Week, Burmese

   The traditional Burmese week has eight rather than seven days; to accommodate this, Wednesday morning and afternoon in the Western system each count as a separate day. As in many other societies, individual character is said to be determined by the day on which people are born, for example, those born on Tuesday are honest, those on Saturday bad tempered, etc. A person born on a "compatible" day of the week with one's own is considered a desirable marriage partner. In early childhood, a very detailed horoscope (Burmese, sada) is often drawn up by a practitioner of astrology to guide the child through his or her life. Each day of the week has its own planet, animal, and cardinal direction. The platforms of pagodas (most famously the Shwe Dagon Pagoda) frequently contain shrines set at appropriate points of the compass for each day of the week.