Tibetan Almanac

Tibetan Almanac – Brief Introduction

The color of cover of Tibetan Almanac changes with year. In Soil Year, the cover of Tibetan Almanac is yellow which means soil. The cover of Tibetan Almanac is blue in Water Year, green in Wooden Year, white in Iron Year, red in Fire Year. The Tibetan Almanac not only numbers year, month and day, but also includes forecast of astronomical event, trend of weather and natural disaster, etc. It also pointed guides farming in different prefectures of Tibet, passes on the knowledge of picking up hundreds kinds of Tibetan medicine in different seasons, summarizes the change regulation of pulse in the four seasons. We may see that the rich content of Tibetan Almanac is hard to approach for other almanacs.

Tibetan Almanac – General Survey of Year

The general survey of year in Tibetan Almanac includes salute hymn which is verse of hymn to the masters in the calendar calculation history; Buddhism Calendar which is important year in Buddhism history based on the predication of Buddha; seven luminaries and lunar mansions, the move position of goyousei (gold, wood, water, fire, soil) and the time of converging and the relationship between weather and their move position; the farming season in different prefectures of Tibet which is the most important part of general survey of year, as well as the part got most attention of farmers and herdsmen; forecast of moon and sun.

Tibetan Almanac - General Survey of Month

The general survey of month in Tibetan Almanac includes the date and time of sun coming into one of the Zodiac, the date and time of 24 solar terms, the length of day and night of middle day, the double day and leap day in the month, the position of five planets in the month, as well as festivals in the month.

Tibetan Almanac – Detailed Study of Day

The detailed study of day is the most massive part of Tibetan Almanac, as well as the marrow of Tibetan Almanac. Each day is a square formed by crossed lines. There are six squares on one page. The top left corner of the square is the date in Tibetan Calendar; bottom right corner is the date in Gregorian calendar; the down left corner is the time of the end of sun and moon, and the position of sum and noon at that time. The items on upper side of the square, after the date, are similar with the note in Chinese Almanac.

In addition, there are some information about the trends of animals and plants, the arrangement of farming work, weather of the day, and various traditional and modern festivals.

Furthermore, Tibetan Almanac also marks the double day and leap day with seal characters of Chogyal Pakpa word, and the day of coming into one of zodiac and specific time of 24 solar terms are carved in the pattern like door.