The Class of 69 (mostly M69) paid respect to Sayagyi U Ba Than on October 1, 2017. U Aung Min organized the visit.
Sayagyi’s birthday is October 2.
U Ba Than
The group attended the birthday celebration ceremony and received blessing from sayargyi. The group handed over garawa birthday gifts that they had collected before and on the monthly breakfast gathering held earlier that day.
Sayagyi U Ba Than
Sayagyi usually performs dana with the Garawa money he received for his birthday and for attending the SPZPs and mini-SPZPs.
Sayagyi has supported various charitable associations for the needy, the sick, the blind, the deaf and dumb, old people and “Nar Ye” . They include
Little Sisters for the Poor
U Hla Tun Foundation
Jivitadana ဇီဝိတဒါန
Hnin Si Gone Bo Bwa Yeik Tha နှင်းဆီကုန်းဘိုးဘွားရိပ်သာ
Mary Chapman
Kyaw Thu Nar Ye (နာရေး အဖွဲ့)
Medical Clinics
On his Birthday every year, Sayagyi offers “soon kwyay” ဆွမ်းကျွေး at Yaw Sayadaw’s monastery.
The Soon kwyay held on October 2, 2017 was attended by sayas, alumni, relatives and friends.
Updates
During the pandemic, physical gatherings were put on hold. Celebrations were done virtually, e.g via Zoom
U Tin Htoon compiled a Photo Album for Sayagyi’s 90th birthday in 2020.
U Ba Than
Sayagyi passed away peacefully after his 94th birthday.
The Matriculation Only examination was held in May 1963
In the previous years, the examination was for High School Final and Matriculation (combined). Those who matriculated are eligible to study at the university.
SPHS students were outstanding in the Matriculation of 1963. There were five in the Top Five, seven in the Top Ten and ten in the Top Twenty. The following were awarded Collegiate Scholarship. Khin Maung U (First) Min Oo (Second) Myo San (Freddie, Third, GBNF) Nyunt Wai (Victor, Fourth) Thein Wai (Fifth) Hla Min (Seventh) Aung Kyaw Zaw (Johnny, Ninth) Maung Maung Kyi (Eleventh, GBNF), Aung Thu Yein (Brownie, Thirteenth, GBNF) Khin Maung Zaw (Frank, Seventeenth)
Fifth month in the old Roman Calendar, and it had 30 days. The month was given an extra day and renamed in honor of Julius Caesar.
Seventh month in the Gregorian Calendar.
My father’s birthday
My beloved fatherMy parents
Born on 1st July.
Passed away in his 80s.
Men on the Moon
Apollo 11 Mission
Eagle (Lunar Module) landed in Tranquility Bay on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Neil Armstrong (Mission Commander) was the first to land on the moon.
Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (Lunar Module Pilot) was the second to land on the moon.
Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot) circled the Moon and waited for his crew mates to return from the Moon.
I wrote a poem “Men on the Moon”. A copy was sent by Mr. Hall (Information Officer, USIA) to NASA. The poem was published in the Guardian.
Men on the Moon
US Independence
4th of July
Martyrs’ Day
July 19, 1947
Bogyoke Aung San, six ministers, a Secretary and a bodyguard were assassinated.
Translation of Invictus Aung San
Nine Arzanis were gunned down on July 19, 1947. Eight perished that day. One succumbed a day later.
Arzanis
Bogyoke Aung San passed away at the tender age of 32 Children : U Aung San Oo, Aung San Lin (GBNF), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Thakin Mya. : Considered as Deputy Prime Minister
Deedoke U Ba Cho : Minister, Journalist ; Grand children : Dr. Khin Hla Cho, Daw Khin Myint Cho
Mahn Ba Khaing : Transported Bogyoke (saved & brought by Marie Hla Taw) back; Daughter : Sayama Daw Myint Myint Khaing
Mong Pawn Sawbwa Sao San Htun : passed away in the hospital on July 20, 1947; has a hospital named after him; Son Sao Hso Holm
U Ba Win : Bogyoke’s elder brother; Son Dr. Sein Win
U Razak : Nominated by monks; Former Principal of National School; Sons U Tin Myint & U Hla Kyi
ICS U Ohn Maung : Dy. Secy; Was asked to report on behalf of his minister; Sons U Tin Maung Thein, Francis & Dr. Min Min
Yebaw Maung Htwe : U Razak’s bodyguard
There are books (e.g. “Who killed Aung San?”, Eliminate the Elite” by Kin Oung) and documentaries (e.g. “Who really killed Aung San?” by BBC program) about the fateful event.
Eliminate the Elite
Dark days in July 1962
According to the newspapers, 17 died on July 7, 1962.
Ko Aung Khin was stuck by a stray bullet as he was returning from RUBC to his home in Windermere Road. He was listed as the 17th victim.
Anniversary celebration of 7th July in 1963 ended with the closure of Universities with the exception of the Faculties of Medical and Engineering.
The revered Student Union was demolished on July 8, 1962.
Saya usually celebrates his birthday performing meritorious deeds.
Before his current medical condition, he observed Eight Precepts.
Practices Vipassana Meditation
He is a day older than Saya Allen Htay.
My Beloved Spouse
My spouse (in her younger days)
Supported my volunteer activities for nearly five decades.
I completed 26 years as Founder & Editor of “RIT Alumni Newsletter Updates”.
2015 in Los Angeles
We attended several RIT gatherings : SPZP-2000, SPZP-2012, SPZP-2016 & 69er Golden Jubilee in Yangon; RIT & UCC Gatherings in Australia & Singapore; and many gatherings in the USA.
SPZP-2016
Attended 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles held at the Knott Berry Farms, and a special gathering at iNapa Winery.
iNapa Winery
She is a Caring Spouse, a Dutiful Mother & a Loving Grandmother. She asked me to take care of my health and minimize use of phone & computer.
Myee
She loves to sing and dance at the gatherings. I am an amateur musician who plays instruments (piano, key board, guitar, harmonica) by ear.
NorCal RITAA
Here’s my birthday wish:
May you be blessed with Good Health, Abundant Wealth, Unbounded Love, Peace, Calm, Tranquility … for many more years to come.
June 1973
Events in December
Saya U Ba Toke
December 1, 1920 : Under the RU Act of 1920, Rangoon University was established with Rangoon College & Judson College as constituent colleges.
RU Golden Jubilee in 1970 : I was member of the “Zay Nay Yar Cha Htar Yay” committee
RU Diamond Jubilee in 1995 : BARB produced documentary for “Rangoon University Sports”
RU Centennial in 2020 : I was Moderator of the RU Centennial Facebook group
December 26, 1920 : Saya U Ba Toke’s birthday. His life story is published in the book by Tekkatho Maung Thin Char (Dr. Khin Maung Swe, GBNF). Saya passed away on December 2, 2020 a few days before his Centennial Birthday
December 5, 1920 : First RU Students’ Strike — Caused amendments to the RU Act. Led to the establishment of Amyothar Kyaung (National School) & Amyothat Kawleik (College). Amyothar Aung Bwe Nay (National Day) is celebrated using the Burmese date
December 1961 : Second SEAP Games — Hosted in Rangoon; Burma dominated in Track & Field, Swimming & Volleyball. About 20 athletes from RU represented Burma in the Games (See photo by Dr. Richard Yu Khin)
RU students who represented Burma in the 2nd SEAP Games in 1961
January 1 is usually accepted as “New Year’s Day”.
Some countries celebrate it as a holiday.
December 31 is “New Year’s Eve”.
Some sing “Auld Lang Syne” to usher in the New Year.
Old Calendars
The old Roman Calendar has only 10 months starting with March So, March signified the New Year
Some civilizations celebrate Vernal equinox or First Day of Spring e.g. Persian New Year So, the New Year will fall around 20th – 22nd March
Lunar New Year
Falls around end of January or beginning of February
Celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese
Luni-solar New Year
Falls in mid-April
Celebrated by Burmese / Myanmar, Thai, Cambodia, Laos
Burmese New Year followsThingyan (which means change) Maha Thingyan means Great Change (from one year to the next). Cula Thingyan means Small Change (from one month/yathi to another month/yathi)
3 or 4 days of Thingyan (also known as Water Throwing Festival)
Miscellaneous
New Year of the indigenous people e.g. Karen New Year
February has 28 days in a common year, and 29 days in a leap year.
April, June, September and November have 30 days.
January, March, July, August, October and December have 31 days.
January : 31
February : 28 (or 29) February is the shortest month in the year with 28 days in a Common Year and 29 days in a Leap Year.
March : 31
April : 30
May : 31
June : 30
July : 31
August : 31
September : 30
October : 31
November : 30
December : 31
Days in a year
A common year has 365 days, while a Solar year has 365.2422 days.
A year which is not a Century year is a Leap Year if it is divisible by 4. The discrepancy of .9688 days is rounded up to a day.
A year which is a Century year is a Leap Year if it is divisible by 400. This ensures that there are 97 leap years in four centuries.
Grapevine
February initially had 30 days, but one day each was transferred to July (honoring Julius Caesar) and August (honoring Augustus Caesar) to have 31 days in those months (worthy of Roman Emperors).
February was left with 28 days.
Ripley’s “Believe it or not” illustrated a grave stone which had February 30.
Special Days
We were aware of
Father’s Day
Mother’s Day
Labor Day
Christmas
Easter
Thanksgiving
Independence Day
Presidents’ Day
Valentine’s Day
Differences
For a long time, we were not aware that some special events are celebrated on different days (depending on the country and religious order).
Most Christian denominations celebrate according to the Gregorian Calendar.
The Orthodox Church celebrate Christmas and Easter according to the old calendars (e.g. Julian).
The Theravada Buddhists celebrate the Full Moon Day of Kason as the “Thrice Blessed Day”.
The Mahayana celebrate the events (Birth, Enlightenment, Maha Parinibbana) on dates different from those of Theravada Buddhists.
Some Thoughts
We later learn about
Kabyar (Poem) Nay
Myat Saya (Teacher) Nay
Secretary Day
Friend Day
Pi Day
Some wonder why there is no Grandfather’s Day, Grandmother’s Day or Grandparent’s Day.
Holidays
Not all special days and events are holidays.
Even among holidays, there are Public Holidays, State Holidays, and Bank Holidays.
There may be good reasons (social, commercial) for having the designated days.
Thanksgiving
For us, every day is Thanksgiving (time to repay to our parents and mentors for their unbounded love and care).
Adeline Hpyu Hpyu Aung wrote :
Yes Saya. We should be thanking God, Parents and teachers everyday, without them we will not be who we are.
KMZ wrote :
My left brain at times over-analyzed many of these days.
Many of these holidays are the work of “Holiday Industrial Complex”.
As Ma Adelyne Hpyu Hpyu Aung posted, some of these days like Mothers’ Day/Fathers’ Day should be 365 days a year, not necessarily just the designated day a year.
Believe it nor not there also is a ‘National Splurge Day’ which is June 18th. US Congress eventually passed a law to stop creating those days.
AD stands for Anno Domini / “In the year of our Lord”
Also known as CE (Common Era)
Usually differs from the Burmese Era by 638 Note : Burmese New Year falls in mid-April. So, the Gregorian year will span two Burmese years.
BC
BC stands for “Before Christ“
BE / ME
Burmese / Myanmar Era
Started off with Sasana Era
Now differs by 1182 due to “Thet ka rit phyo” (adjustment by two Kings who believed in the astrological “kain khan” sayings)
SE
SE stands for Sasana Era Sasana is usually rendered as “Dispensation of Buddha”
SE is reckoned from Maha Parinibbana (Death of Lord Buddha)
In the mid 1950s, the Sixth Buddhist Council was held at the Kaba Aye (World Peace) Pagoda to celebrate the 2500 year of the Sasana Era.
Sample Conversions
Suppose the Burmese Era is 1382 BE, then Sasana Era = 1382 + 1182 = 2564 and Common Era = 1382 + 638 = 2020
Note: January, February, March and early April of 2020 AD will correspond to 1381 BE. The latter part of April, and May to December of 2020 AD will correspond to 1382 BE.
For example, August 22, 2018 can be displayed in various flavors.
DD-MM-YYYY (The day, month and year are displayed as numbers. e.g. 22-08-2018)
A different delimiter/separator may be used. Using the forward slash as a delimiter, the format becomes DD/MM/YYYY (e.g. 22/08/2018)
DD-MMM-YYYY (The month is represented by three letters. (e.g. 22-AUG-2019)
Y2K Problem
In the early days of computing, some people tried to save space, time and money by using only two digits for the Year. As the Millennium approach, the news media ran stories of possible errors, ambiguities and accidents due to computers using two-digit year format.
To represent the dates of very old people and events may be tricky using the two-digit format.
It can be ambiguous for some dates. 22-08-18 could mean 22-08-2018, 22-08-1918 or even earlier dates.
Month, Day, Year
This is the format used in the USA
MM-DD-YYYY (e.g. 08-22-2018)
MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 08/22/12018)
MMM-DD-YYYY (e.g. AUG-22-2018)
In the early days, only two digits were used for the Year. It was the cause of the infamous Y2K Problem.
Year, Month, Day
YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2018-08-22)
YYYY/MM/DD (e.g. 2018/08/22)
YYYYMMDD (e.g. 20180822). One advantage of this representation is that the dates can be sorted easily.
Number of days from a specified base date
The representation uses the interval between the two dates.
Number of days in a year (instead of Month and Day)
In this system, 1st January is represented as 001.
1st February is represented as 032.
The interval between two dates in the same year is easily calculated.
