Colours for each day of the week

Did you know that in Thailand that each day of the week is assigned a different colour for clothes that you wear? When I first came to Thailand, I didn’t really know about this. But after a few years I was starting to get curious as to why people were giving me a different coloured shirt for my birthdays. They were also telling me which day I should wear them! I started to get suspicious when they bought me a bright orange shirt and said that I should wear it on Thursdays. That is when I discovered that each day of the week has its own colour.

Sunday – red
Monday – cream/yellow
Tuesday – pink
Wednesday – green
Thursday – orange/brown
Friday – blue
Saturday – black/purple

For the last few years, many people have been wearing yellow on Mondays in order to honor H.M. The King. Other than that, you don’t see many Thai people wearing the correct colour clothes for each day. But, some might wear a small piece of clothing, like a tie or handkerchief, which is the correct colour. I think many people pay more attention to the colour of their day of birth. This then becomes their lucky colour. Some households might tie two colours around the pole of a spirit house – one for the husband and one for the wife. Even royal flags show the day the person was born. For example, Princess Sirindhorn was born on a Saturday so her flag is purple. The King was born on a Monday so his flag is yellow. The Queen was born on a Friday so her flag is blue.

You can work out the day that you were born by clicking here. So, what is your lucky colour? Mine has always been green. As it happens, my birth colour is also green!

More information: “Thai Ways” by Denis Segaller and “Very Thai” by Philip Cornwell-Smith.