ECOCULTURAL CALENDAR SYSTEM: DECODING THE "PINBOARD" MECHANISM OF THE KAREN PO ETHNIC GROUP IN UTHAI THANI PROVINCE

Abstract

This research aims to study the patterns, systems, and processes of calculating the Karen lunar calendar in a Karen community in western Thailand. Using qualitative research methods, the study was validated by five community experts who are inheritors of traditional knowledge. The results show that the community's calendar system is an "ecological-cultural calendar" related to livelihood cycles and ritual practices. It utilizes a cultural artifact in the form of a "wooden pegboard," a semicircular wooden board with holes arranged in a curved line to represent the moon's position each day. This board is used in conjunction with sky observations, noting 15 days of waxing and 15 days of waning moon phases. Even-numbered months are considered full months (30 days), while odd-numbered months are considered short months (29 days), meaning the 15th day of the waning moon is omitted from each odd-numbered month. This complex tool is used to determine dates, months, and years for the community, reflecting the ancestral abilities in sky observation and timekeeping. The research concludes that Karen calendar knowledge is not merely oral tradition but has a concrete recording system through cultural artifacts. This tradition possesses a systematic structure, mechanism, and method for determining dates, times, months, and years. However, due to the use of wood and the limited transmission of this knowledge among a select group of ritual leaders, it is at risk of being lost. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new forms of transmission that are suitable for the modern era.