Tiregan
Encyclopedia
Tiregân also known as Jashn-e Tiregân ('The feast of Tiregan) is an ancient Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 festival coinciding with the mid summer festivals.

Overview

The feast of Tiregan is an ancient Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 in the Amol
Amol
Amol is a city in and the capital of Amol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 197,470, in 55,183 families.Amol and the old part of town is the first of the four towns that populate the world in which there is Nzamyh...

, celebration which is still celebrated among Iranian Zoroastrians and some Muslims in Mazandaran and Arak
Arak
Arak may refer to:* Arak, Iran, a city in Markazi Province, Iran* Arak County, an administrative subdivision of Markazi Province Iran* Arak, Russia, a village in the Tabasaran rayon of Dagestan, Russia...

 provinces. The celebration is widely attested by historians such as Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī, Biruni and Al-Masudi
Al-Masudi
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi , was an Arab historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs." Al-Masudi was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, Muruj adh-dhahab...

, as well as European travellers to Iran during the Safavid era. This event is celebrated on the 13th day of the month of Tir, (the 4th month of the Persian calendar) which equates to the 2nd or 3rd of July in 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...

. The celebration is experiencing a resurgence amongst Iranians. Today, some Iranians celebrate this occasion with dancing, singing, reciting poetry and serving spinach soup and sholeh zard. It has also been observed that during this celebration children and adults rejoice by swimming in streams and splashing water around on each other. The custom of tying rainbow-colored bands on their wrists, which are worn for ten days and then thrown into a stream, is also a great way to rejoice for children.

Theme of the Festival

This event is celebrated on the 13th day of the month of Tir, (the 4th month of the Persian calendar) which equates to the 2nd or 3rd of July in 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...

 and refers to the archangel Tir (arrow) or Tishtar (lightning bolt) who appeared in the sky to generate thunder and lightning for much needed rain. Legend says that Arash Kamangir Amoli was a man chosen to settle a land dispute between the leaders of two lands, 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 Turan
Turan
Tūrān is the Persian name for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. As a people the "Turanian" are one of the two Iranian peoples both descending from the Persian Fereydun but with different...

. Arash was to loose his arrow on the 13th day of Tir and where the arrow landed, would lie the border between the two kingdoms. Turan - which had suffered from the lack of rain - and Iran rejoiced at the settlement of the borders, then rain poured onto the two countries and there was peace between them.

Celebrations in various regions of Iran

In Farahan in Arak province people come to the river, play traditional music and splash water on each other. Amongst Zoroastrians, it is a celebration of both religious value as well as a joyous edition. Zororastrian Iranians celebrate this festival near a rive and splash water upon each other. in Mazandaran, where Arash is supposed to have come from, people also celebrate this festival.

Biruni

Abu Rayhan Biruni, in the section "On the festivals of the month of Persians" in the chrnology states that :

Gardizi

Another Iranian Muslim historian, Abu Sa'id Gardizi has given a similar description to Biruni. He notes however that the arrow of Arash fell in the area of Farghana and Tokharistan.

See also

C. Eduard Sachau (trans.), The Chronology of Ancient Nations: An English Version of the Arabic Text of the Athâr-ul-Bâkiya of Albîrûnî, or 'Vestiges of the Past', Collected and Reduced ... by the Author in A. H. 390 - 1, A. D. 1000 (1879). Google books link http://books.google.com/books?id=pFIEAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sachau&hl=en&ei=-asPTvDvEcvpgQeyzJ3pDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Garzidi, Biruni, Masu'di..

External links

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