Cham calendar

The Cham calendar (Cham: ꨧꨆꨥꨪ sakawi) is a lunisolar calendar used by the Cham people of Vietnam since ancient times. Its origins is based on Saka Raja calendar which was influenced by the Shaka era (78 CE) Indian Hindu calendar, with the current standard called Sakawi Cham likely instituted during the reign of Po Rome of the Champa kingdom.^[1]

Features

The Cham calendar (Sakawi Cam/Cham) has a system of a set of revolving cycles of days, weeks, months and years. The Cham month consists of two lunar phases of 15 days each. The 1st half denotes the full moon phase called Bingun (Śukla pakṣa), while the new moon phase is called Kanem (Kṛṣṇa pakṣa). The 12 year cycle similar to Chinese zodiac is referred to as Nasak(12 Nasak from 27/28 Nakṣatra). The Cham calendar known as Sakawi Cam is a term used to encompass two calendar variants.^[1]

Sakawi Ahier: This is used by Bhap Cam/Chăm Bà La Môn and is Chams' lunisolar calendar in nature.
Sakawi Awal: This is used by Bhap Ni/Hồi Giáo Bà Ni and is Javanese lunar calendar in nature.

The calendar is used as an agricultural almanac to ascertain the time of cultivation. The biggest Cham festival known as Kate falls on the 1st day of the seventh Cham month (9th Imlek month).

Sakawi Ahier

System

The names of the days of the Cham week were derived from their Sanskrit names used in the traditional Hindu calendar.

Gregorian Day	Cham day (Haray)	Akhar Cam (ꨨꨣꩈ)
Sunday	Adit	ꨀꨕꨪꩅ
Monday	Thom	ꨔꨯꩌ
Tuesday	Angar	ꨀꨋꩉ
Wednesday	But	ꨝꨭꩅ
Thursday	Jip	ꨎꨪꩇ
Friday	Suk	ꨧꨭꩀ
Saturday	Thanchar	ꨔꩆꨍꩉ

The length of the month: the full month (balan tapăk) has 30 days and the hollow month (balan u) has 29 days.

Gregorian month	Cham month (Balan)
1st month	Balan sa
2nd month	Balan dua
3rd month	Balan klau
4th month	Balan pak
5th month	Balan lima
6th month	Balan nam
7th month	Balan tijuh
8th month	Balan dalapan
9th month	Balan salapan
10th month	Balan sa pluh
11th month	Balan sa plu sa
12th month	Balan sa plu dua

Balan Mak [Māgha]

Cham zodiac

The Cham zodiac is similar to the Vietnamese zodiac in its usage and arrangement of animals, but replaces the Monkey with the turtle (kra); the cat with the rabbit (Tapay).

Chinese zodiac	Cham zodiac (nâthak)
Rat	Tikuh
Buffalo	Kubao
Tiger	Rimaong
Rabbit	Tapay
Dragon	Inagirai
Snake	Ulanaih
Horse	Athaih
Goat	Pabaiy
Turtle	Kra
Rooster	Manuk
Dog	Athau
Pig	Papwiy

Sakawi Awal

This variant is influenced by of 12 Arabic lunar months system consisting of 29-30 days. It uses an 8 year cycle called Ikessarak. This variant is used for certain Islamic festivals observed by the Bani Chams.^[1]

Year	Cycle	Pattern
1	Lieh	Normal, Leap
2	Hak	Leap, Normal
3	Jim	Normal, Leap
4	Jay	Normal, Normal
5	Dal	Leap, Normal
6	Bak	Normal, Leap
7	Wao	Normal, Normal
8	Jim Luic	Leap, Normal

Festivals

Important festivals in the Cham calendar:

Rija Nukan- Cham New Year(Mar/Apr)^[1]
Katê- Harvest festival(Sep)^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Tran Ky Phuong, Bruce Lockhart (2011-01-01). The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. NUS Press. p. 326-335. ISBN 9789971694593.
^ "The Great Indian festive culinary trail for November". Vietnam Plus. September 30, 2019.