year of the death of Siddhārtha Gautama.
• The start of the epoch is the year zero.
• The start of a year is the day when the Sun enters Aries.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 days in months of an odd number, 30 days in months of an even number without leap.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The start of a day is midnight.
• There is 1 leap month added after the 8^th month in a big leap year.
• There is 1 leap day added to the 7^th month in a small leap year.
• (There are about 7 leap months in 19 years.)

Thai solar calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Rama I.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• The first day of the year one is the first day of the year of the death of Siddhārtha Gautama in Gregorian calendar.
• There are 12 months in a year.
• Days for months without leap are 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31.
• The start of a day is the midnight in Greenwich added by 7 hours.
• There is 1 leap day every 4 years added to the 2^nd month, except when the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.
• (There are about 1 leaps in 4 years.)

Tibetan Nyatri Tsenpo lunar calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Nyatri Tsenpo.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 or 30 days in a month.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• There are 25 leaps in 65 years.

Tibetan rabjung lunar calendar

• The epoch is the year of the first introduction of the rabjung-cycle.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 or 30 days in a month.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• There are 25 leaps in 65 years.

Tibetan Thothori Nyantsen lunar calendar

• The epoch is the year of the enthronement of Thothori Nyantsen.
• The start of the epoch is the year one.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• There are 29 or 30 days in a month.
• The 15^th day in a month is the day of full moon.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• There are 25 leaps in 65 years.

Unix time

• The start is the first day of the first month in 1970 in Gregorian calendar.
• The number of the time is the number of seconds since its start.

Vietnamese agricultural calendar

• There are 12 months in a year without leap.
• The first month is the month with winter solstice.
• The first day of a month is the day with new moon.
• (There are 29 or 30 days in a month.)
• The start of a day is the midnight.
• The leap month is placed after the first month without a solar term of an even number.
• (There are about 7 leaps in 19 years.)

Vira Nirvana calendar

• The epoch is the year of death of Mahavira.
• The start of the epoch is year zero.
• There are 12 months in a year without leap.

Yoruba calendar

• There are 4 days in a week.
• There are 91 weeks in a year.

Zulu calendar

• There are 13 months in a year.
• There are about 29 days in the first 12 months, 4 to 5 days in the last month.

Timekeeping

European timekeeping

• A day is divided by 12 units ‘hour’ (in English) evenly.
• An hour is divided by 60 units ‘minute’ (in English) evenly.
• A minute is divided by 60 units ‘second’ (in English) evenly.
• A second is divided by 1000 units ‘millisecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A millisecond is divided by 1000 units ‘microsecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A microsecond is divided by 1000 units ‘nanosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A nanosecond is divided by 1000 units ‘picosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A picosecond is divided by 1000 units ‘femtosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A femtosecond is divided by 1000 units ‘attosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• An attosecond is divided by 1000 units ‘zeptosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• A zeptosecond is divided by 1000 units ‘yoctosecond’ (in English) evenly.
• There is 1 leap second added to the last minute of a day.

Burmese timekeeping

• A day is divided into 2 parts evenly.
• Every such part is divided into 4 units ‘ဗဟို’ evenly.
• Every ဗဟို is divided into 7.5 units ‘နာရီ’ evenly.
• Every နာရီ is divided into 4 units ‘ပါဒ်’ evenly.
• Every ပါဒ် is divided into 15 units ‘ဗီဇနာ’ evenly.
• Every ဗီဇနာ is divided into 6 units ‘ပြန်’ evenly.
• Every ပြန် is divided into 10 units ‘ခရာ’ evenly.
• Every ခရာ is divided into 12 units ‘ခဏ’ evenly.
• Every ခဏ is divided into 4 units ‘လယ’ evenly.
• Every လယ is divided into 1.25 units ‘အနုခရာ’ evenly.

Chinese timekeeping

• A day is divided by 12 units ‘時’ evenly.
• A 時 is divided into 2 parts ‘初’, ‘正’ evenly.
• Every such part is divided by 4 units ‘刻’ evenly.

Indian timekeeping

common method

• A day is divided by 30 units ‘मुहूर्त’ evenly.
• A मुहूर्त is divided by 2 units ‘घड़ियां’ evenly.
• A घड़ियां is divided by 60 units ‘विघटि’ evenly.
• A विघटि is divided by 6 units ‘परमाणु’ evenly.

Vishnu Purana method

• A day is divided by 10 units ‘मुहूर्त’ evenly.
• A मुहूर्त is divided by 20 units ‘कला’ evenly.
• A कला is divided by 35 units ‘काष्ठा’ evenly.
• A काष्ठा is divided by 10 units ‘पलक झपकने का समय’ evenly.

small Vedic time

• A day is divided by 30 units ‘दण्ड’ evenly.
• A दण्ड is divided by 2 units ‘नाड़ी’ evenly.
• A नाड़ी is divided by 15 units ‘लघु’ evenly.
• A लघु is divided by 15 units ‘काष्ठा’ evenly.
• A काष्ठा is divided by 5 units ‘क्षण’ evenly.
• A क्षण is divided by 3 units ‘निमेष’ evenly.
• A निमेष is divided by 3 units ‘लावा’ evenly.
• A लावा is divided by 3 units ‘वेध’ evenly.
• A वेध is divided by 100 units ‘त्रुटि’ evenly.
• A त्रुटि is divided by 3 units ‘तॄसरेणु’ evenly.
• A तॄसरेणु is divided by 6 units ‘ब्रह्माण्डीय’ evenly.

Thai timekeeping

• A day is divided by 4 periods ‘...โมงเช้า’, ‘บ่าย...โมง’, ‘...ทุ่ม’, ‘ตี...’ evenly.
• Every such period is divided into 6 parts evenly.

Javanese timekeeping

• A day is divided into 10 phrases with portions of length 2, 4, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3.