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I was wondering on the date that Thaipusam will fall in the year 2010. Many public holidays, such as Chinese New Year (CNY), Muslim festivals such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri can be calculated quite easily if one knows how to. But Thaipusam? Therefore, I have decided to do my own research and predict the date for Thaipusam in the year 2010.
So, let's first understand what is Thaipusam. According to Wikipedia, Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). So, when is the month of "Thai"? In the Tamil calendar, the month of Thai falls on January 15 till February 14. With this information, we could probably predict the date of Thaipusam.
But wait a minute. There is another clue that might help us further. Did you know that Chinese New Year, which falls on the new moon, is always between January 21 and February 20? So, I'm quite sure that there is some correlation between Thaipusam and CNY since they fall around the same time, but half a moon cycle away.
Therefore, I decided to find the dates of CNY and Thaipusam for the past years. I managed to find up till the year 2002.
| |
CNY |
Thaipusam |
Difference |
| 2002 |
12-Feb |
28-Jan |
-15 |
| 2003 |
1-Feb |
19-Jan |
-13 |
| 2004 |
22-Jan |
5-Feb |
+14 |
| 2005 |
9-Feb |
25-Jan |
-15 |
| 2006 |
29-Jan |
11-Feb |
+13 |
| 2007 |
18-Feb |
1-Feb |
-17 |
| 2008 |
7-Feb |
23-Jan |
-15 |
| 2009 |
26-Jan |
8-Feb |
+13 |
| 2010* |
14-Feb |
30-Jan* |
-15* |
* Forecast
If we look at the years 2002, 2005 and 2008, Thaipusam falls 15 days before CNY. 2007 is an exception as the difference is 17 days. Based on this, I predict that Thaipusam will fall on the 30th of January in the year 2010.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert in this field, nor do I have the authority to decide the date of Thaipusam. Please take this with a pinch of salt till an official announcement by the Government of Malaysia.
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