The Balinese calendar

Bali runs on two traditional calendars at once, alongside the international one. The pawukon is a 210-day cycle used to set many festivals, temple anniversaries and auspicious days, while the saka is a lunar-solar calendar that follows the moon and determines events such as Nyepi. Together they explain why Balinese holidays move around and why there seems to be a ceremony somewhere almost every day.

The pawukon is built from thirty weeks, called wuku, of seven days each, and it runs alongside several other repeating cycles of different lengths. Particular combinations of days are considered auspicious or inauspicious and are used to choose dates for ceremonies, weddings and building work. The saka calendar counts years from an era that began roughly 78 years after the Common Era began, and its months begin and end with the new moon and full moon.

Because of these calendars, Balinese families consult priests or printed calendars when planning events. Full moon, purnama, and new moon, tilem, are times for special prayers at temples. Each temple celebrates its odalan, or anniversary, every 210 days, so on any given day a temple somewhere is holding a festival. Visitors who ask their hosts about the calendar often discover a ceremony happening nearby.