Zoroastrian calendar
Encyclopedia
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. Three distinct versions of the calendar are currently in use by different Zoroastrian communities.
In this article, except where explicitly noted to the contrary, Western-style dates prior to October 5, 1582 CE are reckoned according to the Julian calendar
; subsequent dates are according to the Gregorian calendar
, in which 15 October 1582 (Gregorian) was the day following 4 October 1582 (Julian).
English spellings follow this recommended usage.
of reckoning months: 12 months each containing 30 days.
This 'Avestan Calendar' of 360 days required regular correction to keep it synchronised with the solar year; this was achieved by intercalating
a 13th month roughly once every six years.
Intercalations did not always follow a regular pattern, but during the reign of Artaxerxes II (circa 380 BCE) astronomers utilised a 19 year cycle which required the edition of a month called Addaru II month in years 3, 6, 8, 11 14 and 19, and the month Ululu II in year 17 of the cycle. Older research suggests the first intercalation took place in 309 BCE. Fuller information on the naming of months will be found below, but it should be noted that the first month of the year was called Frawardin, and the first day of Frawardin was the 'New Year's Day' or Nawruz
(also reckoned Now-Ruz, Nowruz, No Roz, No-Rooz, Norouz, or Navroz), from which all other religious observances were reckoned - this day being, in theory, the day of the vernal equinox, 21 March (Gregorian).
Following Alexander's conquest of Persia in 330 BCE, the Seleucids
(312-248 BCE) instituted the Hellenic practice of counting years from the start of an 'era', as opposed to starting a new count at the beginning of the reign of each individual king. They therefore counted years of the era of Alexander (now referred to as the Seleucid era
). This practice was not considered acceptable to the Zoroastrian priests, who consequently founded a new era, the era of Zoroaster
- which incidentally led to the first serious attempt to establish a historical date for the prophet. The Parthians
(150-224 CE), who succeeded the Seleucids, continued the Seleucid/Hellenic tradition.
First: A 365-day calendar was introduced during the reign of the Sasanian
emperor Ardashir I
(226-241 CE). The names of months and of days of the month that had been used in Achaemenian
times remained unaltered; the five additional days were inserted after the twelfth month. These five days were named Gatha
or Gah days, after the ancient Avesta
hymns of the same name. In the year 226 CE, 1 Frawardin and the New Year celebration of Nawruz had drifted to 1 October. The older custom of counting regnal years from the monarch's coronation was reinstated.
Second: After 46 years (226-272 CE), with 1 Frawardin now on 19 September, another calendar reform
was implemented by Ardashir's grandson Hormazd I
(272-273 CE). It seems that during the first year after implentation of the Gatha days, the population had not universally adopted the new dates for religious festivals, resulting in "official" celebrations takings place five days later than popular celebrations. In later years the population had observed the Gatha days, but the original five-day discrepancy persisted. Hormazd's reform was to link the popular and official observance dates to form continual six-day feasts. Nawruz was an exception: the first and the sixth days of the month were celebrated as different occasions. Lesser Nawruz was observed on 1 Frawardin. 6 Frawardin, became Greater Nawruz, a day of special festivity. Around the 10th Century CE, the Greater Nawruz was associated with the return of the legendary king, Jamsed; in contemporary practice it is kept as the symbolic observance of Zoroaster’s birthday, or Khordad Sal
.
Third: A major reform of the religious calendar was implemented some time between 399 and 518 CE. The names of the days and months were unaltered, but Nawruz would now be celebrated on the first day of Adur, hitherto the ninth month of the calendar. Other religious festivals were shifted to maintain their relative position to Nawruz. Mary Boyce has argued that, as part of this reform, the six-day festivals were compressed to five days. The major feasts, or gahambars, of contemporary Zoroastrian practice, are still kept as five-day observances today.
Fourth: By the reign of Yazdegird III (632-651 CE), the religious celebrations were again somewhat adrift with respect to their proper seasons. Therefore in 632 CE, the new year due to be celebrated on June 21 was brought ahead by the device of omitting that year's Gatha days; Nawruz was therefore kept on June 16. Most Persian Zoroastrians accepted and used this new calendar. By the 9th century, the Zoroastrian theologian Zadspram had noted that the state of affairs was less than optimal, and estimated that at the time of Final Judgement the two systems would be out of sync by four years.
Fifth: In the year 1006 CE, the month Frawardin had returned to the correct position so that 1 Frawardin coincided with the vernal equinox. The religious festivals were therefore returned to their traditional months, with Nawruz once again being celebrated on 1 Frawardin.
, and since the custom at that time was to count regnal years since the monarch ascended the throne, the reckoning of years was continued, in the absence of a Zoroastrian monarch, under Islamic rule. Zoroastrian dates are distinguished by the suffix Y.Z. for Yazdegirdi Era. The usage "AY" is also found.
The contemporary Zoroastrian community in Mumbai
, and in isolated pockets of Asia Minor
, uses an alternative reckoning of years which predates the Yazdegirdi Era, being based on a supposed date of the birth of Zoroaster on 3 March 389 BCE. On this calendar, 27 July 2000 CE was the first day of Zoroastrian year 2390.
Yet another form of reckoning is the Zarathushtrian (Zoroastrian) Religious Era (Z.E.R./ZRE), adopted in 1990 by the Zarathushtrian Assembly of California. This is based on the putative association of the mission of Zoroaster with the dawn of the astrological Age of Aries, calculated for this purpose to have been the vernal equinox of 1737 BCE. Hence the year 3738 ZRE began in 2000 CE. The Zoroastrian community, both in Iran and in diaspora, have also been said to have accepted it, the former doing so in 1993 CE. A briefing paper from the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe indicates that they recognise this usage to have been pragmatically adopted by Zoroastrians in Iran, while the diaspora continues to use the YZ system.
The Julian Day Number of Nawruz, the first day, of Year Y of the Yazdegirdi Era is therefore 1952063 + (Y-1) x 365.
22 July 2000 CE was Nawruz and the first day of 1370 Y.Z. (or 3738 ZRE) according to the Qadimi reckoning.
In the Julian year 1300 CE, 669 Y.Z. began on 1 January, and 670 Y.Z. on 31 December of the same year.
, explicitly acknowledged several methods of compensating for this drift:
The Denkard then states:
The Denkard - which was not Zoroastrian Scripture but a religious manual - therefore favoured the solution of a leap-month once every 120 years, with a fall-back of adding 5 months after 600 years if this were missed. This practice was not, however, adopted by Zoroastrians living in Islamic Persia.
Many Zoroastrians migrated from the Middle East to India during the tenth century, becoming known in India as Parsis. They had knowledge of the Denkard's proposal: at some point between 1125 and 1129, the Parsi-Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent inserted such an embolismic month
, named Aspandarmad vahizak (the month of Aspandarmad but with the suffix vahizak). That month would also be the last month intercalated: subsequent generations of Parsis neglected to insert a thirteenth month.
Around 1720, an Irani-Zoroastrian priest named Jamasp Peshotan Velati travelled from Iran to India. Upon his arrival, he discovered that there was a difference of a month between the Parsi calendar and his own calendar. Velati brought this discrepancy to the attention of the priests of Surat
, but no consensus as to which calendar was correct was reached. Around 1740, some influential priests argued that since their visitor had been from the ancient 'homeland', his version of the calendar must be correct, and their own must be wrong. On June 6, 1745, a number of Parsis in and around Surat adopted the calendar which had continued in use of Iran, now to be identified as the Qadimi reckoning. Other Parsis continued to use the reckoning which had become traditional in India, and call their calendar Shahanshahi.
The anonymous author of Ahura.TheLalis.com website comments:
Because the one-off intercalation of 30 days happened sometime before the Nawruz of 1129 CE, we can be confident that in that Julian year, 498 YZ began on 12 February by the Qadimi reckoning, but 12 March by the recently-introduced Shahanshahi.
The Julian Day Number of Nawruz, the first day, of all subsequent Shahanshahi years Y of the Yazdegirdi Era is therefore 1952093 + (Y-1) x 365.
, founded the "Zarthosti Fasili Sal Mandal", or Zoroastrian Seasonal-Year Society. in 1906, the society published its proposal for a Zoroastrian calendar which was synchronised with the seasons. This Fasli calendar, as it became known, was based on an older model, introduced in 1079 during the reign of the Seljuk
Malik Shah
and which had been well received in agrarian communities.
The Fasli proposal had two useful features: a leap-day once every four years, and harmony with the solar year. The leap-day, called Avardad-sal-Gah (or in Pahlavi: Ruzevahizak), would be inserted, when required, after the five existing Gatha days at the end of the year. New Year's Day would be kept on the vernal equinox, and if the leap-day was applied correctly, would not drift away from the spring. The Fasli society also claimed that their calendar was an accurate religious calendar, as opposed to the other two calendars, which they asserted were only political.
The new calendar received little support from the Indian Zoroastrian community, since it was considered to contradict the injunctions expressed in the Denkard. In Iran, however, the Fasli calendar gained momentum following a campaign in 1930 to persuade the Iranian Zoroastrians to adopt it, under the title of the Bastani (traditional) calendar. In 1925, the Iranian Parliament had introduced a new Iranian calendar, which (independent of the Fasli movement) incorporated both points proposed by the Fasili Society, and since the Iranian national calendar had also retained the Zoroastrian names of the months, it was not a big step to integrate the two. The Bastani calendar was duly accepted by many of the Zoroastrians. Many orthodox Iranian Zoroastrians, especially the Sharifabadis of Yazd
, continued to use the Qadimi, however.
In a common year (non-leap year) of the Fasli observance, Mukhtad is observed 11-20 March, with Hamaspathmaidyem and the Gatha days 16-20 March. Mareshpand Jashan is on 14 March.
In a leap year of the Fasli observance, Mukhtad is observed 10-19 March, with Hamaspathmaidyem and the Gatha days 15-19 March. Mareshpand Jashan is on 13 March. The leap day, 20 March, called Avardad-sal-Gah, is considered a duplication of Wahishtoisht, the fifth Gatha day, but is not reckoned as Mukhtad or Hamaspathmaidyem.
The on-line calendar converters cited at the bottom of this page all give the current Fasli year (following Nawruz in 2011 CE) as 1381 Y.Z. - the same year as the Qadimi and Shahanshahi. However, the accumulated leap days not reckoned in the latter two calendars add up to a whole year in just over 1508 years. Since there is exactly one Fasli year for every Gregorian year, then day one of the proleptic Fasli calendar would be 21 March (Gregorian) 631 CE, with Year 2 beginning on 21 March 632 CE. But Yazdegird III did not ascend the throne until 19 June 632 CE (Gregorian), leading to the curious quirk that the base date for the reckoning of years ends up in Year 2 of the Fasli calendar.
Dr Ali Jafarey describes the Fasli calendar as
Webster's Online direction and various unreferenced sources state that the Fasli calendar follows the Gregorian, and it is shown strictly following the Gregorian calendar in the period 2009-2031 CE in the tables published by R. E. Kadva. The Gregorian calendar itself, however, will not keep 21 March as the date of the vernal equinox forever - it has a deviation of one day every 5025 years.
since 31 March 1925 CE has been the Solar Hejri calendar. This is strictly tied to the actual vernal equinox, rather than a mathematical approximation to it. An Iranian day is reckoned to begin at midnight. Iranian time is 3.5 hours ahead of GMT. New Year's Day is defined to be the day, as reckoned by Iranian time, when the vernal equinox (the precise moment in time when northern and southern hemispheres of the earth pass through the point of the earth's orbit when they are equally illuminated by the sun) occurs on or before noon of that day, or during the 12 hours following the noon of the preceding day. This means that the pattern of leap years in the Iranian calendar is complex - usually following a 33-year cycle where the leap day is inserted every fourth year, but in year 33 instead of year 32, but with occassional 27 or 35 year cycles.
From 1960 to 1995, the vernal equinox always fell at such a time that New Year's Day in Iran occurred on the day called 21 March in the Western calendar. But this equivalence was not always true before March 1960, and the exact correspondence broke down again in 1996. In 1959, and at four-year intervals back to 1927, Iranian New Year's Day fell on 22 March in the Gregorian calendar. In 1996, and subsequent Gregorian leap years, Iranian New Year's Day falls on 20 March. The pattern will shift back to a matching set of leap years in 2096 CE.
The sources cited above state that the Fasli calendar both follows the Gregorian and was such that New Year's Day coincided with vernal equinox. These two statements are incompatible. The Fasli calendar cannot track both the Gregorian leap years and strictly start on the vernal equinox; further, any calendar strictly tied to the 'day of the equinox' must define when the day starts and ends, which depends on longitude.
A briefing paper from the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe indicates that
, but different from the Iranian (Jalaali) Calendar
, the Julian Calendar
, the Mayan Haab Calendar and the French Revolutionary Calendar, whose epochs of the months are fixed to the equinoxes/solstices, as are the signs of Western Astrology
. The Qadimi and the Shhanshahi Zoroastrian Calendar use merely five epigomenal days, similar to the French Revolutionary, and the Coptic calendar
, so their year count slowly travels through the astronomical year. Thus the Qadimi variant of the Zoroastrian calendar keeps track of precession
, pointing towards an esoteric (hidden) calculus of world ages.
The Qadimi (traditional) Zoroastrian calendar puts the month of Dae (the month called Day) with the Sun entering the constellation of Taurus (specifically the Pleiades); thus apparently (theory) recalling the time of the origination of the zoroastrian calendar, and its relation to the discovery of the precession. At that time, one very well may conclude, that the vernal equinox also marked the sun's enterance into this constellation of the Golden Calf
, the Taurus. According to Mary Boyce
,
In 1992, all three calendars happened to have the first day of a month on the same day. Many Zoroastrians suggested a consolidation of the calendars: no consensus could be reached, though some took this opportunity to switch to the Fasli observance. Some priests objected on the grounds that if they were to switch, the religious implements they utilised would require re-consecration, at not insignificant expense.
It has also been proposed that the Shahanshahi calendar could be brought back into harmony through the intercalation of whole months.
In the UK, most Zoroastrians are Indians who follow the Shahanashai calendar. Nevertheless, noting that Iranian Zoroastrians mostly follow the Fasli calendar, the ZTFE (the official Zoroastrian charity and London
centre of worship) marks observances of both calendars.
; morning hours before dawn are assigned to the previous calendar day. Each day is divided into five watches:
In medieval times, according to the Bundahishn, in winter there were only four periods, with Hawan extending from daybreak until Uziran, with the omission of Rapithwan.
(404-358 BCE). "The last evidence for the use ... with Old Persian month-names ... comes from 458BCE, ... after which the Elamite tablets cease. " No dated West-Iranian documents from between 458 BCE and 330 BCE survive, but the fact that the Zoroastrian calendar was created some time during that period can be inferred from its use In a number of far-flung lands which had formerly been parts of the Achaemenid Empire.
The oldest (though not dateable) testimony for the existence of the day dedications comes from Yasna 16, a section of the Yasna
liturgy that is - for the most part - a veneration to the 30 divinities with day-name dedications. The Siroza - a two-part Avesta text with individual dedications to the 30 calendar divinities - has the same sequence.
The quaternary dedication to Ahura Mazda
was perhaps a compromise between orthodox and heterodox factions, with the 8th, 15th and 23rd day of the calendar perhaps originally having been dedicated to Apam Napat
, Haoma
, and Dahmān Afrīn
. The dedication to the Ahuric
Apam Napat would almost certainly have been an issue for devotees of Aredvi Sura Anahita, whose shrine cult was enormously popular between the 4th c. BCE and the 3rd c. CE and who is (accretions included) a functional equal of Apam Napat. To this day these three divinities are considered 'extra-calendary' divinites inasfar as they invoked together with the other 27, so making a list of 30 discrete entities.
The 2nd through 7th days are dedicated to the Amesha Spenta
s, the six 'divine sparks' through whom all subsequent creation was accomplished, and who - in present-day Zoroastrianism - are the archangels.
Days 9 through 13 are dedications to five yazata
s of the litanies (Niyayeshes): Fire (Atar
), Water (Apo
), Sun (Hvar
), Moon (Mah
), the star Sirius (Tištrya
) that here perhaps represents the firmament in its entirety. Day 14 is dedicated to the soul of the Ox (Geush Urvan), linked with and representing all animal creation.
Day 16, leading the second half of the days of the month, is dedicated to the divinity of oath, Mithra
(like Apam Napat of the Ahuric
triad). He is followed by those closest to him, Sraoša and Rašnu
, likewise judges of the soul; the representatives of which, the Fravashi
(s), come next. Verethragna
, Rāman, Vāta are respectively the hypostases of victory, the breath of life, and the (other) divinity of the wind and 'space'.
The last group represent the more 'abstract' emanations: Religion (Daena
), Recompense (Ashi
), and Justice (Arshtat
); Sky (Asman
) and Earth (Zam
); Sacred Invocation (Manthra Spenta) and Endless Light (Anaghra Raocha).
In present-day use, the day and month names are the Middle Persian
equivalents of the divine names or the concepts, but in some cases reflect Semitic influences (for instance Tištrya appears as Tir, which Boyce (1982:31-33) asserts is derived from Nabu-*Tiri). The names of the 8th, 15th, and 23rd day of the month - reflecting Babylonian practice of dividing the month into four periods - can today be distinguished from one another: These three days are named Dae-pa Adar, Dae-pa Mehr, and Dae-pa Din, Middle Persian expressions meaning 'Creator of' (respectively) Atar, Mithra, and Daena.
What might loosely be called weeks are the divisions of days 1-7, 8-14, 15-22 and 23-30 of each month - two weeks of seven days followed by two weeks of eight. The Gatha days at the end of the year do not belong to any such week.
Seven of the twelve month names occur at various points in the surviving Avesta texts, but an enumeration similar to the ones for day names does not exist in scripture. Lists of month names are however known from commentaries on the Avesta texts, from various regional Zoroastrian calendars of the 3rd-7th centuries, and from living usage. That these names have an Old Iranian origin and are not merely Middle Iranian innovations may be inferred from the fact that several regional variants reflect Old Iranian genitive singular forms, that is, they preserve an implicit "(month) of".
The month-names (with Avestan language names in parentheses), in the ordinal sequence used today, are:
The days on which day-name and month-name dedications intersect are festival days (name-day feast days) of special worship. Because Ahura Mazda has four day-name dedications, the month dedicated to Him has four intersections (the first, eighth, fifteenth and twenty-third day of the tenth month). The others have one intersection each, for example, the nineteenth day of the first month is the day of special worship of the Fravashi
s.
There is some evidence that suggests that in ancient practice Dae was the first month of the year, and Frawardin the last. In a 9th century text, Zoroaster's age at the time of his death is stated to have been 77 years and 40 days (Zadspram 23.9), but the "40 days" do not correspond to the difference between the traditional "death day" (11th of Dae) and "birthday" (6th of Frawardin) unless Dae had once been the first month of the year and Frawardin the last. The festival of Frawardigan is held on the last days of the year, instead of following the name-day feast of the Fravashis (nineteenth day of the month of Frawardin, and also called Frawardigan)..
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...
used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals
Zoroastrian festivals
Zoroastrianism has numerous festivals and holy days, all of which are bound to the Zoroastrian calendar. The Shahenshahi and Kadmi variants of the calendar do not intercalcate leap years and hence the day of the Gregorian calendar year on which these days are celebrated shifts ahead with time...
are discussed elsewhere, but have a fixed relationship to Nawruz
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....
, the New Year festival, whose timing is discussed below. Three distinct versions of the calendar are currently in use by different Zoroastrian communities.
In this article, except where explicitly noted to the contrary, Western-style dates prior to October 5, 1582 CE are reckoned according to 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...
; subsequent dates are according to 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...
, in which 15 October 1582 (Gregorian) was the day following 4 October 1582 (Julian).
English spellings follow this recommended usage.
The Primitive, or 'Old Avestan', Calendar
The forerunner of all modern Zoroastrian calendars is the system used to reckon dates in the Persian Empire. In the year 539 BCE, Persia's rulers conquered Babylon, and soon afterwards - at least by the 4th Century BCE - adopted the Babylonian methodBabylonian 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...
of reckoning months: 12 months each containing 30 days.
This 'Avestan Calendar' of 360 days required regular correction to keep it synchronised with the solar year; this was achieved by intercalating
Intercalation
Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.- Solar calendars :...
a 13th month roughly once every six years.
Intercalations did not always follow a regular pattern, but during the reign of Artaxerxes II (circa 380 BCE) astronomers utilised a 19 year cycle which required the edition of a month called Addaru II month in years 3, 6, 8, 11 14 and 19, and the month Ululu II in year 17 of the cycle. Older research suggests the first intercalation took place in 309 BCE. Fuller information on the naming of months will be found below, but it should be noted that the first month of the year was called Frawardin, and the first day of Frawardin was the 'New Year's Day' or Nawruz
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....
(also reckoned Now-Ruz, Nowruz, No Roz, No-Rooz, Norouz, or Navroz), from which all other religious observances were reckoned - this day being, in theory, the day of the vernal equinox, 21 March (Gregorian).
Following Alexander's conquest of Persia in 330 BCE, the Seleucids
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
(312-248 BCE) instituted the Hellenic practice of counting years from the start of an 'era', as opposed to starting a new count at the beginning of the reign of each individual king. They therefore counted years of the era of Alexander (now referred to as 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...
). This practice was not considered acceptable to the Zoroastrian priests, who consequently founded a new era, the era of Zoroaster
Zoroaster
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...
- which incidentally led to the first serious attempt to establish a historical date for the prophet. The Parthians
Parthia
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....
(150-224 CE), who succeeded the Seleucids, continued the Seleucid/Hellenic tradition.
Development of a 365-day Calendar
Five significant stages seem to have occurred in the introduction of a stable 365-day calendar. Mary Boyce has observed that contemporary scholars are divided on whether this 365-day calendar was in fact preceded by a 360-day calendar of Zoroastrian observances.First: A 365-day calendar was introduced during the reign of the Sasanian
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
emperor 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...
(226-241 CE). The names of months and of days of the month that had been used in Achaemenian
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
times remained unaltered; the five additional days were inserted after the twelfth month. These five days were named Gatha
Gathas
The Gathas are 17 hymns believed to have been composed by Zarathusthra himself. They are the most sacred texts of the Zoroastrian faith.-Structure and organization:...
or Gah days, after the ancient Avesta
Avesta
The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.-Early transmission:The texts of the Avesta — which are all in the Avestan language — were composed over the course of several hundred years. The most important portion, the Gathas,...
hymns of the same name. In the year 226 CE, 1 Frawardin and the New Year celebration of Nawruz had drifted to 1 October. The older custom of counting regnal years from the monarch's coronation was reinstated.
Second: After 46 years (226-272 CE), with 1 Frawardin now on 19 September, another calendar reform
Calendar reform
A calendar reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar.Most calendars have several rules which could be altered by reform:...
was implemented by Ardashir's grandson Hormazd 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...
(272-273 CE). It seems that during the first year after implentation of the Gatha days, the population had not universally adopted the new dates for religious festivals, resulting in "official" celebrations takings place five days later than popular celebrations. In later years the population had observed the Gatha days, but the original five-day discrepancy persisted. Hormazd's reform was to link the popular and official observance dates to form continual six-day feasts. Nawruz was an exception: the first and the sixth days of the month were celebrated as different occasions. Lesser Nawruz was observed on 1 Frawardin. 6 Frawardin, became Greater Nawruz, a day of special festivity. Around the 10th Century CE, the Greater Nawruz was associated with the return of the legendary king, Jamsed; in contemporary practice it is kept as the symbolic observance of Zoroaster’s birthday, or Khordad Sal
Khordad Sal
Khordad Sal is the birth anniversary of Zoroaster. Zoroastrians all over the world, specifically in India celebrate the day in a great glamor. Parties and ghambars are held. Special prayers and jashans are also held throughout the entire day...
.
Third: A major reform of the religious calendar was implemented some time between 399 and 518 CE. The names of the days and months were unaltered, but Nawruz would now be celebrated on the first day of Adur, hitherto the ninth month of the calendar. Other religious festivals were shifted to maintain their relative position to Nawruz. Mary Boyce has argued that, as part of this reform, the six-day festivals were compressed to five days. The major feasts, or gahambars, of contemporary Zoroastrian practice, are still kept as five-day observances today.
Fourth: By the reign of Yazdegird III (632-651 CE), the religious celebrations were again somewhat adrift with respect to their proper seasons. Therefore in 632 CE, the new year due to be celebrated on June 21 was brought ahead by the device of omitting that year's Gatha days; Nawruz was therefore kept on June 16. Most Persian Zoroastrians accepted and used this new calendar. By the 9th century, the Zoroastrian theologian Zadspram had noted that the state of affairs was less than optimal, and estimated that at the time of Final Judgement the two systems would be out of sync by four years.
Fifth: In the year 1006 CE, the month Frawardin had returned to the correct position so that 1 Frawardin coincided with the vernal equinox. The religious festivals were therefore returned to their traditional months, with Nawruz once again being celebrated on 1 Frawardin.
The Reckoning of Years
16 June 632 CE is the start date for the current mainstream Zoroastrian reckoning of years. Yazdegird III was the last monarch of the Sasanian dynastySassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
, and since the custom at that time was to count regnal years since the monarch ascended the throne, the reckoning of years was continued, in the absence of a Zoroastrian monarch, under Islamic rule. Zoroastrian dates are distinguished by the suffix Y.Z. for Yazdegirdi Era. The usage "AY" is also found.
The contemporary Zoroastrian community in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, and in isolated pockets of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
, uses an alternative reckoning of years which predates the Yazdegirdi Era, being based on a supposed date of the birth of Zoroaster on 3 March 389 BCE. On this calendar, 27 July 2000 CE was the first day of Zoroastrian year 2390.
Yet another form of reckoning is the Zarathushtrian (Zoroastrian) Religious Era (Z.E.R./ZRE), adopted in 1990 by the Zarathushtrian Assembly of California. This is based on the putative association of the mission of Zoroaster with the dawn of the astrological Age of Aries, calculated for this purpose to have been the vernal equinox of 1737 BCE. Hence the year 3738 ZRE began in 2000 CE. The Zoroastrian community, both in Iran and in diaspora, have also been said to have accepted it, the former doing so in 1993 CE. A briefing paper from the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe indicates that they recognise this usage to have been pragmatically adopted by Zoroastrians in Iran, while the diaspora continues to use the YZ system.
The Qadimi Calendar
The cycle of days and months unaltered since 16 June 632 CE, and the cycle of religious observances unaltered since at least 1006 CE, form a stable calendar which is still in use today. Although Persia came under Arab, Islamic, rule in 651 CE, the civil reckoning of months and days was only disrupted for a short time and had returned to use for civil purposes within a century.Alternative Names
To distinguish this calendar from others which developed in due course, the name Qadimi became attached to it - a name which means 'old' or 'ancient' and will also be found with alternative spellings:- Qadmi (by contraction)
- Quadmi
- Kadimi (a Parsi variant spelling)
- Kadmi (by contraction)
- Kudmi
- Gadimi
Relationship with the Gregorian Calendar
The Julian Day Number corresponding to 16 June 632 CE (which was 19 June 632 CE of the proleptic Gregorian Calendar) is 1952063.The Julian Day Number of Nawruz, the first day, of Year Y of the Yazdegirdi Era is therefore 1952063 + (Y-1) x 365.
22 July 2000 CE was Nawruz and the first day of 1370 Y.Z. (or 3738 ZRE) according to the Qadimi reckoning.
In the Julian year 1300 CE, 669 Y.Z. began on 1 January, and 670 Y.Z. on 31 December of the same year.
The Shahanshahi Calendar
A 365-day calendar drifts ahead of the solar year at a rate of approximately one day every four years. A ninth century Zoroastrian text, the DenkardDenkard
The Dēnkard or Dēnkart is a 10th century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs. The Denkard is to a great extent an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" and is a most valuable source of information on the religion...
, explicitly acknowledged several methods of compensating for this drift:
- a leap-day every fourth year;
- adding ten days every fortieth year;
- a leap-month of 30 days once every 120 years;
- 5 months once every 600 years;
- the discrepnancy would be a whole year once every 1,440 years.
The Denkard then states:
- The time of six hours should be kept apart from (i.e. not to be added to) the last days of the year for many years, till (the hours) amount to (a definite period of time)... And it is the admonition of the good faith that the rectification (of the calendar) should not be made till a month is completed (i.e. till the additional six hours every year amount to a month at the end of a hundred and twenty. years). And more than a period of five months should not be allowed (to accumulate.) [Parentheses appear as in original.]
The Denkard - which was not Zoroastrian Scripture but a religious manual - therefore favoured the solution of a leap-month once every 120 years, with a fall-back of adding 5 months after 600 years if this were missed. This practice was not, however, adopted by Zoroastrians living in Islamic Persia.
Many Zoroastrians migrated from the Middle East to India during the tenth century, becoming known in India as Parsis. They had knowledge of the Denkard's proposal: at some point between 1125 and 1129, the Parsi-Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent inserted such an embolismic month
Intercalation
Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.- Solar calendars :...
, named Aspandarmad vahizak (the month of Aspandarmad but with the suffix vahizak). That month would also be the last month intercalated: subsequent generations of Parsis neglected to insert a thirteenth month.
Around 1720, an Irani-Zoroastrian priest named Jamasp Peshotan Velati travelled from Iran to India. Upon his arrival, he discovered that there was a difference of a month between the Parsi calendar and his own calendar. Velati brought this discrepancy to the attention of the priests of Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
, but no consensus as to which calendar was correct was reached. Around 1740, some influential priests argued that since their visitor had been from the ancient 'homeland', his version of the calendar must be correct, and their own must be wrong. On June 6, 1745, a number of Parsis in and around Surat adopted the calendar which had continued in use of Iran, now to be identified as the Qadimi reckoning. Other Parsis continued to use the reckoning which had become traditional in India, and call their calendar Shahanshahi.
Alternative Names
The name Shahanshahi means 'imperial' and will also be found with alternative spellings:- Shahenshahi
- Shahenshai
- "Shenshai" - probably a corruption of 'imperial'
- Shensoy
- Rasimi - 'traditional'
- Sharshai - of uncertain meaning
The anonymous author of Ahura.TheLalis.com website comments:
- ... adherents of other variants of the Zoroastrian calendar denigrate the Shenshai or Shahenshahi as "royalist".
Relationship with the Gregorian Calendar
21 August 2000 CE was Nawruz and the first day of 1370 Y.Z. (or 3738 ZRE) according to the Shahanshahi reckoning.Because the one-off intercalation of 30 days happened sometime before the Nawruz of 1129 CE, we can be confident that in that Julian year, 498 YZ began on 12 February by the Qadimi reckoning, but 12 March by the recently-introduced Shahanshahi.
The Julian Day Number of Nawruz, the first day, of all subsequent Shahanshahi years Y of the Yazdegirdi Era is therefore 1952093 + (Y-1) x 365.
The Fasli Calendar
At the start of the twentieth century, Khurshedji Cama, a Bombay ParsiParsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
, founded the "Zarthosti Fasili Sal Mandal", or Zoroastrian Seasonal-Year Society. in 1906, the society published its proposal for a Zoroastrian calendar which was synchronised with the seasons. This Fasli calendar, as it became known, was based on an older model, introduced in 1079 during the reign of 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...
Malik Shah
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh was born in 1055, succeeded Alp Arslan as the Seljuq Sultan in 1072, and reigned until his death in 1092....
and which had been well received in agrarian communities.
The Fasli proposal had two useful features: a leap-day once every four years, and harmony with the solar year. The leap-day, called Avardad-sal-Gah (or in Pahlavi: Ruzevahizak), would be inserted, when required, after the five existing Gatha days at the end of the year. New Year's Day would be kept on the vernal equinox, and if the leap-day was applied correctly, would not drift away from the spring. The Fasli society also claimed that their calendar was an accurate religious calendar, as opposed to the other two calendars, which they asserted were only political.
The new calendar received little support from the Indian Zoroastrian community, since it was considered to contradict the injunctions expressed in the Denkard. In Iran, however, the Fasli calendar gained momentum following a campaign in 1930 to persuade the Iranian Zoroastrians to adopt it, under the title of the Bastani (traditional) calendar. In 1925, the Iranian Parliament had introduced a new Iranian calendar, which (independent of the Fasli movement) incorporated both points proposed by the Fasili Society, and since the Iranian national calendar had also retained the Zoroastrian names of the months, it was not a big step to integrate the two. The Bastani calendar was duly accepted by many of the Zoroastrians. Many orthodox Iranian Zoroastrians, especially the Sharifabadis of Yazd
Yazd
Yazd is the capital of Yazd Province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. At the 2006 census, the population was 423,006, in 114,716 families....
, continued to use the Qadimi, however.
Festivals in Leap Years
The Zoroastrian Year, in Qadimi and Shahanshahi observance, concludes wiith ten days in memory of departed souls: five Mukhtad days on the last 5 days of the 12th month, and five more Mukhtad days, which are also the five-day festival of Hamaspathmaidyem, on the five Gatha days. The penultimate day of the twelfth month is Mareshpand Jashan.In a common year (non-leap year) of the Fasli observance, Mukhtad is observed 11-20 March, with Hamaspathmaidyem and the Gatha days 16-20 March. Mareshpand Jashan is on 14 March.
In a leap year of the Fasli observance, Mukhtad is observed 10-19 March, with Hamaspathmaidyem and the Gatha days 15-19 March. Mareshpand Jashan is on 13 March. The leap day, 20 March, called Avardad-sal-Gah, is considered a duplication of Wahishtoisht, the fifth Gatha day, but is not reckoned as Mukhtad or Hamaspathmaidyem.
Reckoning of Years
In 1906 CE, Nawruz of 1276 Y.Z. fell on 15 August for followers of the Qadimi calendar, and 14 September for those observing Shahanshahi. There was therefore a six month gap between the Fasli and Qadimi New Year observances, and a seven month gap to the Shahanshahi.The on-line calendar converters cited at the bottom of this page all give the current Fasli year (following Nawruz in 2011 CE) as 1381 Y.Z. - the same year as the Qadimi and Shahanshahi. However, the accumulated leap days not reckoned in the latter two calendars add up to a whole year in just over 1508 years. Since there is exactly one Fasli year for every Gregorian year, then day one of the proleptic Fasli calendar would be 21 March (Gregorian) 631 CE, with Year 2 beginning on 21 March 632 CE. But Yazdegird III did not ascend the throne until 19 June 632 CE (Gregorian), leading to the curious quirk that the base date for the reckoning of years ends up in Year 2 of the Fasli calendar.
Alternative Names
The name Fasli will also be found in alternative forms:- Fasili
- "Bastani" - Iranian for 'traditional'
Relationship with the Gregorian Calendar
21 March 2000 CE was Nawruz and the first day of 1370 Y.Z. (or 3738 ZRE) according to the Fasli reckoning.Dr Ali Jafarey describes the Fasli calendar as
- ...an almost tropical calendar. It is corrected by observing the leap year.
Webster's Online direction and various unreferenced sources state that the Fasli calendar follows the Gregorian, and it is shown strictly following the Gregorian calendar in the period 2009-2031 CE in the tables published by R. E. Kadva. The Gregorian calendar itself, however, will not keep 21 March as the date of the vernal equinox forever - it has a deviation of one day every 5025 years.
Relationship with the Iranian Calendar
The civil calendar in IranIranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
since 31 March 1925 CE has been the Solar Hejri calendar. This is strictly tied to the actual vernal equinox, rather than a mathematical approximation to it. An Iranian day is reckoned to begin at midnight. Iranian time is 3.5 hours ahead of GMT. New Year's Day is defined to be the day, as reckoned by Iranian time, when the vernal equinox (the precise moment in time when northern and southern hemispheres of the earth pass through the point of the earth's orbit when they are equally illuminated by the sun) occurs on or before noon of that day, or during the 12 hours following the noon of the preceding day. This means that the pattern of leap years in the Iranian calendar is complex - usually following a 33-year cycle where the leap day is inserted every fourth year, but in year 33 instead of year 32, but with occassional 27 or 35 year cycles.
From 1960 to 1995, the vernal equinox always fell at such a time that New Year's Day in Iran occurred on the day called 21 March in the Western calendar. But this equivalence was not always true before March 1960, and the exact correspondence broke down again in 1996. In 1959, and at four-year intervals back to 1927, Iranian New Year's Day fell on 22 March in the Gregorian calendar. In 1996, and subsequent Gregorian leap years, Iranian New Year's Day falls on 20 March. The pattern will shift back to a matching set of leap years in 2096 CE.
The sources cited above state that the Fasli calendar both follows the Gregorian and was such that New Year's Day coincided with vernal equinox. These two statements are incompatible. The Fasli calendar cannot track both the Gregorian leap years and strictly start on the vernal equinox; further, any calendar strictly tied to the 'day of the equinox' must define when the day starts and ends, which depends on longitude.
A briefing paper from the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe indicates that
- ...the Irani Zoroastrian calendar does not shift and commences on 21st March. But it is important to note that all Iranians including Zoroastrians celebrate NoRuz (Nawruz) on the actual day of the spring vernal equinox, therefore some years it can be 20th / 22nd March.
Astronomical and Mystical Aspects of the Calendars
The three different Zoroastrian calendar-traditions are similar in regard of the principle of the beginning of the months. The Fasli, Qadimi and the Shahanshahi all (notionally) start each of the 30 day long months with the Sun entering a new constellation, similar to the Vedic (Hindu) Solar calendars as reflected in the Jyotisha (Vedic Astrology), and the Armenian calendarArmenian calendar
The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It is a solar calendar based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule...
, but different from the Iranian (Jalaali) Calendar
Iranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
, 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...
, the Mayan Haab Calendar and the French Revolutionary Calendar, whose epochs of the months are fixed to the equinoxes/solstices, as are the signs of Western Astrology
Western astrology
Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. Western astrology is historically based on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos , which in turn was a continuation of Hellenistic and ultimately Babylonian traditions....
. The Qadimi and the Shhanshahi Zoroastrian Calendar use merely five epigomenal days, similar to the French Revolutionary, and 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...
, so their year count slowly travels through the astronomical year. Thus the Qadimi variant of the Zoroastrian calendar keeps track of precession
Precession
Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotation axis of a rotating body. It can be defined as a change in direction of the rotation axis in which the second Euler angle is constant...
, pointing towards an esoteric (hidden) calculus of world ages.
The Qadimi (traditional) Zoroastrian calendar puts the month of Dae (the month called Day) with the Sun entering the constellation of Taurus (specifically the Pleiades); thus apparently (theory) recalling the time of the origination of the zoroastrian calendar, and its relation to the discovery of the precession. At that time, one very well may conclude, that the vernal equinox also marked the sun's enterance into this constellation of the Golden Calf
Golden calf
According to the Hebrew Bible, the golden calf was an idol made by Aaron to satisfy the Israelites during Moses' absence, when he went up to Mount Sinai...
, the Taurus. According to Mary Boyce
Mary Boyce
Nora Elisabeth Mary Boyce was a British scholar of Iranian languages, and an authority on Zoroastrianism...
,
- It seems a reasonable surmise that Nawruz, the holiest of them all, with deep doctrinal significance, was founded by Zoroaster himself.
Future Developments of the Calendars
The Fasli Calendar has become very popular outside India, especially in the West, but many Parsis believe that adding a leap day is against the rules, and they mostly continue to use the Shahanshahi Calendar. There is a proposal to correct matters by restoring the leap month, but unless this happens, the Shahanshahi and Qadimi years will continue to start earlier and earlier... the unrevised Qadimi Calendar would eventually co-incide with the Fasli Calendar in Gregorian Year 2508, the Shahanshahi New Year will next fall on 21 March in 2632.In 1992, all three calendars happened to have the first day of a month on the same day. Many Zoroastrians suggested a consolidation of the calendars: no consensus could be reached, though some took this opportunity to switch to the Fasli observance. Some priests objected on the grounds that if they were to switch, the religious implements they utilised would require re-consecration, at not insignificant expense.
It has also been proposed that the Shahanshahi calendar could be brought back into harmony through the intercalation of whole months.
In the UK, most Zoroastrians are Indians who follow the Shahanashai calendar. Nevertheless, noting that Iranian Zoroastrians mostly follow the Fasli calendar, the ZTFE (the official Zoroastrian charity and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
centre of worship) marks observances of both calendars.
The Division of Time
Zoroastrian practice divides time into years (sal or sol), months (mah), weeks, days (ruz, roz or roj) and watches (gah or geh).Divisions of the Day
A day is reckoned to begin at dawn, as attested by Chapter 25 of the 9th Century work, the BundahishnBundahishn
Bundahishn, meaning "Primal Creation", is the name traditionally given to an encyclopædiaic collections of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known....
; morning hours before dawn are assigned to the previous calendar day. Each day is divided into five watches:
- Hawan (sunrise to noon)
- Rapithwin or Second Hawan (noon to 3 p.m.)
- Uzerin (3 p.m. to sunset)
- Aiwisruthrem (sunset to midnight)
- Ushahin (midnight to sunrise)
In medieval times, according to the Bundahishn, in winter there were only four periods, with Hawan extending from daybreak until Uziran, with the omission of Rapithwan.
Naming of Months and Days
The months and the days of the month in the Zoroastrian calendar are dedicated to, and named after, a divinity or divine concept. The religious importance of the calendar dedications is very significant. Not only does the calendar establish the hierarchy of the major divinities, it ensures the frequent invocation of their names since the divinities of both day and month are mentioned at every Zoroastrian act of worship.Day Names
The tradition of naming the days and months after divinities was based on a similar Egyptian custom, and was instituted at some point between 458 and 330 BCE, very probably during the reign of Artaxerxes IIArtaxerxes II of Persia
Artaxerxes II Mnemon was king of Persia from 404 BC until his death. He was a son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis.-Reign:...
(404-358 BCE). "The last evidence for the use ... with Old Persian month-names ... comes from 458BCE, ... after which the Elamite tablets cease. " No dated West-Iranian documents from between 458 BCE and 330 BCE survive, but the fact that the Zoroastrian calendar was created some time during that period can be inferred from its use In a number of far-flung lands which had formerly been parts of the Achaemenid Empire.
The oldest (though not dateable) testimony for the existence of the day dedications comes from Yasna 16, a section of the Yasna
Yasna
Yasna is the name of the primary liturgical collection of texts of the Avesta as well as the name of the principal Zoroastrian act of worship at which those verses are recited. The Yasna, or Izeshne, is primarily the name of the ceremony in which the entire book is recited and appropriate...
liturgy that is - for the most part - a veneration to the 30 divinities with day-name dedications. The Siroza - a two-part Avesta text with individual dedications to the 30 calendar divinities - has the same sequence.
| 1. | Dadvah Ahura Mazdā, 2. Vohu Manah, 3. Aša Vahišta, 4. Khšathra Vairya, 5. Spenta Ārmaiti, 6. Haurvatāt, 7. Ameretāt |
| 8. | Dadvah Ahura Mazdā, 9. Ātar, 10. Āpō, 11. Hvar, 12. Māh, 13. Tištrya, 14. Geuš Urvan |
| 15. | Dadvah Ahura Mazdā, 16. Mithra, 17. Sraoša, 18. Rašnu, 19. Fravašayō, 20. Verethragna, 21. Rāman, 22. Vāta |
| 23. | Dadvah Ahura Mazdā, 24. Daēna, 25. Aši, 26. Arštāt, 27. Asmān, 28. 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... , 29. Manthra Spenta, 30. Anaghra Raočā. |
The quaternary dedication 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...
was perhaps a compromise between orthodox and heterodox factions, with the 8th, 15th and 23rd day of the calendar perhaps originally having been dedicated to Apam Napat
Burz
Burz is the middle Persian name for the Indo-Iranian divinity of waters. Burz is also known as Ahura Berezant in the texts of the Avesta, and also as Apam Napat in Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit...
, Haoma
Haoma
Haoma is the Avestan language name of a plant and its divinity, both of which play a role in Zoroastrian doctrine and in later Persian culture and mythology. The Middle Persian form of the name is hōm, which continues to be the name in Modern Persian and other living Iranian languages.Sacred haoma...
, and Dahmān Afrīn
Dahm
Dahman or Dahman Afrin is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian concept, later considered to be the embodiment of prayer, and ultimately as a divinity, one of the yazatas....
. The dedication to the Ahuric
Ahura
Ahura is an Avestan language designation for a particular class of Zoroastrian divinities.-Etymology:Avestan ahura derives from Indo-Iranian *asura, also attested in an Indian context as RigVedic asura...
Apam Napat would almost certainly have been an issue for devotees of Aredvi Sura Anahita, whose shrine cult was enormously popular between the 4th c. BCE and the 3rd c. CE and who is (accretions included) a functional equal of Apam Napat. To this day these three divinities are considered 'extra-calendary' divinites inasfar as they invoked together with the other 27, so making a list of 30 discrete entities.
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...
s, the six 'divine sparks' through whom all subsequent creation was accomplished, and who - in present-day Zoroastrianism - are the archangels.
Days 9 through 13 are dedications to five 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...
s of the litanies (Niyayeshes): Fire (Atar
Atar
Atar is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" ....
), Water (Apo
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....
), Sun (Hvar
Hvare-khshaeta
Hvare.khshaeta is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity of the "Radiant Sun."Avestan Hvare khshaeta is a compound in which hvar "Sun" has khshaeta "radiant" as a stock epithet. Avestan hvar derives from the Indo-Iranian root *svar "to shine," from which Vedic Sanskrit Surya - again...
), Moon (Mah
Mah
' or ' is the Avestan language word for both the moon and for the Zoroastrian divinity that presides over and is the hypostasis of the moon....
), the star Sirius (Tištrya
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...
) that here perhaps represents the firmament in its entirety. Day 14 is dedicated to the soul of the Ox (Geush Urvan), linked with and representing all animal creation.
Day 16, leading the second half of the days of the month, is dedicated to the divinity of oath, 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....
(like Apam Napat of the Ahuric
Ahura
Ahura is an Avestan language designation for a particular class of Zoroastrian divinities.-Etymology:Avestan ahura derives from Indo-Iranian *asura, also attested in an Indian context as RigVedic asura...
triad). He is followed by those closest to him, Sraoša and Rašnu
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...
, likewise judges of the soul; the representatives of which, the 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...
(s), come next. Verethragna
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...
, Rāman, Vāta are respectively the hypostases of victory, the breath of life, and the (other) divinity of the wind and 'space'.
The last group represent the more 'abstract' emanations: Religion (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:...
), Recompense (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...
), and Justice (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"...
); Sky (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...
) and Earth (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...
); Sacred Invocation (Manthra Spenta) and Endless Light (Anaghra Raocha).
In present-day use, the day and month names are 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...
equivalents of the divine names or the concepts, but in some cases reflect Semitic influences (for instance Tištrya appears as Tir, which Boyce (1982:31-33) asserts is derived from Nabu-*Tiri). The names of the 8th, 15th, and 23rd day of the month - reflecting Babylonian practice of dividing the month into four periods - can today be distinguished from one another: These three days are named Dae-pa Adar, Dae-pa Mehr, and Dae-pa Din, Middle Persian expressions meaning 'Creator of' (respectively) Atar, Mithra, and Daena.
What might loosely be called weeks are the divisions of days 1-7, 8-14, 15-22 and 23-30 of each month - two weeks of seven days followed by two weeks of eight. The Gatha days at the end of the year do not belong to any such week.
Month Names
Twelve divinities to whom days of the month are dedicated also have months dedicated to them. The month dedicated to Ahura Mazda is a special case - that month is named after Mazda's stock epithet, "Creator" (Avestan Dadvah, whence Zoroastrian Middle Persian Dae), rather than after His proper name.Seven of the twelve month names occur at various points in the surviving Avesta texts, but an enumeration similar to the ones for day names does not exist in scripture. Lists of month names are however known from commentaries on the Avesta texts, from various regional Zoroastrian calendars of the 3rd-7th centuries, and from living usage. That these names have an Old Iranian origin and are not merely Middle Iranian innovations may be inferred from the fact that several regional variants reflect Old Iranian genitive singular forms, that is, they preserve an implicit "(month) of".
The month-names (with Avestan language names in parentheses), in the ordinal sequence used today, are:
|
|
The days on which day-name and month-name dedications intersect are festival days (name-day feast days) of special worship. Because Ahura Mazda has four day-name dedications, the month dedicated to Him has four intersections (the first, eighth, fifteenth and twenty-third day of the tenth month). The others have one intersection each, for example, the nineteenth day of the first month is the day of special worship of the 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...
s.
There is some evidence that suggests that in ancient practice Dae was the first month of the year, and Frawardin the last. In a 9th century text, Zoroaster's age at the time of his death is stated to have been 77 years and 40 days (Zadspram 23.9), but the "40 days" do not correspond to the difference between the traditional "death day" (11th of Dae) and "birthday" (6th of Frawardin) unless Dae had once been the first month of the year and Frawardin the last. The festival of Frawardigan is held on the last days of the year, instead of following the name-day feast of the Fravashis (nineteenth day of the month of Frawardin, and also called Frawardigan)..
See also
- Armenian calendarArmenian calendarThe Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It is a solar calendar based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule...
- Iranian calendar
- Zoroastrian festivals
- ZoroastrianismZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
Calendar Tables
- Table mapping Fasli calendar to a Gregorian non-leap year. During a leap year, the mapping for the last 21 days of the Fasli year must be adjusted by subtracting 1 from the March date.
- Table for 1375 YZ. This table shows how the year 1375 YZ corresponds to Gregorian dates using the three Zoroastrian calendars, with links back to 1374, 1373 and 1372 YZ.
- Perpetual Fasli Calendar
- Zoroastrian Calendar of months and days
Calendar Calculators
- A conversion tool for all three variant calendars, good for CE dates 1911-2030, also with ability to display Zoroastrian dates on a month-to-view page of the Gregorian calendar for 1911-1930.
- Another implementation of the zanc.org calendar above.
- Conversion tool for Gregorian dates 1 Jan 1600-31 Dec 2400 (good for all dates 970 YZ to 1769 YZ). It can adjust for the fact that events between midnight and 6 a.m. on a Gregorian date fall on the previous Zoroastrian Day.
- The facility above is also available in Gujararti.
- RozCalc - Zoroastrian Calendar Calculator