Vegetarian Festival 2016

[Felt 35]

Does anyone know stipulated dates for the vegetarian festival 2016.

​Thanks

Felt

[stevenl]

1-9 October

[Guest]

1-9 October

Has these dates been officially announced somewhere? Normally they announce the days about a month before.

This site says Oct 1 - Oct 9

http://www.festivalsofthailand.com/home/thailand-festivals/vegetarian-festival/

This one Sep 23 - Oct 2

http://www.phuket101.net/phuket-vegetarian-festival-calendar/

There are probably as many dates as there are different sources.

[stevenl]

1-9 October

Has these dates been officially announced somewhere? Normally they announce the days about a month before.

This site says Oct 1 - Oct 9

http://www.festivalsofthailand.com/home/thailand-festivals/vegetarian-festival/

This one Sep 23 - Oct 2

http://www.phuket101.net/phuket-vegetarian-festival-calendar/

There are probably as many dates as there are different sources.

I found a few sites saying 1-19 October, so think that will be it. But you're right, it really is not conclusive.

Edited June 23, 2016 by stevenl

[Guest]

The problem with the late official announcement is that it's pretty difficult to invite people to see the craziest festival in Thailand.

Many people back home plan their vacations a year or at least 6 months before the trip. This includes reserving the days for 2 week holiday, booking flights / hotel etc.

If the announcement is done one month prior the event, it excludes travellers from faraway land to join the festival.

[skatewash]

I do agree the dates of the festival are not well publicized and it seems they don't come out much in advance. However, the dates of celebration for the festival are anything but random. The reason it seems random is that like the date for Easter it is based on a lunar event. And since we use a calendar that is not lunar based, the dates move around from year to year as the lunar and solar cycles are of different duration. However, the good news is that you can figure them out for yourself. In fact, the calculation for the dates of the Vegetarian Festival is much simpler than that for Easter Sunday (which is actually fairly complicated)!

The Vegetarian Festival starts one day before the start of the 9th lunar month in the Chinese calendar and runs for 11 days.

So you merely need to determine when the 9th lunar month in the Chinese calendar starts in the current year.

Here's a nice source for the 2016 Chinese calendar: http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/calendar/pdf/2016e.pdf

Find the start of the 9th lunar month, in this case 1 October. Subtract one day to get the starting day of the festival, so 30 September. So the 2016 Vegetarian Festival will start on 30 September and run until 10 October (eleven days later).

Here's a nice write-up on a typical festival schedule from the gentleman who pointed out the above formula to me:
http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com/2011/06/phuket-vegetarian-festival-2011.html

Edited June 24, 2016 by skatewash

[choonsan]

The date is permanently fixed annually on the ninth month according to the Chinese Lunar calender.

It is always observed from the 1st day and ends on the 9th day of the ninth month.

But some follower will start one day earlier to cleanse their body.

[skatewash]

The date is permanently fixed annually on the ninth month according to the Chinese Lunar calender.

It is always observed from the 1st day and ends on the 9th day of the ninth month.

But some follower will start one day earlier to cleanse their body.

That might be true officially, but there's something very interesting to see one day earlier, and that is the raising of the Go Teng pole that occurs late afternoon early evening (4-6 PM) at the various Chinese shrines. And one day after the festival or the 10th day of the ninth lunar month the Go Teng poles are taken down around 5 PM. I like to include them in the festival dates, but you may be right that technically it is celebrated for the first nine days of the ninth lunar month.

Raising the Go Teng:

The Vegetarian Festival is by far my most favorite festival on Phuket.

[Felt 35]

I do agree the dates of the festival are not well publicized and it seems they don't come out much in advance. However, the dates of celebration for the festival are anything but random. The reason it seems random is that like the date for Easter it is based on a lunar event. And since we use a calendar that is not lunar based, the dates move around from year to year as the lunar and solar cycles are of different duration. However, the good news is that you can figure them out for yourself. In fact, the calculation for the dates of the Vegetarian Festival is much simpler than that for Easter Sunday (which is actually fairly complicated)!

The Vegetarian Festival starts one day before the start of the 9th lunar month in the Chinese calendar and runs for 11 days.

So you merely need to determine when the 9th lunar month in the Chinese calendar starts in the current year.

Here's a nice source for the 2016 Chinese calendar: http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/calendar/pdf/2016e.pdf

Find the start of the 9th lunar month, in this case 1 October. Subtract one day to get the starting day of the festival, so 30 September. So the 2016 Vegetarian Festival will start on 30 September and run until 10 October (eleven days later).

Here's a nice write-up on a typical festival schedule from the gentleman who pointed out the above formula to me:

http://jamie-monk.blogspot.com/2011/06/phuket-vegetarian-festival-2011.html

Great info. Always thought it should be possible to calculate out the above myself but never had a startpoint.

Thanks, Felt.