• Iranian Calendar

Iranian official calendar, regulate according to Solar year & Iranian months.21 March, equal 1 Farvardin, is beginning of Iranian New Year. Also in Iran, Lunar calendar announce officially. Lunar year is 10 days less than Solar year ,so days of performing religious rites, that adjust according Lunar calendar, each year is different from next & former years. Therefore it recommended to tourists that arrange their proper traveling time with related agency. Especially in Ramadan month that Muslim Iranian, are fasting and in Muharram are mournful, so these situations influence on daily & current activities   and some days in these two month is public holiday. Friday is official holiday.

 

The Iranian calendars or sometime Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran. One of the longest chronological records in human history, the Iranian calendar has been modified time and again during its history to suit administrative, climatic, and religious purposes.

The modern Iranian calendar (Solar Hejri) is now the official calendar in Iran and Afghanistan. It begins on the vernal equinox as determined by astronomical calculations for the Iran Standard Time meridian (52.5°E or GMT+3.5h).

This determination of starting moment is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar because it is synchronized with the vernal equinox year, but requires consulting an astronomical almanac. Its years are designated AP, short for Anno Persico.

The Iranian year usually begins within a day of 21 March of the Gregorian calendar. To find the corresponding year of the Gregorian calendar, add 621 or 622 (depending on the time of the year) to a Solar Hejri year.

On 21 February 1911, the second Persian parliament adopted as the official calendar of Iran the Jalālī solar calendar with months bearing the names of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and the years named for the animals of the duodecennial cycle; it remained in use until 1925. The present Iranian calendar was legally adopted on 31 March 1925, under the early Pahlavi dynasty. The law said that the first day of the year should be the first day of spring in "the true solar year", "as it has been". It also fixed the number of days in each month, which previously varied by year with the tropical zodiac. It revived the ancient Persian names, which are still used. It specified the origin of the calendar (Hegira of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE). It also deprecated the 12-year cycles of the Chinese-Uighur calendar which were not officially sanctioned but were commonly used.

The first six months (Farvardin–Shahrivar) have 31 days, the next five (Mehr–Bahman) have 30 days, and the last month (Esfand) has 29 days or 30 days in leap years. The reason the first six months have 31 days and the rest 30 may have to do with the fact that the sun moves slightly more slowly along the ecliptic in the northern spring and summer than in the northern autumn and winter (the time between the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox is about 186 days and 10 hours, the opposite duration about 178 days, 20 hours).

The Solar Hejri calendar produces a five-year leap year interval after about every seven four-year leap year intervals. It usually follows a 33-year cycle with occasional interruptions by single 29-year or 37-year subcycles. By contrast, some less accurate predictive algorithms are suggestion based on confusion between average tropical year (365.2422 days, approximated with near 128-year cycles or 2820-year great cycles) and the mean interval between spring equinoxes (365.2424 days, approximated with a near 33-year cycle).

In 1976, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi changed the origin of the calendar, using the birth of Cyrus as the first day, rather than the Hejra of Muhammad. Overnight, the year changed from 1355 to 2535. The change lasted till the Islamic Revolution in Iran, 1979; at which time the calendar was reverted back to Solar Hejri.

 

  • Iranian Month Names
 

Order

Days

Iranian Persian

Iranian-English

Native Script

1

31

Farvardin

فروردین

2

31

Ordibehesht

اردیبهشت

3

31

Khordad

خرداد

4

31

Tir

تیر

5

31

Amordad

امرداد

6

31

Shahrivar

شهریور

7

30

Mehr

مهر

8

30

Aban

آبان

9

30

Azar

آذر

10

30

Dei

دی

11

30

Bahman

بهمن

12

29/30

Esfand

اسفند

 

The first day of the calendar year is also the day of the greatest festival of the year in Iran, Afghanistan and surrounding regions, called norooz (two morphemes: no (new) and rooz (day), meaning "new day"). The celebration is filled with many festivities and runs a course of 13 days. The last day of which is called siz-dah bedar (Literal translation-"13 to outdoor")

 

  • Days of the week

In the Iranian calendar, every week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. The names of the days of the week are as follows: shambe (natively spelled "shanbeh"), yekshambe, doshambe, seshambe, chæharshambe, panjshambe and jom'e (yek, do, se, chæhar, and panj are the Persian words for the numbers one through five). The name for Friday, jom'e, is Arabic (Persian). Jom'e is sometimes referred to by the native Persian name, adineh. In most Islamic countries, Friday is the weekly holiday.

Calculating the day of the week is easy, using an anchor date. One good such date is Sunday, 1 Farvardin 1372, which equals 21 March 1993. Assuming the 33-year cycle approximation, move back by one weekday to jump ahead by one 33-year cycle. Similarly, to jump back by one 33-year cycle, move ahead by one weekday.

As in the Gregorian calendar, dates move forward exactly one day of the week with each passing year, except if there is an intervening leap day when they move two days. The anchor date 1 Farvardin 1372 is chosen so that its 4th, 8th, ..., 32nd anniversaries come immediately after leap days, yet the anchor date itself does not immediately follow a leap day.

 

  • Relationship with the zodiac signs

Each month of the current Iranian calendar corresponds to the 12 signs of the zodiac in western tropical astrology. The vernal equinox or first point of aries are taken to be the beginning of the solar year.

 

Month number

Month name (Persian)

Zodiac sign

1

Farvardin

Aries

2

Ordibehesht

Taurus

3

Khordad

Gemini

4

Tir

Cancer

5

Mordad

Leo

6

Shahrivar

Virgo

7

Mehr

Libra

8

Aban

Scorpio

9

Azar

Sagittarius

10

Dey

Capricorn

11

Bahman

Aquarius

12

Esfand

Pisces

 

  • Public holidays and anniversaries

There are 25 holidays. Dates for anniversaries are based on the Persian calendar.

Holidays & Anniversaries in 1390 (21 March 2011 – 19 March 2012) in Iran

Date

English name

Local name

Comments

21–24 March

Iranian New Year

Nowruz

of ancient Iranian origin

1 April

Islamic Republic Day

Ruz-e Jumhuri-ye Eslami

Proclamation of the Islamic Republic on 1 April 1979

2 April

Sizdah Bedar (Nature Day)

Sizdah Bedar

13th day after the new year, end of festivities for Nowruz

7 May

Martyrdom of Fatima

Shahdat-e Hazrat-e Fateme

29 August 632

4 June

Anniversary of the passing of Ruhollah Khomeini

Dargozasht-e Emam Khomeini

4 June 1989

5 June

Anniversary of the uprising against the Shah

Ghiyam-e Panzdah-e Khordad

6 June 1963

16 June

Anniversary of Imam Ali

Milad-e Emam Ali

11 October 599

30 June

Mission of Muhammad

Be'sat Payambar

9 July 609

17 July

Anniversary of Imam Mahdi

Milad-e Emam Zaman, roz-e mostasafin

2 August 869

21 August

Martyrdom of Imam Ali

Shahadat-e Emam Ali

31 January 661

31 August

End of Ramadan

Eid-e-Fitr

 

24 September

Martyrdom of Imam Sadeq

Shahadat-e Emam Sadeq

17 December 765

7 November

Eid-e-Qorban

   

15 November

Eid-e Ghadir

 

21 March 632

5 December

Tasoa-ye Hosseini

 

12 October 680

6 December

Martyrdom of Imam Hossein

Ashura

13 October 680

14 January

Arbaïn (40th day after Ashura)

Arba’in-e Hosseini

22 November 680

22 January

Demise of Muhammad and Martyrdom of Imam Hassan

 

28 May 632 – 30 March 670

24 January

Martyrdom of Imam Reza

 

9 September 818

10 February

Anniversary of Muhammad and Anniversary of Imam Sadeq

 

11 May 570 - 24 April 702

11 February

Iranian revolution Day

22 Bahman

11 February 1979

19 March

Nationalization of the oil industries

Nowruz

20 March 1951