Javanese calendar

[1] The current system of the Javanese calendar was inaugurated by Sultan Agung of Mataram in the Gregorian year 1633 CE.

[2] 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.

[4] The Javanese calendar contains multiple, overlapping (but separate) measurements of times, called "cycles".

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,[5] 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).

[5] Additionally, Javanese consider these days' names to have a mystical relation to colors and cardinal direction: Most Markets no longer operate under this traditional Pasaran cycle, instead pragmatically remaining open every day of the Gregorian week.

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.

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.

The names of the days of the week in Javanese are derived from their Arabic counterparts, namely: These two week systems occur concurrently; thus, a certain Friday may fall on a Kliwon day, and is consequently called Jumat Kliwon.

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.

[7] There are also taboos that relate to the cycle; for example, the ritual dance bedhaya can only be performed on Kemis Kliwon.

For timekeeping, days are numbered within the lunar month (wulan) as is common in other calendar systems.

The 14th day, called Purnama Sidhi (full moon), represents a married adult.

In the 19th century, the solar month system or pranata mangsa was much better known among Javanese than the civil or religious year.

A single windu lasts for 81 repetitions of the wetonan cycle, or 2,835 days (about 7 years 9 months in the Gregorian calendar).

Windu' are no longer used much in horoscopy, but there is evidence that it was previously used by court officials to predict trends.

[11] Dina Mulya (ꦢꦶꦤꦩꦸꦭꦾ, literally "noble days") are celebrated by worshipping Gusti, the creator of life and the universe.