Calendars in Maldives
by Majid Abdul-Wahhab
2003
Currently the main official calendar of the Maldives is the Gregorian calendar
with the year counted in the Christian era. The civil and fiscal year corresponds
to the Gregorian calendar year. The current constitution of the Maldives came
into force on 1 January AD 1998 - the beginning of a calendar year. Political
tenures are measured in Gregorian years and the age of eligibility to such office
is also determined in Gregorian years. Official letters and other documents have
reference numbers ending with the Christian year.
When a Gregorian
date with the Christian year is written in Divehi language documents, it is conventional
to add a Thaana (Maldive) letter meemu (M) following the year, in much the same
way as AD (Anno Domini). The meemu stands for meelaadee (which means 'of birth'
in Arabic) and refers to the birth of Christ. This is probably the only way official
Maldives celebrates Christmas!
The Maldive bureaucracy has an obsession for numbering official documents.
Petty
feudalistic edicts called iulaanu are broadcast over radio and television
and appear in the print media.
All these have reference numbers.
The longer the number the more important the official in charge is perceived
to be. These numbers are mainly alpha-numeric interspaced with several forward
slashes (called obuliku by Maldive officials) and dashes.
Officials
who wish to be seen as more literate than others insert letters of the Roman
alphabet instead of the local Thaana letters. It is claimed that these numbers
help with filing but in the writer's experience once a Maldive bureaucrat
files a document it can no longer be located.
An example of what
a typical iulaanu number may look like is:
22-D/34/654/F/BO-AC/43/2004
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Historic
Maldive calendars
Boxing Day 2003
Usually most Maldivians are paranoid about
even mentioning the word Christmas in the presence of other Maldivians,
lest they be accused of being Christians and sent to prison which, according
to some reports, is a centre of rape, torture and murder in the Maldives.
At least one Maldive research student in New Zealand makes it
a point to be online using his university account during most of Christmas
day, probably for fear that he may be accused of celebrating the dreaded
Christmas. The cyber police back in the Maldives would know that this student
is not out doing what he is not supposed to be doing on December 25.
Christmas is celebrated in the Maldive tourist resorts. In all walks
of life, outsiders are shown a facade of open-mindedness.
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From 1962 until about 1983 only the Gregorian calendar
and the Christian year were used for official purposes. Under pressure from brotherly
Arabs with petrodollars, lip-service is now paid to the Islamic lunar calendar
of the Hegira (Islamic) era.
A complete restoration of the lunar calendar
was deemed impractical because of the clumsiness and unpredictability of the Islamic
calendar. With the current arrangement, brotherly Arabs are kept happy and at
the same time sanity of chronology prevails. The current regime that conceived
this duplicitous solution must be credited for its pragmatism in this instance.
In 1959, the Gregorian calendar and the Christian year were adopted
for certain official purposes while still retaining the clumsy Islamic lunar calendar.
In 1962 the Islamic calendar was abandoned altogether from official use.
There is no doubt that the Islamic calendar was introduced for ecclesiastical
use with the Islamic conversion in the twelfth century AD. However there is little
evidence as to when it was fully adopted for civil and official use. Until 1933,
when a written constitution was adopted and the administration of government organised
along much the same lines as it is now, many official documents, particularly
those called Faiykolhu (royal edicts) used the Islamic calendar but not the Hegira
year. Years were counted from the accession of the reigning monarch.
When the Islamic calendar was the only one used for official purposes, the fiscal
year began on 7 Rajab. All other fiscal months too began on the seventh day. That
way the vagaries of the sighting of the new moon were circumvented.
The Nakaiiy seasonal calendar
Largely as a result of
the clumsiness of the Islamic calendar Maldivians had found it necessary to retain
a more sensible pre-Islamic system to determine the seasons. This was the Nakaiiy
system which corresponds to the Gregorian calendar
There are 28 nakaiiy
(literally constellation) periods in the year. With some exceptions, most nakaiiy
bear the Maldive names of celestial constellations. Each nakaiiy is either 13
or 14 days long. For a time, a system of 29 nakaiiy was in use.
| Nakaiiy |
Starts
on |
Highlights |
| Assidha |
April 8 |
Westerly winds set in |
| Burunu |
April 22 |
|
| Kethi |
May 6 |
|
| Roanu |
May 20 |
|
| Miyaheliya |
June 3 |
|
| Adha |
June 17 |
|
| Funoas |
July 1 |
|
| Fus |
July 15 |
|
| Ahuliha |
July 29 |
|
| Maa |
August 11 |
|
| Fura |
August 24 |
|
| Uthura |
September 7 |
|
| Atha |
September 21 |
|
| Hitha |
October 4 |
|
| Hey |
October 18 |
|
| Vihaa |
November 1 |
Native sea birds hatch |
| Nora |
November 14 |
|
| Dhorha |
November 27 |
|
| Mula |
December 10 |
|
| Fura Halha |
December 23 |
Easterly winds set in |
| Uthura Halha |
January 6 |
|
| Huvan |
January 19 |
|
| Dhinarha |
February 1 |
|
| Hiyavihaa |
February 14 |
|
| Fura Badhuruva |
February 27 |
|
| Fas Badhuruva |
March 12 |
|
| Reyva |
March 26 |
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Curiously, the easterly (mainly dry) season or
the north east monsoon called Iruvai begins on the day after the northern
winter solstice. |
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Preparing the Fort
By the middle of the last
century, only one official occasion was observed according to the Nakkaiy calendar
even though all Maldive calendars, even today, include the nakaaiy. Badi-helun
(handling of the cannons) ceremony took place on Mula 3 (December 12). The royal
militia went on a war footing on that day. Fortification walls were checked for
repairs and the royal artillery hardware received its annual service commencing
on that day. Foreign invaders who came from the neighbouring sub-continent always
took advantage of the prevailing easterly winds between December and April.
Historic examples of the inconvenience of the Islamic calendar
The Maldives was not the first Muslim country to recognise the clumsiness of the
Islamic lunar calendar.
In AD 1677 the Ottoman Empire adopted the Julian
calendar for civil use while still counting the years from the fleeing of Mohamed
from Mecca to Medina (Hegira). At that time the large Christian populations of
the Ottoman Empire still used the Julian calendar. Under the Ottoman system, the
Julian month names (identical to the Gregorian month names) were slightly Turkified
but retained with the new year's day falling on March (Mart) 1. This was called
the Marti system in Turkish. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey adopted
the Christian era in 1921 while still retaining the Julian calendar until 1927
when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.
Persia (Iran) too, having experienced
a more advanced and civilised culture before being conquered and colonised by
Islam, found the Islamic calendar clumsy and anachronistic. They modified and
retained the old Persian calendar (now called Jaloli) which corresponds to the
Gregorian calendar. The present Jaloli calendar was devised in the 11th
century AD by Omar Khayam and others and adopted into official use by the Shah
Reza of the Pahelavi Dynasty in 1925. The Persian month names were retained while
counting the years from the Hegira. Iran and Afghanistan still observe the Jaloli
calendar for civil and official use. The Jaloli new year's day (1 Farvardin) falls
on 21 March.
The Islamic Calendar
Until the time
of Mohamed, the Arabs used a luni-solar calendar similar to that of the Jews.
Each month began at sunset on the day of the birth of the new moon. A purely lunar
year such as the Islamic year is approximately 11 days shorter than the solar
(e.g.: Gregorian) year. For this reason the Arabs inserted an intercalary (leap)
month from time to time. The intercalation was arbitrary and was abused by the
priests and sheikhs for pecuniary and fiscal advantage. This was justifiably recognised
as a grievance and a source of continued exploitation.
In typical
knee-jerk fashion the intercalary month was abolished and the physical sighting
of the new moon by at least two males (or 4 non-menstrual females) was instituted
in the Sharia as evidence of the birth of the new moon. These two factors made
the Islamic lunar calendar illogical for civil use.
The Islamic calendar
is based on two verses of the Koran. They are verses 36 and 37 of Surah el-Tawbah
according to the Usman version of the Koran shown below, with translation by Yusuf
Ali.
The number of months
in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so
ordained by him the day he created the heavens
and the earth; of them four are sacred: that is
the straight usage. So wrong not yourselves therein,
and fight the Pagans all together as they fight
you all together. But know that Allah is with
those who restrain themselves. (36).
Verily the transposing (of a prohibited month)
is an addition to unbelief: the unbelievers are
led to wrong thereby: for they make it lawful
one year, and forbidden another year, in order
to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allah
and make such forbidden ones lawful. The evil
of their course seems pleasing to them. But Allah
guideth not those who reject faith (37). |
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Maldives History 
