Ancient Calendar Systems Series

The Persian and Zoroastrian Calendar

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12 months × 30 days + 5 Gatha days; an Egyptian-cognate 365-day structure. Each month is dedicated to a Yazata, each day to another Yazata; when the month-name and the day-name coincide, the day becomes a festival. Six seasonal gāhānbār, the sacred Nowruz at the spring equinox, the Sade fire after winter, and overarching them all: Zurwān ī akanārag, Infinite Time.

Why This Reconstruction?

The Zoroastrian calendar is the ancient world's most powerful conceptual architecture. It adopts the 365-day structure from Egypt, but in place of Egypt's animal-divinity decan list it installs the abstract Yazata (venerable divine being) system. It knows Babylon's lunisolar mathematics, yet detaches from it to establish a fully solar calendar. It anticipates Mesopotamia's šīmtu destiny, the Hellenic aiôn, and the pre-Islamic Arab dehr, and places at its center their shared conceptual forebear, Zurwān. The Zoroastrian calendar is cosmology expressed through pure time.

Moreover, this calendar is religious-cosmological rather than political. The beginning of the year (Nawrūz) is fixed to the spring equinox, because that moment is itself a cosmic event, not a royal decree. Months and days are dedicated not to gods but to divine qualities: Wahman (good thought), Aša (cosmic order), Xšaθra (sovereignty). When you open the calendar you encounter not a pantheon of gods but the moral categories of the cosmos. When the Old Persian states what day of the year it is, they simultaneously state which cosmological principle they stand in the presence of.

A structural singularity: there is no seven-day week. Each of the thirty days of the month carries its own name, its own Yazata, its own character. For a Hebrew, the "third day" is meaningful because there are two days remaining until the Sabbath; for a Persian, the day of Bahman is meaningful because that day has its own protective Yazata, its own quality, its own ritual. Time flows not in pairs or in sevens but in singular units of thirty. No other calendar of the ancient world produced a sense of time this atomized, this every-moment-particular.

This tool unfolds the system in sequence. 12 months (of 30 days each) + 5 Gatha days = a fully solar year of 365 days; for each month, the Avestan and Pahlavi names, the qualities of the attributed Yazata, the season and the agricultural cycle, the corresponding festivals. The six Gāhānbār (seasonal festivals) are treated in a separate section; here belongs Hartner's thesis that they were fixed in the 6th century BCE through acronychal star observation at Persepolis. Nawrūz receives its own section: its Achaemenid origins, Sasanian reforms, and the Turkic-Iranian cultural continuity (the Epic of Ergenekon, Seljuk, Ottoman, and the modern Turkic world). The Zurwān section reads it alongside the pre-Islamic Arab dehr; the three-thousand-year cosmic epochs of the Bundahishn, the "heretical" legacy of Sasanian Zurvanism.

Here we find neither the pure astronomical calendar of Hellenistic Egypt nor the lunisolar mathematics of Babylon. In their place stands a cosmology made explicitly calendrical: each day a moral principle, each month a guardian Yazata, each season a stage of creation. The Persian calendar is the ancient world's purest "philosophical calendar", and it has run without interruption for three thousand years across the Turkic-Iranian cultural geography.

Year Selector

The Yazdegerdi era; the accession of the last Sasanian monarch, Yazdegerd III, on 16 June 632 CE, is taken as the epoch. The year unfolds from that date down to the present. Below, the Nowruz date is shown according to the Fasli (seasonal) calendar.

1395 Yazdegerdi Era
Nowruz (Fasli) = March 21, 2026 · Gregorian year 2026/2027

Three Modern Variants

After the fall of the Sasanian empire to the Arab conquest in 651 CE, the Zoroastrian calendar split into three distinct branches. All three variants share the same basic structure (12 × 30 + 5 = 365); they differ in their intercalation rules.

Qadimi
قَدِيمِي · "ANCIENT"
Recalculated by the Zoroastrians of Iran in 1006
The oldest calendar variant. It preserves the 365-day structure from the Sasanian period, but because it abandoned the addition of an intercalary (kabise) month every 120 years, Nowruz drifts against the Gregorian calendar. In 2026 the Qadimi Nowruz falls on July 16. The Zoroastrian minority in Iran continued to maintain this variant after 1006.
Shahanshahi
شَاهَنْشَاهِي · "IMPERIAL"
Parsi community of India · based on the 10th-century Denkard
The variant used by the Parsi community that emigrated from Iran. Between the 8th and 10th centuries CE, Zoroastrians fleeing the Muslim conquest settled in the Indian state of Gujarat, carrying this calendar with them. Like the Qadimi, intercalation was abandoned, but from a different starting point; a 30-day gap opened up between the two variants. In 2026 the Shahanshahi Nowruz falls on August 15.
Fasli
فَصْلِي · "SEASONAL"
1906 reform · proposed by Kharshedji R. Cama
The modern reform variant. Following Gregorian logic, a leap day is inserted every four years; Nowruz is always fixed to the spring equinox (March 20-21). It was proposed in India in 1906 and is today used by the majority of Zoroastrians in Iran and Tajikistan. It is the most astronomically accurate, though the newest, variant. This tool takes the Fasli calendar as its reference.

The Twelve Months

Each month has 30 days; each month is dedicated to a Yazata. The older Avestan names and their Pahlavi Middle Persian forms stand side by side. Seven months are dedicated to the Amesha Spentas (the Seven Holy Immortals); five months to other major Yazatas (Tištrya, Miθra, Apąm Napāt, Ātar, Frawašī). Click a card for etymology, season, and key days.

Yazata month
Amesha Spenta month (Seven Holy Immortals)
Dadvah · month of Ahura Mazda (Dae)

The Five Gatha Days · The Year's Epagomenal Threshold

12 months × 30 days = 360 days, but the tropical year is 365 days. The intervening 5 days are appended to the end of Esfand; each is given a name drawn from one of Zoroaster's Gathas (sacred hymns). These five days are counted as the "outside of time", threshold days not belonging to the cosmos.

The Structure of the Gatha Days

The Zoroastrian calendar adopts the 365-day structure of Egypt, but whereas in Egypt the five epagomenal days were each assigned an animal-divinity (Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, Nephthys), in the Persian calendar each of the Gatha days bears the name of one of Zoroaster's hymns. The five Gathas (Avestan: Gāθā, "sacred hymn") form chapters 28-34, 43-46, 47-50, 51, and 53 of the Yasna; the oldest and most sacred texts of the Zoroastrian religion (ca. 1500-1000 BCE). Each Gatha corresponds to a spiritual principle; over these five days the texts of that principle are recited, contemplated, and ritually renewed.

These five days also fall within the Hamaspaθmaēdaya Gāhānbār, the sixth and final seasonal festival of the year. The year thus closes on a doubled register: both the Gatha days (the spiritual-ritual dimension) and the Gāhānbār (the seasonal-agricultural dimension). During these five days the fravaši (the guardian souls of the departed) descend to the world; as families prepare for Nowruz, they commemorate their ancestors, lay sacred tables, and distribute food to the poor. The new year can only begin once this threshold has been crossed.

GATHA 1
Ahunavaiti
"Of Ahuna Vairya"
Yasna 28-34. Ahuna Vairya, the holiest of Zoroastrian prayers; the principle of cosmic order.
GATHA 2
Uštavaiti
"Of Happiness"
Yasna 43-46. Begins with uštā ("happiness, blessedness"); themes of joy and inner peace.
GATHA 3
Spenta Mainyu
"Holy Creative Spirit"
Yasna 47-50. The opposition between Ahura Mazda's creative principle (Spenta Mainyu) and the destructive principle (Angra Mainyu).
GATHA 4
Vohu Khshathra
"Good Sovereignty"
Yasna 51. The chapter in which Xšaθra Vairya appears; the desired just kingdom.
GATHA 5
Vahishtoishti
"Best Wish"
Yasna 53. The wedding hymn of Zoroaster's daughter Pourucista; a testament directed to future generations.

Al-Bīrūnī (Āṯār, 1000 CE) gives six different lists of names for the Gatha days, showing that regional variations existed. In the region of Natanz (central Iran), the Gatha days were appended to the end of Bahman; that is, after the end of the 11th month and before the beginning of Esfand. This variation is an important piece of evidence for the regional flexibility of the Zoroastrian calendar system.

The Thirty Day-Name System · The Atomization of Time

There is no seven-day week in the Zoroastrian calendar. Instead, each of the thirty days bears its own Yazata name. When the month-name coincides with the day-name, the day becomes a festival. Below is the map of the thirty days; the orange squares mark Ahura Mazda days, the gold squares mark Amesha Spenta days.

The Logic of the System

The vast majority of the ancient Near East rested on either the 10-day cycle (the Egyptian decans, the Babylonian 10-day triplets), the 7-day cycle (the Hebrew Sabbath week), or shorter periods. The Zoroastrian system stands outside all three: each day of the 30-day month carries a wholly singular character. No cycle, no rhythmic repetition; only thirty individual names and qualities.

This is a radical decision in calendar theory. The Persian divides time not into large categories such as "weeks" but into thirty singular days. The result: every day has a special guardian, a special quality, a special rite. For a Zoroastrian the day of "Bahman" (the 2nd) is a day on which polluting the environment is forbidden and animals are honored; the day of "Tir" (the 13th) is reserved for rain-prayer and reverence for water. The atomization of time means that every moment carries a cosmological weight.

The assignment of the thirty days is as follows:

Among the thirty day-names there are four "Hormazd" (Ahura Mazda) days: 1, 8, 15, 23. For this reason Dae (the 10th month) is the month dedicated to Hormazd; in the month of Dae all four of these days coincide as Hormazd days; four festivals in a single month. The days of the Seven Amesha Spentas: 2 (Bahman), 3 (Ardibehišt), 4 (Šahrīwar), 5 (Sepandārmad), 6 (Hordād), 7 (Amordād), and, if Hormazd day is counted, the 1st. The other major Yazatas: 9 (Ādar/Fire), 10 (Ābān/Waters), 13 (Tir/Sirius), 16 (Mehr/Covenant), 17 (Sroš/Obedience), 18 (Rašn/Justice), 19 (Frawardīn/Ancestors). As can be seen, days 13 and 16 are critical pivots: the days of rain and of covenant. Mehregan (the second great festival of the year) is therefore celebrated on the 16th day of the 7th month.

The Six Gāhānbār · Seasonal Festivals

Gāhānbār (Avestan gāh + bār, "division of time, season") are the year's six agricultural and cosmic festivals. Hartner (1985) argues that these six festivals were fixed in the 6th century BCE through acronychal star observation at Persepolis. The intervals between them are not equal: 60-75-30-80-75-45 days; this is the mathematics of subdividing the full tropical year.

1. Maidyōzarem

"Mid-Spring" · Maiδyōi-zarəmaya
Ardibehišt 11-15
Spring

The first Gāhānbār, celebrated at the height of spring. The Avestan zarəmaya means "green"; Maidyōzarem = "the middle of the greening". A festival of pastoralism: the animals are driven up to the summer pastures, the first milking takes place, the herds are released from their stables. In the Avesta this festival is dedicated to the creation of the heavens (Bundahishn): Ahura Mazda completed the first of his seven creations, the sky, in this season. It lasts five days; the acronychal star observation at Persepolis: the Pleiades determine this axis of the year.

2. Maidyōšahem

"Mid-Summer" · Maiδyōi-šəma
Amordād 11-15
Summer

The second Gāhānbār, at the height of summer. The festival of the wheat and barley harvest; the celebration of bringing the crop to the granaries. Sixty days after Maidyōzarem. Dedicated to the creation of the waters; Ahura Mazda's second creation. Its temporal link with Tirgān (Tir 13) is close: the rain-star Sirius and the wheat harvest are celebrated together. It lasts five days.

3. Paitišahem

"End of the Harvest" · Paitišhahya
Šahrīwar 26-30
Early autumn

The third Gāhānbār, the period in which the grain harvest has finally come to rest in the granaries. Seventy-five days after Maidyōšahem. Dedicated to the creation of the earth (Ahura Mazda's third creation). Close to the autumnal equinox; 21 days before Mehregan. In the Old Persian economy this period marked the beginning of tax collection; the farmer pays the state's share after reckoning his yield.

4. Ayāθrem

"Return of the Herds" · Ayāθrim
Ādar 20-24
Early winter

The fourth Gāhānbār. The festival of the return of nomadic pastoralism to winter quarters: the herds returning from the summer pastures are brought into the stables, the animals are counted, and the weak are culled. Thirty days after Paitišahem. Dedicated to the creation of plants. In the Avesta this period is held to be the first descent of the fravaši (the souls of the ancestors) into the world; preparation for the fravaši activity of the month of Frawardīn. This festival has direct parallels with the "descent from the summer to the winter pastures" rituals of pre-Islamic Turkic tradition.

5. Maidyārem

"Mid-Winter" · Maiδyāirya
Dae 11-15
Height of winter

The fifth Gāhānbār. Close to the winter solstice; the longest night of the year (Šab-e Yaldā) falls within this festival. Eighty days after Ayāθrem. Dedicated to the creation of the animals. The period during which one passes to the inner side of winter; people remain in their houses, the fire cult intensifies. The Sade fire festival (Dae 10) falls immediately before this Gāhānbār; the ritual of lighting great fires at mid-winter. The Turkic Çile tradition (the longest 40 days of the year) and the Celtic Imbolc are the parallel pivots of this period.

6. Hamaspaθmaēdaya

"Union with the Ancestors" · Hamaspaθmaēdaya
Esfand 25-30 + 5 Gathas
Year's end

The sixth and final Gāhānbār; the closing festival of the year. Seventy-five days after Maidyārem; from Hamaspaθmaēdaya to Maidyōzarem is 45 days; the cycle closes. Dedicated to the creation of humanity (Ahura Mazda's seventh and final creation). This festival covers the final 5-6 days of Esfand together with the 5 Gatha days (a total of 10-11 days); then Nowruz begins. The fravaši descend to the world during this period and visit the houses; families commemorate their ancestors and lay sacred tables (khordād-sāl). This is the threshold of preparation for Nowruz; structurally parallel to the Egyptian Wepet Renpet ("Opening of the Year").

Nowruz · The Spring Equinox Festival

The first day of the year, on the Hormazd (Ahura Mazda) day of the month of Frawardīn. From Achaemenid to Sasanian, from Seljuk to Ottoman, and on to the modern Organization of Turkic States; an unbroken festival of three thousand years.

نوروز
Nawrūz · Nowruz · Nevruz
"NEW DAY" · YEN-İ GÜN

Achaemenid Origins

There is no direct epigraphic evidence from the Achaemenid period (550-330 BCE); however, the bas-reliefs of the Apadana palace at Persepolis furnish the strongest indirect evidence that Nowruz ceremonies were held. Along the eastern staircase, reliefs depict representatives of 23 nations (Medes, Lydians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Sogdians, Indians...) bringing gifts before the king: horses, camels, antelopes, gold, silver, and cloth. By modern interpretations this is the visual record of the Nowruz ceremony: the shahanshah (King of Kings) receives tribute from all his peoples every year on Frawardīn 1, accepts gifts, and dispenses justice to the people.

The lion-and-bull motif: in most of the Apadana scenes a lion is shown holding a bull. The modern Iranist interpretation (Mary Boyce, A.S. Shahbazi): the lion represents the sun, the bull the moon or the winter season. On the day of Nowruz, the sun with its Leo-sign energy overcomes the winter-bull; spring is born. This zodiacal reading may belong to the Sasanian period, but the image as such has Achaemenid origins. The gold coin of Darius I (416 BCE) is early evidence of the Nowruz festival; a Persian warrior-soldier holding a bow.

Sasanian Reforms (226-651 CE)

Under the Sasanian empire (224-651 CE), Nowruz became the official state festival. The founder Ardashir I (226-241) bound the calendar more strictly to the Egyptian 365-day structure and standardized the Nowruz protocol. The Sasanian Nowruz ceremonies lasted six days:

The Lesser Nowruz (Nawrūz-i āmmagān, "the people's Nowruz"): Frawardīn 1-5. For five days the people gather in public squares, leap over the fire, and are received before the king. The Greater Nowruz (Nawrūz-i xāssagān, "the elites' Nowruz"): Frawardīn 6 (the Hordād day). The king sits upon his special throne; the nobles, generals, and religious leaders present gifts; royal justice is dispensed; the great majority of prisoners are pardoned. This is the oldest structural tradition of amnesty in Persian law.

Sasanian texts (Bundahishn, Dēnkard) give Nowruz a cosmic origin: it is the day on which the world was created; the birthday of Kayūmars (the first human); the day on which Jamshīd (the mythical king) established the Golden Age on earth. Ferdowsi, in his Šāhnāme (1010 CE), writes that Nowruz was founded by Jamshīd; this is the standard narration of Persian royal mythology.

Turkic-Iranian Cultural Continuity

Nowruz is not particular to Iran; it is also an ancient festival of the Turkic world. Nizami Ganjavi, in his Iskandarnāmeh (ca. 1200 CE), states that Nowruz had been celebrated among the Turks since around 350 BCE. Chinese sources (the report submitted by General Zhang Qian to the emperor in 119 BCE) speak of a spring festival of the Xiongnu; this festival is interpreted as the memorial of the Turkic Epic of Ergenekon.

The Epic of Ergenekon: surrounded by enemies, the Turks take refuge in the valley of Ergenekon; centuries later they emerge by melting an iron mountain; this emergence falls on March 21. Under the guidance of the Bozkurt (the gray wolf who leads the way), they regain their freedom. This myth was made official in the Göktürk period and has been preserved in Hun, Uyghur, Seljuk, and Ottoman tradition as the "Ergenekon-Nowruz" conjunction.

Two great Turkic sources of the eleventh century state that Nowruz was the Turkic New Year: Kāšġarī Maḥmūd (Dīwān Lugāt al-Turk, 1072-1074) and Niẓām al-Mulk (Siyāsatnāmeh, 1091). The Jalālī calendar, commissioned by the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah (1079 CE; calculated by the mathematician Omar Khayyām), fixed Nowruz as the beginning of the year; it used the mathematics of the 365.24220-day tropical year 500 years before the Gregorian calendar.

Nowruz under the Ottomans: in the Imperial Palace the Sultan received the Nowruz felicitations; the hekimbaşı (chief physician) prepared a special Nevrūziye paste for the Sultan on every 21st of March; the Grand Vizier presented the hediyye-i Nevrūziye (Nowruz gift). The Karakeçili tribe (a branch of the Kayı clan to which the Ottoman dynasty belonged) gathered around the tomb of Ertuğrul Gazi on March 21. Under Sultan Abdülhamid II, the Ertuğrul Gazi commemorations were aligned with Nowruz. The Mesir Festival, celebrated in Manisa since the 16th century, is a direct continuation of the Nowruz tradition.

The modern Turkic world: in 2009 UNESCO inscribed Nowruz on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; the UN declared March 21 as the International Day of Nowruz. At the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Turkic States held in Budapest, Hungary on May 21, 2025, Nowruz was accepted as the common festival of the entire Turkic world. From Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Northern Cyprus, all the way to East Turkestan, it is celebrated under different names (Nooruz, Navrız, Newroz, Naurus, Ulustın Ulu Küni).

Haft-Sin · The Seven-S Table

In modern Iran and Tajikistan, the Nowruz table is adorned with the "Haft-Sin" (Seven S); seven symbolic items whose Persian names begin with the letter "س" (s):

سبزه
Sabze
Sprouted wheat or lentils; rebirth
سمنو
Samanu
Pudding of wheat sprouts; abundance
سنجد
Senjed
Oleaster fruit; love
سیر
Sīr
Garlic; health
سیب
Sīb
Apple; beauty
سماق
Somāq
Sumac; sunrise
سرکه
Serke
Vinegar; age and patience

In addition to these, a mirror (to see oneself), a colored egg (procreation), a bowl of water (purity), a goldfish (life), and a copy of the Qur'an or the Dīwān of Hāfiẓ (sacred word) are placed. In the Turkic tradition there is no exact equivalent of the "Haft-Sin"; in its place, egg painting, leaping over the fire, and the semah/halay dances come to the fore.

Sizdah Bedar · The Thirteenth Day in the Open Air

The thirteenth day of Nowruz (Frawardīn 13); Sizdah Bedar, "passing the 13th out in the open". The whole family takes the sabze (sprouted wheat) from the table and goes out into the fields; the sprouts are released into flowing water. Its symbolic meaning: surrendering the sorrows of the previous year to the water, abandoning oneself to the flow of nature. In modern Turkey this is preserved as "April 13" or the local "Spring Picnic".

Zurvan · Infinite Time

The deepest concept of Persian thought; the conceptual forerunner of the pre-Islamic Arab dehr, the Hellenistic aiôn, and the Mesopotamian šīmtu. The covert state theology of the Sasanian period; the cosmic source of the Bundahishn.

𐬰𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬁𐬥
Zurwān · Zruwān · Zarwān
"TIME" · GENDERLESS · AGELESS · IMMORTAL

Avestan Roots

The word "Zurvan" first appears in the Avesta at Yasna 72.10, but there it is not yet a god; it is simply an adjectival noun meaning "time". In Yasna 45.2 it appears as zruuānąm akaranąm ("limitless time"); a cosmological principle, but not yet personified. In the Avesta, Zurvan is not a personified being but a cosmic category; eternal duration as such.

The Pahlavi texts (6th-9th centuries CE) divide Zurvan into two forms: Zurwān ī akanārag ("Limitless Time"; absolute duration, eternity itself) and Zurwān ī dērang khwadāy ("Long-Lasting Time"; the time within which the cosmic drama unfolds; finite but vast). This twofold structure is a nuance rarely encountered in ancient thought: absolute duration (eternity) versus cosmic-cycle duration (the great year); parallel to Plotinus's distinction between aiôn and chronos, or to the Hindu distinction between brahman and kalpa.

Sasanian Zurvanism

In the Sasanian empire (224-651 CE), Zurvan appears personified, mythologized, and even placed at the summit of the pantheon. The version known as "Classical Zurvanism" recounts a creation myth as follows: Zurvan, infinite time, offered sacrifice for 1000 years in order to beget a son from himself. But at the end he fell into doubt: "Will he truly be born?" In that moment of doubt twins were born: Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazda) from Zurvan's sacrifice, Ahriman (Angra Mainyu) from Zurvan's doubt. Because Zurvan had promised the kingship to whichever would be born first, kingship for 9000 cosmic years was given to the faster-born Ahriman; afterwards Ohrmazd would win the final victory.

This myth conflicts with Zoroastrian orthodoxy, since it renders Ahura Mazda not Creator but created. For this reason the post-Sasanian Pahlavi texts (Dēnkard, 9th-10th centuries CE) reject Zurvanism as a "heresy", yet when rewriting the older texts they could not erase the name of Zurvan. The Armenian theologian Eznik of Kolb (5th century CE, Eḷc Aṅandoc' Refutation) recorded the full text of this myth for Christian polemic; the Syrian Theodore bar Konai (8th century CE, Liber Scholiorum) and the Arabic al-Shahrastānī (1153 CE, Kitāb al-Milal wa'l-Niḥal) all describe Zurvanism.

Manichaeism (the religion founded by Mani, 3rd century CE) adopted Zurvan as the apex of its own pantheon: Pater Magnitudinis ("Father of Greatness"). In Mani's Šābuhragān (written for Shāpur I around 240 CE), Zurvan is presented as the absolute source of the cosmos. This is the strongest evidence for how widespread Sasanian Zurvanism was in court circles.

The Comparison of Dehr-Zurvan-Aiôn

The ancient world's notions of impersonal cosmic time come down three principal lines: Indian kāla/brahman, Persian Zurvan/dehr, and Greek aiôn/chronos. All of these are parallel to one another, yet each carries a distinct conceptual emphasis.

Concept Origin Character Ethics
Zurvan (Persian) Avesta · pre-1000 BCE Limitless + finite twofold structure; capacity to bear twins Superior; its doubt begets evil
Dehr (Pre-Islamic Arab) The Mu'allaqāt · BCE-CE transition Absolute duration; impersonal; the blind force of death Beyond; neither good nor evil, only destructive
Aiôn (Greek) Fragments of Heraclitus · 6th c. BCE Infinite duration; image of a playing child Beyond; objective, impersonal
Anankê (Greek) Plato's Timaeus · 4th c. BCE Necessity; the force that constrains the demiurge Beneath; coercive, blind
Heimarmenê (Stoic) Zeno and after · 3rd c. BCE Logos-governed rational fate Within; rational, intelligible structure

Zurvan is closest to dehr, but more "personified" than dehr; Zurvan possesses a mythology, dehr does not. Zurvan is the Persian-Zoroastrian counterpart of dehr, but sacrifices are offered to Zurvan, not to dehr. Aiôn is closest to Zurvan, but Aiôn is not creative; it is only a category; whereas Zurvan can be a mythological agent. These three concepts are the three poles of the ancient Mediterranean-Iranian-Indian inheritance of impersonal time.

The Mēnōg ī Khrad (6th century CE, "The Spirit of Wisdom") writes: "Ahura Mazda created the universe through the bounty of Infinite Time." This sentence is the soft version of Zurvanism: Zurvan is not the father of Ahura Mazda, but the source of creation. In R. C. Zaehner's formulation (Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma, 1955): "Zurvan is the principle that Zoroastrian theology could neither accept nor renounce."

The Three-Thousand-Year Epochs · The Cosmology of the Bundahishn

The Pahlavi text Bundahishn (8th-9th centuries CE, "Primal Creation") divides the universe into four 3000-year epochs. A total of 12,000 years; ending in Frashokereti (the Last Judgment and Renewal). One of the most systematic cosmologies of the ancient world.

The Four Epochs

According to the Bundahishn, Ahura Mazda created the universe in four stages. Each stage lasts 3000 years; a total of 12,000 years. This system is structurally similar to the Hindu yuga system (4 yugas × 432,000 years), but it has a shorter duration and a linear cosmological flow; not cyclical but linear. This linearity can be regarded as the origin of the Judeo-Christian conception of time.

EPOCH 1
Bundahishn
3000 years · "Spiritual Creation"
Ahura Mazda creates all of his creations in their archetypal forms on the menōg (spiritual, intelligible) plane: sky, waters, earth, plants, animals, humans, fire. Ahriman is still asleep. There is no movement; pure thought.
EPOCH 2
Gumēzišn
3000 years · "Material Creation"
Ahura Mazda brings his creations down to the gētīg (material) plane. Gayōmard, the first human, takes his physical form. Animals, plants, and stars are made concrete. Ahriman awakens; he prepares for attack.
EPOCH 3
Mixture
3000 years · "Age of Struggle"
Ahriman attacks the material world. Death enters the world. Gayōmard resists for 30 years and then dies; from his seed are born the first human couple (Mašya and Mašyānī). Good and evil mingle in the world; the ethical struggle begins. Zoroaster is born toward the end of this epoch.
EPOCH 4
Frashokereti
3000 years · "Separation and Renewal"
After Zoroaster, every 1000 years a savior (Saoshyant) appears. At the end, Ahriman is defeated; the dead are resurrected; all humans pass through a river of molten metal (gentle as milk for the good, scorching for the wicked); the universe is renewed and death is overcome. This is the end of world history, not as annihilation but as perfection.

Frashokereti ("Making-Perfect") is regarded as the origin of Judeo-Christian-Islamic eschatology. The resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the passage through molten metal, the savior (Saoshyant; Maschiach in the Jewish tradition, Christos in the Christian, Mahdi in the Islamic), the universal renewal; all of these motifs are of Zoroastrian provenance. The intensive Jewish contact with Persian culture during the Babylonian Exile (586-538 BCE), and Achaemenid tolerance (the return of the Jews after Cyrus's conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE), are regarded as the channels through which these ideas passed into Jewish thought. This is perhaps the most important conceptual transfer of the ancient world.

The Egyptian-Persian-Turkic Triangle · The Journey of the 365 Days

The Zoroastrian calendar was taken from Egypt and passed on to the Turkic world. Three ancient cultures' calendrical legacies converged in a single shared geography.

EGYPT
The 365-Day Civil Calendar
ca. 3000 BCE
PERSIA / ZOROASTRIAN
12 × 30 + 5 Gathas
ca. 525 BCE (Cambyses)
TURKIC · NOWRUZ
Ergenekon Yenigün
ca. 350 BCE (Nizami) / 1072 CE (Kāšġarī)

The Transfer from Egypt to Persia

S. Stern (Calendars in Antiquity, 2012) and W. Hartner (1985) document this transfer in detail. In 525 BCE, Cambyses II conquers Egypt; the Achaemenid empire takes over Egypt's 365-day civil calendar structure. This system had been in use in Egypt since around 3000 BCE: 12 months × 30 days + 5 epagomenal days. The Persians took up this structure but altered its content: in place of the Egyptian decan-gods they installed the Yazatas (abstract divine beings). Hartner dates the calendar transfer to around 503 BCE; Stern places it in the range 525-430 BCE.

The Cappadocian calendar (Anatolia, 2nd-3rd centuries BCE) is living evidence of this transfer: 12 months × 30 days + 5 epagomenals; its month-names are direct Hellenized forms of the Persian Yazata names (Artana = Frawardīn, Aratata = Ardibehišt, Apomenama = Bahmanagān, etc.). Thus the Persian calendar system spread as far as Anatolia; the Persians carried the structure they had received from Egypt westwards as well.

The Transfer from Persia to the Turks

The entry of the Nowruz festival into Turkic culture has a complex history. The standard Turkic Nowruz literature (Sinan Meydan, Cumhuriyet 2026; Çay 1985; the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam) sees two parallel sources:

(1) The internal Turkic source: the Ergenekon Yenigün tradition coming down from the Hun, Göktürk, and Uyghur periods. In 119 BCE the Chinese general Zhang Qian speaks of a spring festival of the Xiongnu; this is the reflection of the Epic of Ergenekon in the Chinese records. Nizami Ganjavi, in his Iskandarnāmeh, writes that the Turkic Nowruz had been celebrated since around 350 BCE. The central motifs of the Turkic Nowruz: iron forging (the Khaqan striking iron on the anvil), leaping over the fire (a remembrance of the Ergenekon fire), and the Bozkurt (the totem who shows the way).

(2) Persian-Turkic interaction: from the Seljuk period onward (11th century CE), the Persian Nowruz and the Turkic Yenigün became intertwined. Kāšġarī Maḥmūd (1072-1074) writes that the Turkic calendar began with Nowruz; Niẓām al-Mulk (Siyāsatnāmeh, 1091) describes the Nowruz ceremonies at the Seljuk court. The Jalālī calendar (Malik-Shah, Omar Khayyām, 1079) officially brings the Persian Nowruz calculation into the Turkic-Islamic world. This continuity is preserved under the Ottomans: Nawrūz-i Sulṭānī, the Karakeçili ceremonies, the Ertuğrul commemorations under Abdülhamid II.

These two sources do not exclude each other. The Turkic Nowruz has an internal origin (Ergenekon, the Chinese records), but during centuries of contact with the Persian-Iranian world it has been enriched and given form. The 2025 declaration by the Organization of Turkic States that Nowruz is a "common festival" can be read as the official recognition of this twofold source.

The Shared Legacy of the Three Cultures

The conceptual legacy of this triangle is shared: 365 days (from Egypt), the year-beginning as a cosmic gate (Persian and Turkic), fire ritual (the Persian Sade and Ādargān, the Turkic Ergenekon fire), water ritual (the Persian Tirgān-Sizdah Bedar, the Turkic Hıdırellez and "March thread"). Hıdırellez, on which Şira has worked, is a direct heir to this triangle: the synthesis on May 6 in Anatolia of the Persian Tirgān (water festival), the Turkic Bozkurt-Khızır (the guide), and the Egyptian Wepet Renpet (the opening of the year).

Cosmological Meaning · Asha and the Calendar

The theological essence of the Zoroastrian calendar: time is the visible form of cosmic order (Asha).

Asha · Cosmic Order and the Calendar

Aša is the central concept of Zoroastrian thought; cognate with Sanskrit ṛta (sharing the same Indo-European root as Latin ars/artus/ordo). Its meanings: truth, righteousness, cosmic order, ethical measure, the purity of fire. These are not separate concepts; they are different planes of appearance of Aša. Time is the temporal appearance of Aša: the sequence of the days, the cycle of the seasons, the motion of the stars; all of them parts of a single cosmic order.

For this reason the calendar in Persian thought is an ethical instrument. To know the right Yazata of each day, to perform the right ritual, to seize the right moment; this means to take part in Aša. The work of Ahriman is to live outside Asha; not to know one's Yazata, to mistake the season, to miss the festival. Time is a moral domain.

The Symmetry of Light and Darkness

The two great festivals of the Persian calendar fall on cosmic points of equilibrium: Nowruz (the spring equinox) and Mehregan (the autumnal equinox). These two days are the moments at which night and day are equal; the threshold at which light and darkness are balanced. This is the dialectical heart of Persian thought: good and evil are equal forces, but ultimate victory belongs to the good. The equinoxes represent this balance; Sade (the great fire at the height of winter) and Tirgān (the water at the height of summer) are, within the two half-years, the celebrations of light and water.

The Fire Cult and Time

Fire is the most visible symbol of the Zoroastrian religion: in the Atash Behram temples the sacred fire is maintained without going out for centuries. The fire cult is bound to the calendar on three levels. Daily: on the day of Ādar (the 9th day) of each month, the fire rituals are renewed. Monthly: the month of Ādar (the 9th month) is the peak of the fire cult; the Ādargān festival (the Ādar-Ādar conjunction) is the day on which the household fire is renewed. Annual: the festival of Sade (Dae 10) at the height of mid-winter, in which great fires are lit in public squares; Nowruz (Frawardīn 1) opens the new year with the sun-fire. Fire is the visible form of cosmic order (Asha); the calendar is the rhythm of this fire in time.

The Meaning of Atomized Time

Other calendars divide time into clusters: the Hebrew 7-day week, the Egyptian 10-day decan, the Babylonian 30-day half-month. The Zoroastrian calendar, by contrast, constitutes time as 30 individual units. Each day is a distinct category, a distinct guardian, a distinct character. This is a feature found in no other calendar of the ancient world.

The theological meaning of this atomized structure: every moment is cosmologically singular. When the Persian asks each morning what day it is, he does not receive merely a date but a cosmological location. To say "today is the Tir day of the month of Frawardīn" means "in the month of the ancestors, on the day of the rain-star"; a doubly stratified cosmic position. This structure inscribes the ethical quality of time into the language of the calendar in the strongest possible way.

Şira's Note · In the Context of a Complex Theory of Time

The Persian calendar may be read as the ancient-conceptual forerunner of the modern Lorentzian time dilation. The two forms of Zurvan (akanārag and dērang, limitless and long-lasting) bear a structural parallel to the two time scales of Einstein's special relativity (proper time and coordinate time). Ancient cosmology is the intuitive prelude to modern physics, because both recognize that time is not a single flow, but may operate simultaneously on different strata. This may be read as the legacy of Persian thought to modern science.

Primary and Secondary Sources

The classical, academic, and technical literature on which this reconstruction is based. From the Avesta and the Pahlavi texts to modern Iranian studies and the Turkic Nowruz literature.

Şira Nur Uysal Astrology School · @sira.uysal

sirauysal.com/en/tools/calendars/zoroastrian/

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FULL LIST

Zoroastrian Month, Day and Feast Index

The twelve months and thirty day names of the Zoroastrian calendar, given in their Avestan, Pahlavi and modern Persian forms, with the Yazata each month is named for and the feast days within it.

The 30 Day Names each dedicated to a Yazata

Days in the Zoroastrian month are named, not numbered; when the name of the day matches the name of the month, that month's feast is kept.

1 Hormazd
2 Bahman
3 Ardibehišt
4 Šahrīwar
5 Sepandārmad
6 Hordād
7 Amordād
8 Dae-Ādar
9 Ādar
10 Ābān
11 Khor
12 Māh
13 Tīr
14 Goš
15 Dae-Mehr
16 Mehr
17 Sroš
18 Raşn
19 Frawardīn
20 Bahrām
21 Rām
22 Bād
23 Dae-Dīn
24 Dīn
25 Ard
26 Aštād
27 Asmān
28 Zām
29 Māraspand
30 Anīrān

Frawardīn (Farvardin / فَرْوَرْدِين) Fravašinąm / Frawardīn

Fravaši · Ancestors and guardian spirits · Fravaši (Avestan Fravaši), the immortal guardian spirit of the individual and the souls of the ancestors. The sacred "essence" of every human, created before birth. Parallel to the Vedic Pitṛs. · Early spring; begins with the equinox · Late March - Late April · The first month of the year; Nowruz falls on its first day (March 21 in the Fasli calendar). In Old Persian tradition, the souls of the dead (fravaši) descend to the world during the final ten days before Nowruz; families lay sacred tables and distribute food to the poor. This is the Persian parallel to the Egyptian motif of "the return of the dead with Osiris". The spring equinox is the day of cosmic renewal; in the Avesta it opens with Hamaspaθmaēdaya Gāhānbār (the seventh and final seasonal festival).

1 Hormazd (Nowruz)
New Year's Day; day-name Hormazd (Ahura Mazda) + month-name Frawardīn = the most sacred conjunction
6 Hordād Sāl
In the Sasanian tradition, the birthday of Zoroaster; counted as the "Greater Nowruz"
19 Frawardīn-Frawardīn (Farvardegan)
The day-name coincides with the month-name; a festival, the day of honoring the ancestors

Ardibehišt (Ordibehesht / اُرْدِيبِهِشْت) Aṣ̌avahišta / Ardwahišt

Aša Vahišta · Cosmic Order, "Best Truth" · The second of the Seven Amesha Spentas. Aša (cognate with Sanskrit ṛta and Latin ars/artus): cosmic order, truth, righteousness. Fire is the visible symbol of Aša; Atash Behram ("Fire of Aša") temples bear its name. · Spring (April-May) · Late April - Late May · The second month; the peak of spring. Aša Vahišta is the Amesha Spenta of cosmic order, truth, and fire. This month is particularly bound up with the fire cult; during the Sasanian period special ceremonies were held in the Atash Behram temples. The Maidyōzarem Gāhānbār (the first seasonal festival of the year, "mid-summer") is celebrated this month. Spring pasture, the birthing of animals, the ripening of grain.

3 Ardibehišt-Ardibehišt
Coincidence of month-name and day-name; the day of truth and fire, with visits to the temples
11 Beginning of Maidyōzarem Gāhānbār
The first seasonal festival of the year; mid-spring, lasting five days (days 45-49)

Khordād (Khordād / خُرْدَاد) Hauruuatāt / Hordād

Haurvatāt · Wholeness, "Health and Completion" · The third of the Seven Amesha Spentas. Haurvatāt ("wholeness, soundness, health"). Water is the visible symbol of Haurvatāt; springs, rivers, and rain stand under its protection. It is invoked together with its companion (Amərətāt, "immortality"); the personification of medical-spiritual wholeness. · Early summer (June) · Late May - Late June · The third month; early summer. Haurvatāt ("Hordād") is the Amesha Spenta of wholeness and water. The water cult reaches its peak in this month; ritual bathing in rivers, springs, and pools is widespread. The herald-month of the Tirgān festival, since the month of Tir follows immediately and the cult of Tištrya (the rain star) reaches its zenith. The first fruits of the summer harvest are gathered.

6 Khordād Sāl
The birth-anniversary of Zoroaster (an alternative tradition; the main acceptance is Frawardīn 6)
6 Khordād-Khordād
Coincidence of month-name and day-name; reverence for water, the giving of gifts, an auspicious day for marriage

Tīr (Tir / تِير) Tištrya / Tīr

Tištrya · The Rain-Bringing Star (Sirius) · Tištrya, the Yazata of the star Sirius. The rain-bringer, the cosmic warrior who defeats drought. In the Avesta's Tištar Yašt, he battles the drought demon Apaoša; at first defeated, then with the help of Ahura Mazda he triumphs and brings the rain. Parallel to the Vedic Tiṣya and the Mesopotamian Mul.Apin star system. · Height of summer (June-July) · Late June - Late July · The fourth month; the height of summer. The month of Tištrya (Sirius). The hottest period of the year, yet paradoxically the strongest month of the water cult: petition for rain at the peak of drought. The Tirgān festival (the 13th day of Tir) is among the most joyful in the entire Persian calendar; people splash water on one another, tie silken threads, and dance by the waterside. The Persian counterpart of the Babylonian-Sumerian Sirius-rain association; the eastern sibling of the Mesopotamian Sothic cycle.

13 Tirgān
Water festival; people splash water on one another; tisht-bandi (binding silken threads on the wrist and later releasing them into the water); ritual washing of old garments
13 Tīr-Tīr
Coincidence of month-name and day-name; the same day as Tirgān

Amordād (Mordād / مُرْدَاد) Amərətāt / Amurdād

Amərətāt · Immortality · The fourth of the Seven Amesha Spentas. Amərətāt ("immortality, deathlessness"). Vegetation is the visible symbol of Amərətāt: trees, flowers, crops. It is invoked together with its companion (Haurvatāt); one stands for health-wholeness, the other for immortality; together they represent the completion of bodily and spiritual life. · Late summer (July-August) · Late July - Late August · The fifth month; late summer. Amərətāt ("Amordād" or in popular pronunciation "Mordād") is the Amesha Spenta of immortality and vegetation. The first fruit harvest, the ripening of the vineyards, fall in this month. The Maidyōšahem Gāhānbār (the second seasonal festival of the year, "mid-summer") falls here; preparation for the grape harvest. An ironic semantic drift: in modern Persian mordād means "dead", whereas the original amərətāt meant precisely the opposite: deathlessness. In the passage from Avestan to modern Persian the privative prefix "a-" was lost.

7 Amordād-Amordād
Coincidence of month-name and day-name; the day of vegetation and immortality
11 Beginning of Maidyōšahem Gāhānbār
The second seasonal festival of the year; mid-summer, five days

Šahrīwar (Shahrivar / شَهْرِيوَر) Xšaθra Vairya / Šahrēwar

Xšaθra Vairya · Sovereignty, "Desired Kingdom" · The fifth of the Seven Amesha Spentas. Xšaθra Vairya ("the desired kingdom, the wished-for dominion"). Metal (especially silver) is the visible symbol of Xšaθra; tools, weapons, and shields stand under its protection. The Amesha Spenta of just rule and equitable sovereignty. · Early autumn (August-September) · Late August - Late September · The sixth month; early autumn. Xšaθra Vairya ("Šahrīwar") is the Amesha Spenta of sovereignty and metal. The Old Persian kings saw the peak of administrative activity in this month, with state ceremonies, coronations, and tax collection, because Xšaθra is also the cosmic counterpart of kingship. The Paitišahem Gāhānbār (the third seasonal festival of the year, "the end of the grain harvest") falls in this month. The grain stores are filled.

4 Šahrīwar-Šahrīwar
Coincidence of month-name and day-name; the day of metals, tools, and the king's justice
26 Beginning of Paitišahem Gāhānbār
The third seasonal festival of the year; early autumn, the end of the grain harvest

Mehr (Mehr / مِهْر) Miθra / Mihr

Miθra · Covenant, Sun, "Treaty" · Miθra (Mihr), one of the oldest and most powerful Yazatas in the ancient Iranian pantheon. He is properly from the pre-Avestan Indo-Iranian period (appearing as Mitra in the Vedas; named among the Mitanni gods in the Tushratta letters of the 14th century BCE). Guardian of the covenant; punisher of those who break their word. Later he is transformed into a solar Yazata; the festival of Mehregan takes its name from him. The Roman Mithraic mysteries grew out of this Persian Miθra. · Autumn (September-October) · Late September - Late October · The seventh month; the autumnal equinox. The Mehregan festival is the second-greatest festival of the entire Persian calendar after Nowruz; it is celebrated on the Mihr day of Mihr month (the 16th day). In the pre-Sasanian Parthian period, Mehregan was held as the true beginning of the year (at the autumnal equinox; characteristic of the Turko-Mongol steppes). With the Sasanians, Nowruz took precedence, but Mehregan continued to be used in royal ceremonies, in tax collection, and in the king's distribution of gifts to the people. Source of the Roman Mithraic cult.

16 Mehregan
The Mihr day of Mihr month coincides; for this reason it is the greatest autumn festival, the old New Year (Parthian period), lasting five days

Ābān (Aban / آبَان) Apąm Napāt / Anāhita / Ābān

Apąm Napāt · Child of the Waters / Anāhita · Pure Waters · Apąm Napāt ("child of the waters"), the cosmic fire burning beneath the waters; the subterranean source of light. In the later period he merged with Anāhita; the Yazata of fertility, pure water, and the feminine. The cult of Anāhita became a state cult in the Achaemenid period; her temples spread across all of Iran (the most famous being at Bishapur). · Late autumn (October-November) · Late October - Late November · The eighth month; "Ābān" means simply "waters". It is dedicated to the Yazata Anāhita (Anaitis, "unblemished, pure"). The Ābāngān festival (the Ābān day of Ābān month = the 10th day) is the height of reverence for water, rivers, and springs. The Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II (404-358 BCE) officially embraced the cult of Anāhita; royal oaths, until then offered only to Ahura Mazda, were henceforth offered also to Mihr and Anāhita. The autumn rains begin; critical for the crops.

10 Ābāngān
Ābān-Ābān; festival in honor of water; communal rituals along the banks of rivers and lakes

Ādar (Azar / آذَر) Ātar / Ādur

Ātar · Sacred Fire · Ātar, the Yazata of sacred fire; the visible representation of Aša Vahišta. In the Avesta he is named as the "son" of Ahura Mazda. There are five categories of sacred fire: Atash Behram (the highest), Atash Ādarān, Atash Dādgāh, the household fire, and the fire of nature. All Zoroastrian temples are constructed as Ātash kadeh ("fire-house"). · Early winter (November-December) · Late November - Late December · The ninth month; early winter. The month of the Yazata Ātar (Ādar = Azar = "fire"). As the year enters its coldest period, the fire cult reaches its peak; in the temples the fire is kept burning day and night. The Ādargān festival (the Ādar day of Ādar month = the 9th day) is the day of the renewal of the household fire. The Ayāθrem Gāhānbār (the fourth seasonal festival of the year, "the return of the herds") falls in this month; the nomadic tribes return to their winter quarters and the flocks are brought into the stables.

9 Ādargān
Ādar-Ādar; the day on which the household fire is renewed; the old fire is extinguished and a new one kindled
20 Beginning of Ayāθrem Gāhānbār
The fourth seasonal festival of the year; early winter, the return of the nomadic herds

Dae (Dey / دِي) Dadvah / Ahura Mazdā / Dadwah

Ahura Mazdā · Creator, "Wise Lord" · Ahura Mazdā ("Wise Lord"), the supreme creator god of the Zoroastrian religion. In monotheistic Zoroastrian theology, he is the source of all good and the maker of all creation. The opposing power, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), is not a being created by him but the destructive principle that entered the cosmos after creation. The name of this month, Dadvah ("Creator"), is an epithet; the actual name of Ahura Mazda is not spoken; epithets are used (a convention parallel to the Jewish-Christian "Adonai/Lord"). · Winter (December-January) · Late December - Late January · The tenth month; mid-winter. This month is singular in itself: the only month dedicated to Ahura Mazda. While in the other months the month-name coincides with a day-name only on a single day (one festival), in the month of Dae there are four days dedicated to Ahura Mazda: days 1, 8, 15, and 23, all bearing the name "Hormazd". That is to say, in the month of Dae there is one festival per week; the densest ritual concentration of any single month. The true beginning of the Old Persian year may once have been Dae: the 9th-century Pahlavi text Zādspram can only reconcile the 77-year-and-40-day lifespan of Zoroaster if Dae is taken as the first month (Bahari-Wikipedia). The winter solstice falls in this month; the Sade fire festival (Dae 10) celebrates the day at mid-winter that is 50 days short of Nowruz; the Persian parallel to the Turkic "Çile" and the Celtic "Imbolc".

1 Hormazd 1
Dae-Hormazd 1; the day of Ahura Mazda
8 Hormazd 2 / Dae-Ādar
Both Ahura Mazda day and fire day; a doubled sacrality
10 Sade
The mid-winter fire festival; celebrated 50 days before Nowruz; great fires are lit in public squares
11 Beginning of Maidyārem Gāhānbār
The fifth seasonal festival of the year; the height of winter
15 Hormazd 3
The third Ahura Mazda day
23 Hormazd 4
The fourth Ahura Mazda day

Bahman (Bahman / بَهْمَن) Vohu Manah / Wahman

Vohu Manah · "Good Thought" · The first of the Seven Amesha Spentas (the second if Ahura Mazda is included). Vohu Manah ("good thought, good mind"); the first of the fundamental categories of Zoroastrian ethics: humata, hūxta, huvarsta ("good thoughts, good words, good deeds"). Animals are the visible symbol of Vohu Manah; especially the cow (the sacred animal, the geuš urvan of the Avesta, "the soul of the cow"). · Late winter (January-February) · Late January - Late February · The eleventh month; late winter. Vohu Manah ("Bahman") is the Amesha Spenta of good thought and animals. Meat is not eaten during this month (by traditionally observant Zoroastrians); beef in particular is strictly forbidden. The Bahmangān festival (the Bahman day of Bahman month = the 2nd day) is the day of honoring those who love animals, and of the shepherds. The last month of winter; preparation for spring begins. Among Kurds and Iranians, the Sade fire festival is also celebrated in this month (an alternative date to Dae 10: Bahman 10).

2 Bahmangān
Bahman-Bahman; the day of animals and of "good thought"

Esfand (Esfand / اِسْفَنْد) Spəntā Ārmaiti / Spandārmad

Spəntā Ārmaiti · "Holy Devotion" / Mother Earth · The sixth of the Seven Amesha Spentas. Spəntā Ārmaiti ("holy devotion, pious adherence"). Earth is the visible symbol of Ārmaiti; fertile, protective, feminine. Among all the Amesha Spentas, Ārmaiti is the only feminine one; the other six are masculine. The Persian version of the Indo-European Mother Earth motif. · Late winter - Early spring (February-March) · Late February - Late March · The twelfth and final month; the month of transition into spring. Spəntā Ārmaiti ("Esfand") is the Amesha Spenta of holy devotion and of mother earth. The Sepandārmazgān festival (the Esfand day of Esfand month = the 5th day) is women's day: husbands give gifts to their wives, and women are honored as the mistresses of the house. In modern Iran this is preserved as a festival blending the elements of Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. At the close of Esfand come the 5 Gatha days; after which Nowruz begins.

5 Sepandārmazgān
Esfand-Esfand; the "Iranian Valentine's Day"; the day of earth and of women
25 Beginning of Hamaspaθmaēdaya Gāhānbār
The sixth and final seasonal festival of the year; completed with the Gatha days; the 5 days preceding Nowruz

The year runs 12 × 30 days plus the 5 Gatha days; Nowruz falls at the spring equinox.

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Zoroastrian / Persian calendar

How is the Zoroastrian year structured into 12 months and 5 Gatha days?

The Zoroastrian calendar consists of twelve thirty-day months, each named after an Amesha Spenta or a Yazata, followed by five intercalary Gatha days appended at the end of the year. The Gatha days bear the names of the five sections of the Gāthās - Ahunavaitī, Uštavaitī, Spentā-Mainyu, Vohu-Khshathrā, and Vahištōištī - and are considered especially sacred as a time when the souls of the dead (fravashis) return. This 365-day structure, like the Egyptian civil year, does not insert a leap day and so drifts slowly against the tropical year.

Who are the Yazatas after whom the thirty days of the month are named?

Each of the thirty days of the Zoroastrian month is dedicated to a specific Yazata or divine being, beginning with Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazdā) on the first day and including the six Amesha Spentas - Vohu Manah, Asha Vahišta, Khshathra Vairya, Spenta Ārmaiti, Haurvatāt, and Amərətāt - as well as Mithra, Anāhitā, Tištrya, Sraoša, Rashnu, Verethraghna, Vāyu, and others. When the day-name and the month-name coincide, that day is celebrated as a Jashan or name-day festival - twelve major Jashans per year. The full list is preserved in the Sīrōzā ("Thirty Days") of the Avesta.

What are the six Gāhānbār festivals and what do they commemorate?

The six Gāhānbār are seasonal festivals that mark the six stages of Ahura Mazdā's creation: Maidyōzarem (mid-spring, creation of the sky), Maidyōshahem (midsummer, creation of the waters), Paitishahem (late summer, creation of the earth), Ayāthrem (early autumn, creation of plants), Maidyārem (midwinter, creation of animals), and Hamaspathmaēdaya (end of year, creation of humanity). Each festival lasts five days and is accompanied by communal meals, the recitation of the Yasna, and acts of charity. The cycle is described in the Avesta, especially in the Visperad and the Bundahišn.

What is Nowruz and why does it fall at the spring equinox?

Nowruz - literally "new day" - is the Zoroastrian and Persian new year, celebrated at the moment of the vernal equinox when the Sun crosses the celestial equator into Aries. It marks the renewal of creation and the symbolic victory of light over darkness, central themes of Mazdean cosmology. Nowruz has been continuously observed for at least two and a half millennia and was added to the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009; it remains the great festival of the Iranian and Central Asian world.

What is Zurvanism and how did it shape Zoroastrian conceptions of time?

Zurvanism is a current within Zoroastrianism, attested especially in Sasanian sources, in which Zurvān - infinite or boundless Time - is considered the primordial principle from which both Ohrmazd (good) and Ahriman (evil) emerge. It introduces a strongly cosmological view of time as the medium within which the cosmic conflict unfolds across a fixed dramatic period of twelve thousand years, divided into four three-thousand-year ages. Although later orthodox Zoroastrianism rejected the Zurvanite genealogy, the dualistic temporal framework deeply influenced the religious calendar and eschatology, as preserved in Pahlavi texts such as the Bundahišn and the Dēnkard.

What are the principal Avestan sources for the Zoroastrian calendar?

The principal sources are the Sīrōzā, which lists the dedications of the thirty days; the Yašts, hymns to specific Yazatas associated with the calendar; the Vidēvdād (Vendīdād), with its ritual and legal prescriptions for sacred days; and the Pahlavi Bundahišn, which provides the cosmological framework of creation in six stages corresponding to the six Gāhānbār. Later Middle Persian and Persian texts such as the Mēnōg ī Khrad, the Dādestān ī Dēnīg, and Bīrūnī's Āthār al-Bāqiya (eleventh century CE) preserve crucial information on calendar reform and intercalation.