Updated: 8 July 2019
Chances are you’ve probably never given much thought to the calendar. But in Iran, it’s a different story. For starters, calendars and planners contain 3 dates for any given day: the Iranian date (a solar calendar), the Islamic date (a lunar calendar), and the Gregorian date (known as milâdi – میلادی – in Persian). Given that my brain has had a lifetime of training operating on the Gregorian calendar, things can get a little confusing. Thankfully, the only time I really need to consult the Islamic calendar is to find out when Ramadan or Muharram begin. That leaves the other two, which I’m constantly navigating between, with Gregorian obviously still being dominant. (Luckily, my cell phone helps me out by giving the Gregorian date followed by the Iranian date in parentheses.)
I remember when my dad taught me the Persian months. I memorized them in threes like a laundry list. Farvardin was easy because it was the first month. Mordâd I knew because it was my birth month. But that was about the extent of their significance. If someone said “Âbân”, I’d have to mentally recite all the months in order to get a rough idea of its corresponding Gregorian month. (Can anyone relate?) But I’ve since gotten the hang of it and come to realize that not only is the Iranian calendar perfectly logical, it’s pretty perfect all around.
New Year is the first day of spring
And not just the first day of spring. The first second. The exact vernal equinox. Doesn’t that just make sense? The weather is warming up, everything is turning green and coming back to life again. Even the air smells different. New Year should be on the first day of spring. It’s a very hopeful time.
The months correspond with the seasons
No season starts in the middle of the month. What kind of anarchy is that? The first day of four months of the year marks the beginning of each season, so it’s easy to know the full three months that each season belongs to. Farvardin, Ordibehesht, Khordâd (spring months); Tir, Mordâd, Shahrivar (summer months); Mehr, Âbân, Âzar (autumn months); Dey, Bahman, Esfand (winter months).
The months also correspond with zodiac signs
Leos, for instance, are born between July 23 to August 22, which is simply the month of Mordâd on the Iranian calendar. Easy peasy. In the US, people refer to their zodiac sign (I’m a Leo), but in Iran, it’s more common to refer to their birth month (I’m Mordâdi.). Incidentally, when it comes to Mordâd (the 5th month on the Iranian calendar), some choose to refer to it by its ancient name, Amordâd, which means “immortal.”
The number of days each month are a cinch to remember
None of this counting on your knuckles mess or singing “30 days has September, April, June, and November…”. The first 6 months of the year have 31 days; the second six months, 30 (except for the last month, Esfand, which has 29- or 30 in a leap year). Bam. Finished. End. Done.
The 1st of Mehr is back to school…
…for every school in any city. In the US, it was different for every school even in the same city. Back in my day, my friends and I would compare start dates and envy the person who got [seemingly] extra summer days. But in Iran, the 1st of Mehr is back to school, period end. (And also back to work since many people take a few weeks off in Shahrivar). Doesn’t get easier than that.
The 1st of Mehr is also time to fall back
No more Googling “When do we fall back?” It’s the 1st of Mehr, along with back to school. And how nice that the night before you start school, you can get an extra hour of sleep? In the US, they fall back or spring forward on a Saturday night. I imagine it’s so you aren’t entirely shocked the next day and miss something important. But when it’s always the same day, it’s a breeze to remember.
The 2nd of Farvardin is time to spring forward
If the new year happens at the exact vernal equinox, then it’s time to spring forward at midnight, technically the 2nd of Farvardin. And even if you forget, no matter because the entire country is on holiday for 5 official days, and in other cases, 2 weeks.
There are seasonal celebrations
Nowruz in the spring, Tirgan in the summer, Mehregan in the autumn, and Yalda in the winter. Nowruz and Yalda are still huge celebrations, but unfortunately, festivals like Tirgan and Mehregan (and even others like Sadeh and Sepandarmazgan) have all but died out. (Mehregan is mentioned in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh as a festival instituted by Fereydoon after he overthrew Zahhak.) They aren’t widely celebrated in Iran, and truth be told, most Iranians have probably never celebrated them (unless maybe they’re Zoroastrian). I’m not going to act like I know any better, so I’ll let the trusty Wikipedia explain it to you if you’re interested. Nowadays, there’s more mention of these festivals, and they make the rounds in the form of news articles and social media posts. My hope is that it’s somehow an effort to make them more widely known and slowly revive them to once again become as widespread and beloved as the others.
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