Tomorrow's ColorRed

The Thai tradition of a color for every weekday

In Thailand, each of the seven weekdays has its own color: Sunday is red, Monday yellow, Tuesday pink, Wednesday green, Thursday orange, Friday light blue, and Saturday purple. The Thai Wikipedia explains that these colors come from the body colors of the celestial deities who rule each day. The names of the weekdays all come from the names of deities, and each deity is said to have a body color of its own handed down through tradition.

The tradition runs deep in everyday life. Some people dress to match the weekday at work or school, and many wear the color of their birth weekday on their birthday. Monday’s yellow is especially visible: wearing yellow in honor of the late King Bhumibol, who was born on a Monday, was common for a long time. But this is a cultural habit, not a promise that a color will change your luck for the day.

Wednesday is a little special. The daytime is green, and for those born at night (the day of Rahu) there is a separate charcoal gray close to black. That is why the colors are sometimes presented as eight rather than seven. Some sources describe the moon deity as white or cream, and some describe the Saturn deity as black, so it is worth knowing that books differ a little.

Eight colors at a glance

Sunday goes with the Sun, the lion, and red; Monday with the Moon, the horse, and yellow; Tuesday with Mars, the buffalo, and pink; and Wednesday daytime with Mercury, the elephant, and green. Then Thursday goes with Jupiter, the deer, and orange; Friday with Venus, the ox, and light blue; Saturday with Saturn, the tiger, and purple; and Wednesday night with Rahu, the garuda, and charcoal gray. Each day is a bundle of a planet, a guardian animal, and a color, so remembering one lets you recall the rest.

“Today” is set by Bangkok time

Today’s color follows the date and weekday in Thailand’s time zone (Bangkok, UTC+7). Korea and Japan are two hours ahead of Bangkok, so a new day in Bangkok begins only when clocks there read 2:00 a.m.; open this page at 1:00 a.m. in Korea and you will still see the previous day’s color. It can be confusing, but it follows the Thai day exactly. The idea is that anywhere in the world, the same moment shows the same color.

Reading colors by seat with the taksa

Besides weekday colors, Thailand has another way to read colors through a diagram called the taksa (ทักษา). The taksa lays out eight bodies in a fixed order — the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu, and Venus — then starting from a chosen planet assigns them in turn to eight seats: The People Around Me, Life Force, Influence, Fortune, Foundation, Effort, People Who Help You, and What to Watch Carefully. Each planet has a traditionally linked color: the Sun is red, the Moon yellow, Mars pink, Mercury green, Jupiter orange, Venus light blue, Saturn purple, and Rahu charcoal gray.

For example, in the taksa starting from Thursday, the Sun lands in the Fortune seat, giving red, and Saturn lands in the What to Watch Carefully seat, giving purple. Starting from Monday, the Fortune seat is Saturn, so it becomes purple. In other words, the color of the same planet falls in a different seat depending on the starting weekday. On the today’s-color page we show the colors by seat starting from today’s weekday. If you would like to see it from your birth weekday, choose your birth weekday in the calculator.

Please note that this layout differs a little between astrologers and books. This site picks one published traditional table and applies it consistently, and the screen says openly that readings of which color sits in a good seat differ from person to person. The color talk here is only an introduction to symbols within a culture.

Easy ways to use it today

There is no need to feel you must wear the weekday color. One small item is enough: a hair tie around your wrist, a phone case, socks, a handkerchief, a notebook. If today is Thursday, take out an orange pen; if it is Friday, bring a light blue pouch. Adding the color of the Fortune seat as an accent can feel like a small promise for the day.

You do not need to buy anything new for it. Just pick the closest color from what you already own. And if today’s color does not appeal to you, simply skip it. This is a light way to begin the day, not a rule you must keep.