The Javanese calendar () 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 the Indonesian government for religious worship and deciding relevant Islamic holidays.
The Javanese calendar is used by the main ethnicities of Java island—that is, the Javanese, Madurese, and Sundanese people—primarily as a cultural icon and identifier, and as a maintained tradition of antiquity. The Javanese calendar is used for cultural and spiritual purposes.
The current system of the Javanese calendar was inaugurated by Sultan Agung of Mataram in the Gregorian year 1633 CE. Prior to this, the Javanese had used the Śaka calendar, which has its epoch in 78 CE and uses the lunisolar cycle for calculating time. Sultan Agung's calendar retained the Saka calendar year system of counting, but differs by using the same lunar year measurement system as the Islamic calendar, rather than the solar year. Occasionally, the Javanese calendar is referred to 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 octennial (8 year) cycles, or Windu the 120-year cycle of 15 Windu, called Kurup
Year AD/CE Year AJ Javanesemonth 2011 1944 6 </tr> 2012 1945 6 </tr> 2013 1946 6 </tr> 2014 1947 7 </tr> 2015 1948 7 </tr> 2016 1949 8 </tr> 2017 1950 8 </tr> 2018 1951 8 </tr> 2019 1952 9 </tr> 2020 1953 9 </tr> Year AD/CE Year AJ Javanesemonth 2021 1954 9 </tr> 2022 1955 10 </tr> 2023 1956 10 </tr> 2024 1957 11 </tr> 2025 1958 11 </tr> 2026 1959 11 </tr> 2027 1960 12 </tr> 2028 1961 12 </tr> 2029 1962 12 </tr>203019631
Current correlations The Javanese calendar year of 1941 occurred entirely within the civil calendar year of 2008. Such years occur once every 33 or 34 Javanese years (32 or 33 civil years). More are listed here:
Javanese year within civil year </tr> Javanese Civil Difference 1575 1653 78 </tr> 1608 1685 77 </tr> 1649 1718 76 </tr> 1673 1751 75 </tr> 1706 1783 74 </tr> 1740 1816 73 </tr> 1773 1848 72 </tr> 1807 1882 71 </tr> 1841 1914 70 </tr> 1877 1946 69 </tr> 1908 1979 68 </tr> 1944 2011 67 </tr> 1977 2043 66 </tr> 2011 2076 65 </tr> 2043 2108 64 </tr> 2076 2140 63 </tr>
A Javanese year will be entirely within a Gregorian year of the same number in the year 4195, after which year the number of the Javanese year will always be greater than the number of the concurrent civil year.
Division of time Days in the Javanese calendar, like the Islamic calendar, begin at sunset. Traditionally, Javanese people do not divide the day and night into hours, but rather into phases. The division of a day and night are: + Division of time Start End Javanese name Meaning 6 am 8 am ésuk morning 8 am 12 pm tengangi midday 12 pm 1 pm bedug time for bedug prayer 1 pm 3 pm lingsir kulon (sun) moving west 3 pm 6 pm asar time for asar prayer 6 pm 8 pm soré evening 8 pm 11 pm sirap sleepy time 11 pm 1 am tengah wengi midnight 1 am 3 am lingsir wengi late night 3 am 6 am bangun awakening
Cycles of days
Five-day week (Pasaran)
The native Javanese system groups days into a five-day week called Pasaran, unlike most calendars that uses a seven-day 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 socially meet, 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 weekly 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 each have two names, as the Javanese language has distinct vocabulary associated with two different registers of politeness: ngoko (informal) and krama (formal). The krama names for the days, second in the list, are much less common.
(Legi) – (Manis) (Pahing) – (Pait) (Pon) – (Pethak) (Wagé) – (Cemèng) (Kliwon) – (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 for days of the week. 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 Wagé : black and North Kliwon : blurred colors/focus and 'center'.
Most 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. Some markets in small or medium size locations will be much busier on the Pasaran day than on the other days. On the market's name day itinerant sellers appear selling such things as livestock, plants and other products that are either less frequently purchased or are more expensive. This allows a smaller number of these merchants to service a much larger area much as in bygone days.
Javanese astrological belief dictates that an individual's characteristics and destiny are attributable to the combination of the Pasaran day and the "common" weekday of the Islamic calendar on that person's birthday. Javanese people find great interest in the astrological interpretations of this combination, 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 throughout the 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 () yaum al-ithnayn ( يوم الاثنين ) Monday Selasa () yaum ath-thalatha' ( يوم الثلاثاء ) Tuesday Rebo () yaum al-arba`a' ( يوم الأربعاء ) Wednesday Kemis () yaum al-khamis ( يوم الخميس ) Thursday Jemuwah () yaum al-jum`a ( يوم الجمعة ) Friday Setu () yaum as-sabt ( يوم السبت ) Saturday Minggu/Ahad () yaum al-ahad ( يوم الأحد ) Sunday
These two week systems occur concurrently; thus, a certain Friday may fall on a Kliwon day, and is consequently called Jumat Kliwon. This combination forms the Wetonan cycle.
Wetonan cycle The Wetonan cycle superimposes the five-day Pasaran cycle with the seven-day week cycle. Each Wetonan cycle lasts for 35 (7x5) days. An example of Wetonan cycle:
{| class="wikitable" width="100%" |+ 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, important celebrations, and rites of passage. Commemorations and events are held on days considered to be auspicious.
An especially prominent example, still widely taught in primary schools, is that the Weton for the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945 took place on Jumat Legi; this is also the Weton for the birth and death of Sultan Agung, one of the greatest kings of Java and the inventor of the modern Javanese calendar. 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 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
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.
Cycles of months Because a Javanese lunar year is between 11 and 12 days shorter than a civil year, it begins 11–12 days earlier in the civil year following the civil year in which the previous Javanese year began. Once every 33 or 34 Javanese years, or once every 32 or 33 civil years, the beginning of a Javanese year (1 Sura) coincides with one of the first ten days of January. Subsequent New Years move backwards through the civil year back to the beginning of January again, passing through each civil month from December to January.
Mangsa
The solar year is divided into twelve periods (mangsa) of unequal length. Its origin lies in agriculture practice in Java. The names of the first ten months are simply the ordinal numbers from 1 to 10 in Javanese language, although the names of the 11th and 12th months are unclear. The cycle begins near the June solstice, around the middle of the dry season in Java.
In the 19th century, the solar month system or pranata mangsa was much better known among Javanese than the civil or religious year. The cycle is clearly of Javanese origin, since the specific application to their climate does not match other territories in the Indonesian archipelago, as well as the usage of Javanese names for the months. Although the cycle matches the weather pattern well, it is still clearly somewhat arbitrary, as can be seen in the lengths of the months.
In astrology, the pranata mangsa is used to predict personality traits in a similar manner to sun signs in Western astrology. It is not widely used anymore for divination, but some practitioners use it as well as the other cycles in their divination.
The Solar months are :