Iranian calendar
Encyclopedia
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars ( Gâhšomâri-ye Irâni) are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran
. One of the longest chronological records in human history, the Iranian calendar has been modified time and again during its history to suit administrative, climatic, and religious purposes.
The modern Iranian calendar (Solar Hejri) is now the official calendar in Iran
and Afghanistan
. It begins on the vernal equinox as determined by astronomical calculations for the Iran Standard Time meridian
(52.5°E or GMT+3.5h). This determination of starting moment is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar
as far as predicting the date of the vernal equinox is concerned because it uses astronomical calculation rather than mathematical rules. but requires consulting an astronomical almanac.
Its years are designated AP, short for Anno Persico. The Iranian year usually begins within a day of 21 March of the Gregorian calendar. To find the corresponding year of the Gregorian calendar, add 621 or 622 (depending on the time of the year) to a Solar Hejri year. A short table of year correspondences between the Persian and Gregorian calendars is provided below.
, the first fully preserved calendar is that of the Achaemenids. Throughout recorded history, Persians
have been keen on the idea and importance of having a calendar
. They were among the first cultures to use a solar calendar
and have long favoured a solar over lunar
and lunisolar
approaches. The sun has always been a symbol in Iranian culture and is closely related to the folklore regarding Cyrus the Great
himself.
year. A 13th month was added every six years to keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons.
The following table lists the Old Persian months.
cosmology appeared in the later Achaemenid period (650 to 330 BCE). They evolved over the centuries, but month names changed little until now.
The unified Achaemenid empire required a distinctive Iranian calendar, and one was devised in Egypt
ian tradition, with 12 months of 30 days, each dedicated to a yazata
(Eyzad), and four divisions resembling the Semitic
week. Four days per month were dedicated to Ahura Mazda
and seven were named after the six Amesha Spentas. Thirteen days were named after Fire, Water, Sun, Moon, Tiri
and Geush Urvan (the soul of all animals), Mithra, Sraosha
(Soroush, yazata of prayer), Rashnu
(the Judge), Fravashi
, Bahram
(yazata of victory), Raman
(Ramesh meaning peace), and Vata
, the divinity of the wind. Three were dedicated to the female divinities, Daena
(yazata of religion and personified conscious), Ashi
(yazata of fortune) and Arshtat
(justice). The remaining four were dedicated to Asman
(lord of sky or Heaven), Zam
(earth), Manthra Spenta (the Bounteous Sacred Word) and Anaghra Raocha (the 'Endless Light' of paradise).
The month names and their modern versions are given in the following table.
The calendar had a significant impact on religious observance. It fixed the pantheon of major divinities, and also ensured that their names were uttered often, since at every Zoroastrian act of worship the yazatas of both day and month were invoked. It also clarified the pattern of festivities; for example, Mitrakanna or Mehregan
was celebrated on Mithra day of Mithra month, and the Tiri festival (Tiragan) was celebrated on Tiri day of the Tiri month.
After the conquests by Alexander of Macedon and his death, the Persian territories fell to one of his generals, Seleucus
(312 BCE), starting the Seleucid dynasty of Iran. Based on the Greek tradition, Seleucids introduced the practice of dating by era rather than by the reign of individual kings. Their era became known as that of Alexander, or later the Seleucid era
. Since the new rulers were not Zoroastrians, Zoroastrian priests lost their function at the royal courts, and so resented the Seleucids. Although they began dating by eras, they established their own era of Zoroaster.
That was the first serious attempt to determine the dates associated with the prophet Zoroaster's life. Priests had no Zoroastrian historical sources, and so turned to Babylonian archives famous in the ancient world. From these they learned that a great event in Persian history took place 228 years before the era of Alexander. In fact, this was the conquest of Babylon
by Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. But the priests misinterpreted this date to be the time the "true faith" was revealed to their prophet, and since Avestan literature indicates that revelation happened when Zoroaster was 30 years old, 568 BCE was taken as his year of birth. The date entered written records as the beginning of the era of Zoroaster, and indeed, the Persian Empire. This incorrect date is still mentioned in many current encyclopedias as Zoroaster’s birth date.
ns (Arsacid dynasty) adopted the same calendar system with minor modifications, and dated their era from 248 BCE, the date they succeeded the Seleucids. Their names for the months and days are Parthian equivalents of the Avestan ones used previously, differing slightly from the Middle Persian
names used by the Sassanians. For example in Achaemenid times the modern Persian month ‘Day’ was called Dadvah (Creator), in Parthian it was Datush and the Sassanians named it Dadv/Dai (Dadar in Pahlavi).
In 224 CE, Ardashir I
, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, added five days at the end of the year, and named them ‘Gatha’ or ‘Gah’ days after the ancient Zoroastrian hymns of the same name. This was a modification of the 365-day calendar adopted by Julius Caesar
in 46 BCE, based on the Egyptian solar calendar. Iranians had known about the Egyptian system for centuries but never used it. The new system created confusion and met resistance. Many rites were practised over many days to make sure no holy days were missed. To this day many Zoroastrian feasts have two dates.
To simplify the situation, Ardeshir’s grandson, Hormizd I
, linked the new and old holy days into continual six-day feasts. Nowruz
was an exception, as the first and the sixth day of the month were celebrated separately, and the sixth became more significant as Zoroaster's birthday. But the reform did not solve all the problems, and Yazdgerd III
, the last ruler, introduced the final changes. The year 632 was chosen as the beginning of a new era, and this last imperial Persian calendar is known as the Yazdgerdi calendar.
, a lunar calendar. It was outlined in the Qur'an
, and in the last sermon of Muhammad
during his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca
. Umar
, the second caliph
of Islam
, began numbering years in AH 17 (638 CE), regarding the first year as the year of Muhammad's Hijra
(emigration) from Mecca to Medina
, in 622 CE. The first day of the year continued to be the first day of Muharram
. Years of the Islamic calendar are designated AH from the Latin Anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra).
The solar Jalali calendar was adopted on 15 March 1079 by the Seljuk
Sultan
Jalal al-Din Malik Shah I (for whom it was named), based on the recommendations of a committee of astronomers, including Omar Khayyam
, at the imperial observatory in his capital city of Isfahan. Month computations were based on solar transits through the zodiac, a system integrating ideas taken from Hindu calendar
s. Later, some ideas from the Chinese-Uighur calendar (1258) were also incorporated. It remained in use for eight centuries. It arose out of dissatisfaction with the seasonal drift in the Islamic calendar which is due to that calendar being lunar instead of solar; a lunar year of 354 days, while acceptable to a desert nomad people, proved to be unworkable for settled, agricultural peoples, and the Iranian calendar is one of several non-lunar calendars adopted by settled Muslims for agricultural purposes (others including the Coptic calendar
, the Julian calendar
, and the aforementioned Semitic calendars of the Near East). Sultan Jalal commissioned the task in 1073. Its work was completed well before the Sultan's death in 1092, after which the observatory would be abandoned.
The year was computed from the vernal equinox, and each month was determined by the transit
of the sun into the corresponding zodiac region, a system that incorporated improvements on the ancient Indian system of the Surya Siddhanta
(Surya=solar, Siddhanta=analysis, 4th century), also the basis of most Hindu calendars. Since the solar transit times can have 24-hour variations, the length of the months vary slightly in different years (each month can be between 29 and 32 days). For example, the months in two last years of the Jalali calendar had:
Because months were computed based on precise times of solar transit between zodiacal regions, seasonal drift never exceeded one day, and also there was no need for a leap year in the Jalali calendar. However, this calendar was very difficult to compute; it required full ephemeris
computations and actual observations to determine the apparent movement of the Sun. Some claim that simplifications introduced in the intervening years may have introduced a system with eight leap days in every cycle of 33 years. (Different rules, such as the 2820-year cycle, have also been accredited to Khayyam). However, the original Jalali calendar based on observations (or predictions) of solar transit would not have needed either leap years or seasonal adjustments.
In 1079, the team also computed the length of a solar year as 365.24219858156 days (i.e. as 1,029,983 days in 2,820 years). (The actual value was 365.2422464 days).
However, owing to the variations in month lengths, and also the difficulty in computing the calendar itself, the Iranian calendar was modified to simplify these aspects in 1925 (1304 AP).
adopted as the official calendar of Iran the Jalālī solar calendar with months bearing the names of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and the years named for the animals of the duodecennial cycle; it remained in use until 1925. The present Iranian calendar was legally adopted on 31 March 1925, under the early Pahlavi dynasty
. The law said that the first day of the year should be the first day of spring in "the true solar year", "as it has been" (کماکان). It also fixed the number of days in each month, which previously varied by year with the tropical zodiac
. It revived the ancient Persian names, which are still used. It specified the origin of the calendar (Hegira
of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE). It also deprecated the 12-year cycles of the Chinese-Uighur calendar which were not officially sanctioned but were commonly used.
The first six months (Farvardin–Shahrivar) have 31 days, the next five (Mehr–Bahman) have 30 days, and the last month (Esfand) has 29 days or 30 days in leap years. This is a simplification of the Jalali calendar, in which the commencement of the month is tied to the sun's passage from one zodiacal sign to the next. The sun is travelling fastest through the signs in early January (Dej) and slowest in early July (Tir). The current time between the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox is about 186 days and 10 hours, the opposite duration about 178 days, 20 hours).
The Solar Hejri calendar produces a five-year leap year interval after about every seven four-year leap year intervals. It usually follows a 33-year cycle with occasional interruptions by single 29-year or 37-year subcycles. The reason for this behaviour is (as explained above) that it tracks the observed vernal equinox. By contrast, some less accurate predictive algorithms are suggestion based on confusion between average tropical year (365.2422 days, approximated with near 128-year cycles or 2820-year great cycles) and the mean interval between spring equinoxes (365.2424 days, approximated with a near 33-year cycle).
In 1976, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
changed the origin of the calendar, using the birth of Cyrus as the first day, rather than the Hejra
of Muhammad. Overnight, the year changed from 1355 to 2535. The change lasted till the Islamic Revolution in Iran, 1979; at which time the calendar was reverted back to Solar Hejri.
language in Afghanistan uses Dari names of the zodiacal signs, while the Pashto language
in Afghanistan uses the Pashto names of the zodiacal signs. The Persian calendar is the official calendar of the government of Afghanistan, and all national holidays and administrative issues are fixed according to the Persian calendar.
. Hence, the first noon is on the last day of one calendar year and the second noon is on the first day (Nowruz) of the next year.
The first day of the calendar year is also the day of the greatest festival of the year in Iran, Afghanistan and surrounding regions, called norooz (two morphemes: no (new) and rooz (day), meaning "new day"). The celebration is filled with many festivities and runs a course of 13 days. The last day of which is called siz-dah bedar (Literal translation-"13 to outdoor")
Calculating the day of the week is easy, using an anchor date. One good such date is Sunday, 1 Farvardin 1372, which equals 21 March 1993. Assuming the 33-year cycle approximation, move back by one weekday to jump ahead by one 33-year cycle. Similarly, to jump back by one 33-year cycle, move ahead by one weekday.
As in the Gregorian calendar, dates move forward exactly one day of the week with each passing year, except if there is an intervening leap day when they move two days. The anchor date 1 Farvardin 1372 is chosen so that its 4th, 8th, ..., 32nd anniversaries come immediately after leap days, yet the anchor date itself does not immediately follow a leap day.
There are also a few anniversaries celebrated by Iranians, in and out of Iran alike, that are not formally endorsed by the Islamic Republic and not printed on calendars published by the regime. These include Shab-e Yalda, a celebration of winter solstice, which has roots in Mithraism
.
Correspondence of Solar Hejri and Gregorian calendars (Solar Hejri leap years are marked *)
Online calendars and converters
Programming
Greater Iran
Greater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...
. One of the longest chronological records in human history, the Iranian calendar has been modified time and again during its history to suit administrative, climatic, and religious purposes.
The modern Iranian calendar (Solar Hejri) is now the official calendar in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. It begins on the vernal equinox as determined by astronomical calculations for the Iran Standard Time meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
(52.5°E or GMT+3.5h). This determination of starting moment is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
as far as predicting the date of the vernal equinox is concerned because it uses astronomical calculation rather than mathematical rules. but requires consulting an astronomical almanac.
Its years are designated AP, short for Anno Persico. The Iranian year usually begins within a day of 21 March of the Gregorian calendar. To find the corresponding year of the Gregorian calendar, add 621 or 622 (depending on the time of the year) to a Solar Hejri year. A short table of year correspondences between the Persian and Gregorian calendars is provided below.
Ancient calendars
Although the earliest evidence of Iranian calendrical traditions is from the second millennium BC, predating the appearance of the Iranian prophet ZoroasterZoroaster
Zoroaster , also known as Zarathustra , was a prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism who was either born in North Western or Eastern Iran. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism...
, the first fully preserved calendar is that of the Achaemenids. Throughout recorded history, Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
have been keen on the idea and importance of having a calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
. They were among the first cultures to use a solar calendar
Solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun .-Tropical solar calendars:...
and have long favoured a solar over lunar
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
and lunisolar
Lunisolar calendar
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will...
approaches. The sun has always been a symbol in Iranian culture and is closely related to the folklore regarding Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
himself.
Old Persian calendar
Old Persian inscriptions and tablets indicate that early Iranians used a 360-day calendar based on the Babylonian system (the Babylonian Calendar was lunar) and modified for their beliefs. Days were not named. The months had two or three divisions depending on the phase of the moon. Twelve months of 30 days were named for festivals or activities of the pastoralPastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
year. A 13th month was added every six years to keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons.
The following table lists the Old Persian months.
| Order | Corresponding Julian Julian calendar The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months... months |
Old Persian Old Persian language The Old Persian language is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages . Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets, and seals of the Achaemenid era... |
Elamite spelling Elamite language Elamite is an extinct language spoken by the ancient Elamites. Elamite was the primary language in present day Iran from 2800–550 BCE. The last written records in Elamite appear about the time of the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great.... |
Meaning | Corresponding Babylonian Babylonian calendar The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. The calendar is based on a Sumerian precedecessor... month |
| 1 | March-April | Ādukanaiša | Hadukannaš | uncertain | Nīsannu |
| 2 | April-May | Θūravāhara | Turmar | Possibly "(Month of) strong spring" | Ayyāru |
| 3 | May-June | Θāigraciš | Sākurriziš | "Garlic-collecting month" | Sīmannu |
| 4 | June-July | Garmapada | Karmabataš | "Heat-station (month)" | Du'ūzu |
| 5 | July-August | - | Turnabaziš | - | Ābu |
| 6 | August-September | - | Karbašiyaš | - | Ulūlū |
| 7 | September-October | Bāgayādiš | Bakeyatiš | "(Month) of the worship of baga Bhaga Sanskrit is a term for "lord, patron", but also for "wealth, prosperity". The cognate term in Avestan and Old Persian is , of uncertain meaning but used in a sense in which "lord, patron" might also apply. A Slavic cognate is "god"... (god, perhaps Mithra Mithra Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters.... )" |
Tašrītu |
| 8 | October-November | *Vrkazana | Markašanaš | "(Month) of wolf killing" | Arahsamna |
| 9 | November-December | Āçiyādiya | Hašiyatiš | "(Month) of the worship of the fire" | Kisilīmu |
| 10 | December-January | Anāmaka | Hanamakaš | "Month of the nameless god(?)" | Tebētu |
| 11 | January-February | *Θwayauvā | Samiyamaš | "The terrible one" | Šabāţu |
| 12 | February-March | Viyax(a)na | Miyakannaš | "Digging-up (month)" | Addāru |
Zoroastrian calendar
The first calendars based on ZoroastrianZoroastrian calendar
This article treats of the reckoning of days, months and years in the calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals are discussed elsewhere, but have a fixed relationship to Nawruz, the New Year festival, whose timing is discussed below...
cosmology appeared in the later Achaemenid period (650 to 330 BCE). They evolved over the centuries, but month names changed little until now.
The unified Achaemenid empire required a distinctive Iranian calendar, and one was devised in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian tradition, with 12 months of 30 days, each dedicated to a yazata
Yazata
Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept. The word has a wide range of meanings but generally signifies a divinity...
(Eyzad), and four divisions resembling the Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
week. Four days per month were dedicated to Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
and seven were named after the six Amesha Spentas. Thirteen days were named after Fire, Water, Sun, Moon, Tiri
Tiri
Tiri may refer to:* Tiri, Azerbaijan* Tiri, Central African Republic* Tiri, Estonia* Tiri, Lebanon...
and Geush Urvan (the soul of all animals), Mithra, Sraosha
Sraosha
Sraosha is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity of "Obedience" or "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of her name....
(Soroush, yazata of prayer), Rashnu
Rashnu
Rashnu is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian yazata of justice. Together with Mithra and Sraosha, Rashnu is one of the three judges who pass judgment on the souls of people after death...
(the Judge), Fravashi
Fravashi
A fravashi is the guardian spirit mentioned in the Avesta of an individual, who sends out the urvan into the material world to fight the battle of good versus evil...
, Bahram
Vahram
Verethragna is an Avestan language neuter noun literally meaning "smiting of resistance" . Representing this concept is the divinity Verethragna, who is the hypostasis of "victory", and "as a giver of victory Verethragna plainly enjoyed the greatest popularity of old" .The neuter noun verethragna...
(yazata of victory), Raman
Raman
In the Indo-Iranian world Raman is:*one of the names of the Hindu God Rama*an important divinity in Zoroastrianism----Raman may refer to*Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicist and Nobel laureate, discoverer of Raman scattering...
(Ramesh meaning peace), and Vata
Vayu-Vata
Vayu-Vata is the Avestan language name of a dual-natured Zoroastrian divinity of the wind and of the atmosphere...
, the divinity of the wind. Three were dedicated to the female divinities, Daena
Daena
Daena is a Zoroastrian concept representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion." Alternately, Daena is considered to be a divinity, counted among the yazatas.-Nomenclature:...
(yazata of religion and personified conscious), Ashi
Ashi
Rav Ashi was a celebrated Jewish religious scholar, a Babylonian amora, who reestablished the academy at Sura and was first editor of the Babylonian Talmud...
(yazata of fortune) and Arshtat
Arshtat
Arshtat is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian principle and signifies either "justice" or "honesty." As a substantive, arshtat designates the divinity Arshtat, the hypostasis of "Rectitude" and "Justice"...
(justice). The remaining four were dedicated to Asman
Asman
Asman is the Avestan and Middle Persian name of the Zoroastrian divinity that is the hypostasis of the sky. Asman is the "highest heaven," and is distinguished from the firmament , which lies nearer the earth. The 27th day of the Zoroastrian calendar is dedicated to him.In the Avesta, specifically...
(lord of sky or Heaven), Zam
Zam
Zam is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian concept of "earth", in both the sense of land and soil and in the sense of the world...
(earth), Manthra Spenta (the Bounteous Sacred Word) and Anaghra Raocha (the 'Endless Light' of paradise).
The month names and their modern versions are given in the following table.
| Order | Avestan Avestan language Avestan is an East Iranian language known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name... name of the Yazata (in the genitive Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... ) |
Approximate meaning of the name | Pahlavi Middle Persian | Modern Iranian Persian | ||
| Romanized | English | Romanized | Native Script | Romanized | ||
| 1 | Fravašinąm Fravashi A fravashi is the guardian spirit mentioned in the Avesta of an individual, who sends out the urvan into the material world to fight the battle of good versus evil... |
(Guardian spirits, souls of the righteous) | Frawardīn | فروردین | Farvardīn | |
| 2 | Ašahe Vahištahe | "Best Truth" / "Best Righteousness" | Ardwahišt | اردیبهشت | Ordībehešt | |
| 3 | Haurvatātō Haurvatat Haurvatat is the Avestan language word for the Zoroastrian concept of "wholeness" or "perfection." The hypostasis of that concept is the divinity Haurvatat, who is the Amesha Spenta of water , prosperity, and health.... |
"Wholeness" / "Perfection" | Xordād | خرداد | Xordād | |
| 4 | Tištryehe Tishtrya Tishtrya is the Avestan language name of an Zoroastrian benevolent divinity associated with life-bringing rainfall and fertility. Tishtrya is Tir in Middle- and Modern Persian... |
"Sirius" | Tīr | تیر | Tīr | |
| 5 | Amərətātō Ameretat ' is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity/divine concept of "not dying." As the hypostasis of immortality, Ameretat is the Amesha Spenta of long life on earth and perpetuality in the hereafter.... |
"Immortality" | Amurdād | مرداد | Mordād | |
| 6 | Xšaθrahe Vairyehe | "Desirable Dominion" | Šahrewar | شهریور | Šahrīvar | |
| 7 | Miθrahe Mithra Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters.... |
"Covenant" | Mihr | مهر | Mehr | |
| 8 | Apąm Aban Apas is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which—in its innumerable aggregate states—is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters.... |
"Waters" | Ābān | آبان | Ābān | |
| 9 | Āθrō Atar Atar is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" .... |
"Fire" | Ādur | آذر | Āzar | |
| 10 | Daθušō Ahura Mazda Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism... |
"The Creator" (i.e. Ahura Mazda) | Day | دی | Dey | |
| 11 | Vaŋhə̄uš Manaŋhō Vohu Manah Vohu Manah is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose" or "Good Mind", referring to the good moral state of mind that enables an individual to accomplish his duties... |
"Good Mind" | Wahman | بهمن | Bahman | |
| 12 | Spəntayā̊ Ārmatōiš | "Holy Devotion" | Spandarmad | اسفند | Esfand | |
The calendar had a significant impact on religious observance. It fixed the pantheon of major divinities, and also ensured that their names were uttered often, since at every Zoroastrian act of worship the yazatas of both day and month were invoked. It also clarified the pattern of festivities; for example, Mitrakanna or Mehregan
Mehregan
Mehrgân or Jashn-e Mehregân is a Zoroastrian and Persian festival celebrated since the pre-Islamic era to honor the Yazata of "Mehr" , which is responsible for friendship, affection and love. It is also widely referred to as Persian Festival of Autumn...
was celebrated on Mithra day of Mithra month, and the Tiri festival (Tiragan) was celebrated on Tiri day of the Tiri month.
After the conquests by Alexander of Macedon and his death, the Persian territories fell to one of his generals, Seleucus
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...
(312 BCE), starting the Seleucid dynasty of Iran. Based on the Greek tradition, Seleucids introduced the practice of dating by era rather than by the reign of individual kings. Their era became known as that of Alexander, or later the Seleucid era
Seleucid era
The Seleucid era was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. The era dates from the return of Seleucus I Nicator to Babylon in 311 BC after his exile in Ptolemaic Egypt, considered by Seleucus and his court to mark...
. Since the new rulers were not Zoroastrians, Zoroastrian priests lost their function at the royal courts, and so resented the Seleucids. Although they began dating by eras, they established their own era of Zoroaster.
That was the first serious attempt to determine the dates associated with the prophet Zoroaster's life. Priests had no Zoroastrian historical sources, and so turned to Babylonian archives famous in the ancient world. From these they learned that a great event in Persian history took place 228 years before the era of Alexander. In fact, this was the conquest of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
by Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. But the priests misinterpreted this date to be the time the "true faith" was revealed to their prophet, and since Avestan literature indicates that revelation happened when Zoroaster was 30 years old, 568 BCE was taken as his year of birth. The date entered written records as the beginning of the era of Zoroaster, and indeed, the Persian Empire. This incorrect date is still mentioned in many current encyclopedias as Zoroaster’s birth date.
Modifications by Parthians, Ardashir I, Hormizd I, Yazdgerd III
The ParthiaParthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
ns (Arsacid dynasty) adopted the same calendar system with minor modifications, and dated their era from 248 BCE, the date they succeeded the Seleucids. Their names for the months and days are Parthian equivalents of the Avestan ones used previously, differing slightly from the Middle Persian
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
names used by the Sassanians. For example in Achaemenid times the modern Persian month ‘Day’ was called Dadvah (Creator), in Parthian it was Datush and the Sassanians named it Dadv/Dai (Dadar in Pahlavi).
In 224 CE, Ardashir I
Ardashir I
Ardashir I was the founder of the Sassanid Empire, was ruler of Istakhr , subsequently Fars Province , and finally "King of Kings of Sassanid Empire " with the overthrow of the Parthian Empire...
, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, added five days at the end of the year, and named them ‘Gatha’ or ‘Gah’ days after the ancient Zoroastrian hymns of the same name. This was a modification of the 365-day calendar adopted by Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
in 46 BCE, based on the Egyptian solar calendar. Iranians had known about the Egyptian system for centuries but never used it. The new system created confusion and met resistance. Many rites were practised over many days to make sure no holy days were missed. To this day many Zoroastrian feasts have two dates.
To simplify the situation, Ardeshir’s grandson, Hormizd I
Hormizd I
Hormizd I was the third Sassanid King of Persia from 270/72 to 273.He was the youngest son of Shapur I , under whom he was governor of Khorasan, and appears in his wars against Rome Hormizd I was the third Sassanid King of Persia from 270/72 to 273.He was the youngest son of Shapur I...
, linked the new and old holy days into continual six-day feasts. Nowruz
Nowruz
Nowrūz is the name of the Iranian New Year in Iranian calendars and the corresponding traditional celebrations. Nowruz is also widely referred to as the Persian New Year....
was an exception, as the first and the sixth day of the month were celebrated separately, and the sixth became more significant as Zoroaster's birthday. But the reform did not solve all the problems, and Yazdgerd III
Yazdgerd III
Yazdegerd III or Yazdgerd III was the twenty-ninth and last king of the Sassanid dynasty of Iran and a grandson of Khosrau II . His father was Shahryar, whose mother was Miriam, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice...
, the last ruler, introduced the final changes. The year 632 was chosen as the beginning of a new era, and this last imperial Persian calendar is known as the Yazdgerdi calendar.
Medieval era: Jalali calendar
Before the Yazdgerdi calendar was completed, Muslim Arabs overthrew the dynasty in the 7th century and established the Islamic calendarIslamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
, a lunar calendar. It was outlined in the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, and in the last sermon of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
during his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
, the second caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, began numbering years in AH 17 (638 CE), regarding the first year as the year of Muhammad's Hijra
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
(emigration) from Mecca to Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, in 622 CE. The first day of the year continued to be the first day of Muharram
Muharram
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...
. Years of the Islamic calendar are designated AH from the Latin Anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra).
The solar Jalali calendar was adopted on 15 March 1079 by the Seljuk
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Jalal al-Din Malik Shah I (for whom it was named), based on the recommendations of a committee of astronomers, including Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
, at the imperial observatory in his capital city of Isfahan. Month computations were based on solar transits through the zodiac, a system integrating ideas taken from Hindu calendar
Hindu calendar
The hindu calendar used in ancient times has undergone many changes in the process of regionalization, and today there are several regional Indian calendars, as well as an Indian national calendar. Nepali calendar, Bengali calendar, Malayalam calendar, Tamil calendar, Telugu calendar, Kannada...
s. Later, some ideas from the Chinese-Uighur calendar (1258) were also incorporated. It remained in use for eight centuries. It arose out of dissatisfaction with the seasonal drift in the Islamic calendar which is due to that calendar being lunar instead of solar; a lunar year of 354 days, while acceptable to a desert nomad people, proved to be unworkable for settled, agricultural peoples, and the Iranian calendar is one of several non-lunar calendars adopted by settled Muslims for agricultural purposes (others including the Coptic calendar
Coptic calendar
The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and still used in Egypt. This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar...
, the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
, and the aforementioned Semitic calendars of the Near East). Sultan Jalal commissioned the task in 1073. Its work was completed well before the Sultan's death in 1092, after which the observatory would be abandoned.
The year was computed from the vernal equinox, and each month was determined by the transit
of the sun into the corresponding zodiac region, a system that incorporated improvements on the ancient Indian system of the Surya Siddhanta
Surya Siddhanta
The Surya Siddhanta is one of the earliest siddhanta in archeo-astronomy of the Hindus by an unknown author. It describes the archeo-astronomy theories, principles and methods of the ancient Hindus. This siddhanta is supposed to be the knowledge that the Sun god gave to an Asura called Maya. Asuras...
(Surya=solar, Siddhanta=analysis, 4th century), also the basis of most Hindu calendars. Since the solar transit times can have 24-hour variations, the length of the months vary slightly in different years (each month can be between 29 and 32 days). For example, the months in two last years of the Jalali calendar had:
- 1303 AP: 30, 31, 32, 31, 32, 30, 31, 30, 29, 30, 29, and 30 days,
- 1302 AP: 30, 31, 32, 31, 31, 31, 31, 29, 30, 29, 30, and 30 days.
Because months were computed based on precise times of solar transit between zodiacal regions, seasonal drift never exceeded one day, and also there was no need for a leap year in the Jalali calendar. However, this calendar was very difficult to compute; it required full ephemeris
Ephemeris
An ephemeris is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times. Different kinds of ephemerides are used for astronomy and astrology...
computations and actual observations to determine the apparent movement of the Sun. Some claim that simplifications introduced in the intervening years may have introduced a system with eight leap days in every cycle of 33 years. (Different rules, such as the 2820-year cycle, have also been accredited to Khayyam). However, the original Jalali calendar based on observations (or predictions) of solar transit would not have needed either leap years or seasonal adjustments.
In 1079, the team also computed the length of a solar year as 365.24219858156 days (i.e. as 1,029,983 days in 2,820 years). (The actual value was 365.2422464 days).
However, owing to the variations in month lengths, and also the difficulty in computing the calendar itself, the Iranian calendar was modified to simplify these aspects in 1925 (1304 AP).
In Iran
On 21 February 1911, the second Persian parliamentMajlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
adopted as the official calendar of Iran the Jalālī solar calendar with months bearing the names of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and the years named for the animals of the duodecennial cycle; it remained in use until 1925. The present Iranian calendar was legally adopted on 31 March 1925, under the early Pahlavi dynasty
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
. The law said that the first day of the year should be the first day of spring in "the true solar year", "as it has been" (کماکان). It also fixed the number of days in each month, which previously varied by year with the tropical zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
. It revived the ancient Persian names, which are still used. It specified the origin of the calendar (Hegira
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE). It also deprecated the 12-year cycles of the Chinese-Uighur calendar which were not officially sanctioned but were commonly used.
The first six months (Farvardin–Shahrivar) have 31 days, the next five (Mehr–Bahman) have 30 days, and the last month (Esfand) has 29 days or 30 days in leap years. This is a simplification of the Jalali calendar, in which the commencement of the month is tied to the sun's passage from one zodiacal sign to the next. The sun is travelling fastest through the signs in early January (Dej) and slowest in early July (Tir). The current time between the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox is about 186 days and 10 hours, the opposite duration about 178 days, 20 hours).
The Solar Hejri calendar produces a five-year leap year interval after about every seven four-year leap year intervals. It usually follows a 33-year cycle with occasional interruptions by single 29-year or 37-year subcycles. The reason for this behaviour is (as explained above) that it tracks the observed vernal equinox. By contrast, some less accurate predictive algorithms are suggestion based on confusion between average tropical year (365.2422 days, approximated with near 128-year cycles or 2820-year great cycles) and the mean interval between spring equinoxes (365.2424 days, approximated with a near 33-year cycle).
In 1976, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
changed the origin of the calendar, using the birth of Cyrus as the first day, rather than the Hejra
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
of Muhammad. Overnight, the year changed from 1355 to 2535. The change lasted till the Islamic Revolution in Iran, 1979; at which time the calendar was reverted back to Solar Hejri.
In Afghanistan
Afghanistan legally adopted the official Jalali calendar in 1922 but with different month names. The PersianDari (Persian)
Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...
language in Afghanistan uses Dari names of the zodiacal signs, while the Pashto language
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
in Afghanistan uses the Pashto names of the zodiacal signs. The Persian calendar is the official calendar of the government of Afghanistan, and all national holidays and administrative issues are fixed according to the Persian calendar.
Details of the modern calendar
The Solar Hejri calendar year begins at the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere: on the midnight between the two consecutive solar noons which include the instant of the Northern spring equinox, when the sun enters the northern hemisphereNorthern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
. Hence, the first noon is on the last day of one calendar year and the second noon is on the first day (Nowruz) of the next year.
Month names
| Order | Days | Iranian Persian | Kurdish | in Afghanistan | Afghan Pashto | ||||
| Iranian-English | Native Script | Kurmanji Script | Sorani Script | Romanized | Native Script | IPA | Native Script | ||
| 1 | 31 | Farvardin | فروردین | Xakelêwe | خاکەلێوە | hamal (Aries) | حمل | wrai (Aries) | ورى |
| 2 | 31 | Ordibehesht | اردیبهشت | Gullan (Banemer) | گوڵان | sawr (Taurus) | ثور | ɣwajai (Taurus) | غویى |
| 3 | 31 | Khordad | خرداد | Cozerdan | جۆزەردان | dʒawzɒ (Gemini) | جوزا | ɣbarɡolai (Gemini) | غبرګولى |
| 4 | 31 | Tir | تیر | Pûşper | پووشپەڕ | saratɒn (Cancer) | سرطان | t͡ʃanɡɑʂ (Cancer) | چنګاښ |
| 5 | 31 | Mordad | مرداد | Gelawêj | گەلاوێژ | asad (Leo) | اسد | zmarai (Leo) | زمرى |
| 6 | 31 | Shahrivar | شهریور | Xermanan | خەرمانان | sonbola (Virgo) | سنبله | waʐai (Virgo) | وږى |
| 7 | 30 | Mehr | مهر | Rezber | ڕەزبەر | mizɒn (Libra) | میزان | təla (Libra) | تله |
| 8 | 30 | Aban | آبان | Xezellwer (Gelarêzan) | گەڵاڕێزان | 'aqrab (Scorpio) | عقرب | laɻam (Scorpio) | لړم |
| 9 | 30 | Azar | آذر | Sermawez | سەرماوەز | qaws (Sagittarius) | قوس | lindəi (Sagittarius) | لیندۍ |
| 10 | 30 | Dei | دی | Befranbar | بەفرانبار | dʒadi (Capricorn) | جدی | marɣumai (Capricorn) | مرغومى |
| 11 | 30 | Bahman | بهمن | Rêbendan | ڕێبەندان | dalvæ (Aquarius) | دلو | salwɑɣa (Aquarius) | سلواغه |
| 12 | 29/30 | Esfand | اسفند | Reşeme | ڕەشەمە | hut (Pisces) | حوت | kab (Pisces) | كب |
The first day of the calendar year is also the day of the greatest festival of the year in Iran, Afghanistan and surrounding regions, called norooz (two morphemes: no (new) and rooz (day), meaning "new day"). The celebration is filled with many festivities and runs a course of 13 days. The last day of which is called siz-dah bedar (Literal translation-"13 to outdoor")
Days of the week
In the Iranian calendar, every week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. The names of the days of the week are as follows: shambe,(natively spelled "shanbeh"), yekshambe, doshambe, seshambe, chæharshambe, panjshambe and jom'e (yek, do, se, chæhar, and panj are the Persian words for the numbers one through five). The name for Friday, jom'e, is Arabic . Jom'e is sometimes referred to by the native Persian name, adineh [ɒːdiːne] . In most Islamic countries, Friday is the weekly holiday.Calculating the day of the week is easy, using an anchor date. One good such date is Sunday, 1 Farvardin 1372, which equals 21 March 1993. Assuming the 33-year cycle approximation, move back by one weekday to jump ahead by one 33-year cycle. Similarly, to jump back by one 33-year cycle, move ahead by one weekday.
As in the Gregorian calendar, dates move forward exactly one day of the week with each passing year, except if there is an intervening leap day when they move two days. The anchor date 1 Farvardin 1372 is chosen so that its 4th, 8th, ..., 32nd anniversaries come immediately after leap days, yet the anchor date itself does not immediately follow a leap day.
Seasonal error
The image below shows the difference between the Iranian calendar (using the 33-year arithmetic approximation) and the seasons. The Y axis is "days error" and the X axis is Gregorian calendar years. Each point represents a single date on a given year. The error shifts by about 1/4 day per year, and is corrected by a leap year every 4th year regularly, and one 5 year leap period to complete a 33-year cycle. One can notice a gradual shift upwards over the 500 years shown. The Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582, is almost as accurate in the long term, but has larger swings of seasonal errors over centuries.Relationship with the zodiacal signs
Each month of the current Iranian calendar corresponds to one zodiac sign in tropical astrology. The vernal equinox or first point of Aries is taken to be the beginning of the solar year.| Month number | Month name (Persian) | Zodiac sign |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Farvardin Farvardin Farvardin is the first month of the Iranian civil calendar of 1925. Farvardin has 31 days and in 75 years of 100 years begins on 21 March and ends on 20 April. In 25 years, Farvardin begins on 19 or 22 March and ends on 18 or 21 April. Farvardin is the first month of spring, and is followed by... |
Aries Aries (constellation) Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac, located between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. Its name is Latin for ram, and its symbol is , representing a ram's horns... |
| 2 | Ordibehesht | Taurus Taurus (constellation) Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is a Latin word meaning 'bull', and its astrological symbol is a stylized bull's head:... |
| 3 | Khordad Khordad Khordad is the 3rd month of the Iranian civil calendar of 1925.khordad has 31 days and begins on May and ends on June. Khordad is the 3rd month of spring.... |
Gemini Gemini (constellation) Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for "twins", and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology... |
| 4 | Tir Tishtrya Tishtrya is the Avestan language name of an Zoroastrian benevolent divinity associated with life-bringing rainfall and fertility. Tishtrya is Tir in Middle- and Modern Persian... |
Cancer Cancer (constellation) Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Its symbol is . Cancer is small and its stars are faint... |
| 5 | Mordad Mordad Mordad is the fifth month of the Iranian civil calendar of 1925. Mordad has 31 days and in more years begins on 23 July and ends on 22 August. In some years, Mordad begins on 22 July and ends on 21 August... |
Leo Leo (constellation) Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for lion. Its symbol is . Leo lies between dim Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east.-Stars:... |
| 6 | Shahrivar Shahrivar Shahrivar is the 6th month of the Iranian civil calendar of 1925. Shahrivar has 31 days and begins on August and ends on September. Shahrivar is the 3rd month of summer.... |
Virgo Virgo (constellation) Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky... |
| 7 | Mehr Mehregan Mehrgân or Jashn-e Mehregân is a Zoroastrian and Persian festival celebrated since the pre-Islamic era to honor the Yazata of "Mehr" , which is responsible for friendship, affection and love. It is also widely referred to as Persian Festival of Autumn... |
Libra Libra (constellation) Libra is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for weighing scales, and its symbol is . It is fairly faint, with no first magnitude stars, and lies between Virgo to the west and Scorpius to the east.-Notable features:]... |
| 8 | Aban Aban Apas is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which—in its innumerable aggregate states—is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters.... |
Scorpio |
| 9 | Azar Atar Atar is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" .... |
Sagittarius Sagittarius (constellation) Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, the one containing the galactic center. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow... |
| 10 | Dey | Capricorn |
| 11 | Bahman Bahman Bahman may refer to:* Bahman, the Zoroastrian Amesha Spenta* Bahman, the 11th month of the year in Zoroastrian & Iranian calendars, named after the Zoroastrian concept* Kai Bahman, a mythological king of Iran... |
Aquarius Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is , a representation of water.... |
| 12 | Esfand Amesha Spenta ' is an Avestan language term for a class of divine entities in Zoroastrianism, and literally means "Bounteous Immortal" The noun is amesha "immortal", and spenta "furthering, strengthening, bounteous, holy" is an adjective of it... |
Pisces Pisces (constellation) Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east... |
Accuracy
It is one of the oldest calendars in the world as well as the most accurate solar calendar in use today. Since the calendar uses astronomical calculation for determining the vernal equinox, it has no intrinsic error, but this makes it an observation based calendar. According to a proposal made by Ahmad Birashk, a complex mathematical pattern can be used to make the calendar a purely mathematical one without the need for astronomical observation. This proposed calendar has a great grand cycle of 2820 years in which 2137 years are normal years of 365 days and 683 years are leaps of 366 days, averaging a day-length of 365.24219852, over the 2820 years of the great grand cycle. This average is just 0.00000026 day shorter than the actual solar year of 365.24219878 days, making an accumulated error of just one day over 3.8 million years or approximately 0.022 of a second annually.Public holidays and anniversaries
| Date | English name | Local name | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iranian New Year | Nowruz | of ancient Zoroastrian origin | |
| Last Tuesday night of the year (if there is any Wednesday)(Iranian) | Wednesday Feast | Chaharshanbe Suri | of ancient Zoroastrian origin |
| 1 April | Islamic Republic Day | Ruz-e Jumhuri-ye Eslami | Proclamation of the Islamic Republic on 1 April 1979 |
| 2 April | Sizdah Bedar (Nature Day) | Sizdah Bedar | 13th day after the new year, end of festivities for Nowruz |
| 7 May | Martyrdom of Fatima | Shahdat-e Hazrat-e Fateme | 29 August 632 |
| 4 June | Anniversary of the passing of Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran... |
Dargozasht-e Emam Khomeini | 4 June 1989 |
| 5 June | Anniversary of the uprising against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979... |
Ghiyam-e Panzdah-e Khordad | 6 June 1963 |
| 16 June | Anniversary of Imam Imam An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question... Ali |
Milad-e Emam Ali | 11 October 599 |
| 30 June | Mission of Muhammad | Be'sat Payambar | 9 July 609 |
| 17 July | Anniversary of Imam Mahdi Muhammad al-Mahdi Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī is believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Mahdī, an ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams... |
Milad-e Emam Zaman, roz-e mostasafin | 2 August 869 |
| 21 August | Martyrdom of Imam Ali | Shahadat-e Emam Ali | 31 January 661 |
| End of Ramadan Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and... |
Eid-e-Fitr | ||
| 24 September | Martyrdom of Imam Sadeq | Shahadat-e Emam Sadeq | 17 December 765 |
| 7 November | Eid-e-Qorban | ||
| 15 November | Eid-e Ghadir Eid al-Ghadeer Eid al-Ghadeer is a festive day observed by Shia Muslims on the 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Islamic calendar to commemorate the appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib by the Islamic prophet Muhammad as his immediate successor... |
21 March 632 | |
| 5 December | Tasoa-ye Hosseini | 12 October 680 | |
| 6 December | Martyrdom of Imam Hossein | Ashura Day of Ashura The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.It is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10... |
13 October 680 |
| 14 January | Arbaïn (40th day after Ashura) | Arba’in-e Hosseini | 22 November 680 |
| 22 January | Demise of Muhammad and Martyrdom of Imam Hassan | 28 May 632 – 30 March 670 | |
| 24 January | Martyrdom of Imam Reza | 9 September 818 | |
| 10 February | Anniversary of Muhammad and Anniversary of Imam Sadeq | 11 May 570 - 24 April 702 | |
| 11 February | Iranian revolution Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the... Day |
22 Bahman | 11 February 1979 |
| 19 March | Nationalization of the oil industries | 20 March 1951 | |
| There are 25 holidays. Dates for anniversaries are based on the Persian calendar, Muslim calendar or Zoroastrian calendar; the dates on the Gregorian calendar can vary from year to year. | |||
There are also a few anniversaries celebrated by Iranians, in and out of Iran alike, that are not formally endorsed by the Islamic Republic and not printed on calendars published by the regime. These include Shab-e Yalda, a celebration of winter solstice, which has roots in Mithraism
Mithraism
The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The name of the Persian god Mithra, adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and distinctive imagery...
.
Solar Hejri and Gregorian calendars
The Solar Hejri year begins about 21 March of each Gregorian year and ends about 20 March of the next year. To convert the Solar Hejri year into the equivalent Gregorian year add 621 or 622 years to the Solar Hejri year depending on whether the Persian year has or has not begun.Correspondence of Solar Hejri and Gregorian calendars (Solar Hejri leap years are marked *)
| 33-year cycle |
Solar Hejri year | Gregorian year | Solar Hejri year | Gregorian year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1354* | 21. March 1975 – 20. March 1976 | 1387* | 20. March 2008 – 20. March 2009 |
| 2 | 1355 | 21. March 1976 – 20. March 1977 | 1388 | 21. March 2009 – 20. March 2010 |
| 3 | 1356 | 21. March 1977 – 20. March 1978 | 1389 | 21. March 2010 – 20. March 2011 |
| 4 | 1357 | 21. March 1978 – 20. March 1979 | 1390 | 21. March 2011 – 19. March 2012 |
| 5 | 1358* | 21. March 1979 – 20. March 1980 | 1391* | 20. March 2012 – 20. March 2013 |
| 6 | 1359 | 21. March 1980 – 20. March 1981 | 1392 | 21. March 2013 – 20. March 2014 |
| 7 | 1360 | 21. March 1981 – 20. March 1982 | 1393 | 21. March 2014 – 20. March 2015 |
| 8 | 1361 | 21. March 1982 – 20. March 1983 | 1394 | 21. March 2015 – 19. March 2016 |
| 9 | 1362* | 21. March 1983 – 20. March 1984 | 1395* | 20. March 2016 – 20. March 2017 |
| 10 | 1363 | 21. March 1984 – 20. March 1985 | 1396 | 21. March 2017 – 20. March 2018 |
| 11 | 1364 | 21. March 1985 – 20. March 1986 | 1397 | 21. March 2018 – 20. March 2019 |
| 12 | 1365 | 21. March 1986 – 20. March 1987 | 1398 | 21. March 2019 – 19. March 2020 |
| 13 | 1366* | 21. March 1987 – 20. March 1988 | 1399* | 20. March 2020 – 20. March 2021 |
| 14 | 1367 | 21. March 1988 – 20. March 1989 | 1400 | 21. March 2021 – 20. March 2022 |
| 15 | 1368 | 21. March 1989 – 20. March 1990 | 1401 | 21. March 2022 – 20. March 2023 |
| 16 | 1369 | 21. March 1990 – 20. March 1991 | 1402 | 21. March 2023 – 19. March 2024 |
| 17 | 1370* | 21. March 1991 – 20. March 1992 | 1403* | 20. March 2024 – 20. March 2025 |
| 18 | 1371 | 21. March 1992 – 20. March 1993 | 1404 | 21. March 2025 – 20. March 2026 |
| 19 | 1372 | 21. March 1993 – 20. March 1994 | 1405 | 21. March 2026 – 20. March 2027 |
| 20 | 1373 | 21. March 1994 – 20. March 1995 | 1406 | 21. March 2027 – 19. March 2028 |
| 21 | 1374 | 21. March 1995 – 19. March 1996 | 1407 | 20. March 2028 – 19. March 2029 |
| 22 | 1375* | 20. March 1996 – 20. March 1997 | 1408* | 20. March 2029 – 20. March 2030 |
| 23 | 1376 | 21. March 1997 – 20. March 1998 | 1409 | 21. March 2030 – 20. March 2031 |
| 24 | 1377 | 21. March 1998 – 20. March 1999 | 1410 | 21. March 2031 – 19. March 2032 |
| 25 | 1378 | 21. March 1999 – 19. March 2000 | 1411 | 20. March 2032 – 19. March 2033 |
| 26 | 1379* | 20. March 2000 – 20. March 2001 | 1412* | 20. March 2033 – 20. March 2034 |
| 27 | 1380 | 21. March 2001 – 20. March 2002 | 1413 | 21. March 2034 – 20. March 2035 |
| 28 | 1381 | 21. March 2002 – 20. March 2003 | 1414 | 21. March 2035 – 19. March 2036 |
| 29 | 1382 | 21. March 2003 – 19. March 2004 | 1415 | 20. March 2036 – 19. March 2037 |
| 30 | 1383* | 20. March 2004 – 20. March 2005 | 1416* | 20. March 2037 – 20. March 2038 |
| 31 | 1384 | 21. March 2005 – 20. March 2006 | 1417 | 21. March 2038 – 20. March 2039 |
| 32 | 1385 | 21. March 2006 – 20. March 2007 | 1418 | 21. March 2039 – 19. March 2040 |
| 33 | 1386 | 21. March 2007 – 19. March 2008 | 1419 | 20. March 2040 – 19. March 2041 |
External links
- How the leap years are calculated
- Meaning of the names of the months in the Persian Calendar
- Persian(shamsi)/Gregorian/Islamic(hijri) Windows Gadget - with persian occasions
Online calendars and converters
- An online Persian(shamsi)/Gregorian/Islamic(hijri) date convertor on http://www.iranchamber.com
- Online Persian Calendar from aaahoo portal
- GFDL Afghan Calendar with Gregorian, Hejrah-e shamsi and Hejrah-e qamari dates
Programming
- GPL Iranian Calendar in JavaScript
- System.Globalization.PersianCalendar class documentation in MSDN Library (The implementation of Persian Calendar in Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0)