Five days, five directions: finding your Pancawara day
Bali counts several weeks at once. One of them has five days, and each day has its own direction, color and deity. Here is how to find yours.
Bali keeps more than one calendar. Alongside the familiar seven-day week runs the Pancawara, a week of five days: Umanis, Paing, Pon, Wage and Kliwon. Together with the other cycles of the 210-day Pawukon calendar, it decides when ceremonies fall, when a child's first rites are held, and when many Balinese celebrate their otonan, a birthday that comes every 210 days.
The five days
- Umanis · East · White · Iswara. In our material poetry: island silver.
- Paing · South · Red · Brahma. Copper and red stone.
- Pon · West · Yellow · Mahadewa. Brass and gold.
- Wage · North · Black · Wisnu. Seed, dark wood and oxidized silver.
- Kliwon · Center · All five colors · Siwa. Volcanic stone and the five metals together.
These pairings of day, direction, color and deity follow a common Balinese tradition, and they match the color directions of canang sari and the five metals of the pis bolong coin. Local practice varies, and a Balinese priest or a specialist in wariga, Balinese calendrics, will know more than any list.
Find yours
Because the cycle simply repeats every five days, any date can be traced back. Galungan, which always falls on a Kliwon, makes a good anchor: 13 January 2027 is a Kliwon, so is every fifth day before and after it. Enter your birth date on our Find Your Day page and it will tell you your day, its energy and your next otonan.
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