Learn the Tibetan Calendar

From basic concepts to advanced calculations—explore this ancient system at your own pace

01

Calendar Basics

What makes the Tibetan calendar unique? Learn about lunisolar systems, how months and years are counted, and the fundamental principles that govern this tradition.

  • Lunisolar vs. Solar calendars
  • The Kālacakra foundation
  • How to read Tibetan dates
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02

Months & Years

Understand the 60-year cycle, animal-element combinations, and why some years have 13 months. Discover how Losar (New Year) is determined.

  • The 60-year cycle (rab byung)
  • 12 animals & 5 elements
  • Intercalary months
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03

Days & Time

Lunar days don't match solar days—sometimes days are skipped or doubled. Learn how the Tibetan day works and how time is traditionally divided.

  • Lunar days (tshes pa)
  • Duplicated & omitted days
  • Traditional time divisions
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04

Astrology & Practice

Each day carries astrological qualities that influence activities. Explore lunar mansions, yogas, karanas, and how practitioners use this information.

  • 27 Lunar mansions (rgyu skar)
  • Yogas & karanas
  • Auspicious & inauspicious days
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Quick Reference

12 Animals

བྱི་བ། གླང། སྟག། ཡོས། འབྲུག། སྦྲུལ། རྟ། ལུག། སྤྲེའུ། བྱ། ཁྱི། ཕག།

Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Bird, Dog, Pig

5 Elements

ཤིང། མེ། ས། ལྕགས། ཆུ།

Wood, Fire, Earth, Iron, Water

Days of the Week

ཉི་མ། ཟླ་བ། མིག་དམར། ལྷག་པ། ཕུར་བུ། པ་སངས། སྤེན་པ།

Sunday (Sun), Monday (Moon), Tuesday (Mars), Wednesday (Mercury), Thursday (Jupiter), Friday (Venus), Saturday (Saturn)

Ready to try it out?

Use our interactive calculator to convert dates and see all the astronomical details for any day.

Open Calculator