Happy New Year!!!!

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:22 pm

Hi friends

i would like to wish you and all your family
a prosperous and happy new year!!!!

Rhoel · Post by **Rhoel** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:24 am

For those here who are not aware, Asia celebrates New Year mid April every year - it's the time when the dry season ends and Monsoons starts - so the arrival of the rain signals the beginning of a happy fertile time.

Celebrations last three days.

Rhoel

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:39 am

thats right

we had it on 13th and 14th

'subha aluth aurudu' to you Rhoel!

Farbklecks · Post by **Farbklecks** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:58 pm

I'm still wondering what year you've got.
Really the western 2009?
Or is there an asian year?

(And allright, I ignore the swastika's in the background, coff, coff...)

Rhoel · Post by **Rhoel** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:00 pm

countries like Thailand and Cambodia use the Buddha year not Christ's. So add 543 to the date and you'll be right.

What gets really confusing is the age of people: many Asians consider themselves 1 on the day of their birth - that is, in the first year of life. barangs/falangs or whatever name westerners inherit here, consider themselves one after completing their first year. So if your girlfriend says she's 18, and her ID card says 19 but by western standards she is actually 17. Does that play with your head enough?

Rhoel

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:12 pm

Cultural attitudes to numbers can be confusing even WITHIN western countries. For example, Americans count the ground floor as 1 in their buildings. In Britain, the first floor (1) is the floor immediately above the ground floor (which is effectively 0). In lifts (elevators) in Britain, button markings are G, 1, 2 etc., equivalent in the States to 1, 2, 3...

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:51 pm

sorry about the swasticas...they are considered auspicious symbols.
i think it symbolizes the sun....used a lot in the title page of old books...etc
this image is from a trailer i did for 'the soorya mangalyaya' = 'the solar festival'

and usualy astrologers tell the exact time when the 'old' year becomes the 'new' year.
(this year the time came in the middle of the night, so we had to continue the live coverage of festivals for 30 something hours, it still hurts)

and they use 'saka varsha' years calculated from the reign of king Saka.
and of course 'buddha varsha' or years calculated from the passing of the buddha.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:05 pm

Actually the Nazis stole the swastika from a lot of earlier cultures. It's a shame such a benign symbol can be so grossly corrupted.

jahnocli,

Actually, there are a good many elevators here numbered G, 1, 2, 3, etc. The G stands for the below ground garage or B for basement. I always assumed that these were just a count of the floors. The floor at ground level would be the first floor. But I guess if you're counting stories, the first story ends at the ceiling of the ground floor.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:26 am

synthsin75 wrote:Actually, there are a good many elevators here numbered G, 1, 2, 3, etc. The G stands for the below ground garage or B for basement. I always assumed that these were just a count of the floors. The floor at ground level would be the first floor. But I guess if you're counting stories, the first story ends at the ceiling of the ground floor.

Now you're REALLY confusing me!