Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar , also Persian calendar or Jalāli calendar (named after Jalal ad-Dawlah Malik Schah , 1055-1092, who introduced a previous version), is in its current form since March 31, 1925 by resolution of the Iranian parliament as official calendar used in Iran . As a result, it was also introduced in Afghanistan .

Today's date according to the
Iranian calendar :

5. Shahrivar 1399
(= August 26, 2020)
[ update ]

Since it is based on the earth's orbit around the sun, it is a solar calendar . The beginning of the year is the spring equinox ( Nouruz ). The year is a solar year with a fixed length of 365 days, 366 days in leap years, and consists of 12 months of 31, 30 or 29 days. The years are counted as in the traditional Islamic lunar calendar since the hijra . Accordingly, the count is called hijri shamsi ("sun hijra ") - in contrast to the year count according to the Islamic lunar calendar, hijri qamari ("moon hijra ").

The Iranian calendar is an evolution of the March 1079 by Jalal ad-Dawlah Malik Shah introduced Nowruz -Nameh calendar ( Nowruz-Nameh , book on New Year ') of Omar Khayyam , in turn, to the Zoroastrian calendar back.

Calendar system

A year consists of 365 days , in leap years 366 days. In a cycle of 33 years there are 8 leap years, usually every 4 years, at regular intervals of 33 years only after five years. Due to this leap year rule, which differs from the Gregorian calendar (leap year, if divisible by 4, but not a leap year, even if divisible by 100 - but then leap year, if divisible by 400), the relationship between the two calendars shifts again and again by one day. So the 1st Farwardin 1338 was the last beginning of the year, which fell on March 22nd (1959). Since 1960 the Iranian year has started regularly on March 21st, but since 1996 (until 2028) in Gregorian leap years it has already started on March 20th.

The time calculation of the Iranian calendar begins with the emigration (flight or hijra ) of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina . Thus, according to the Persian calendar, the year 1386 was from March 21, 2007 to March 19, 2008. For dates between January 1 and March 20, 622 years must be, for dates between March 21 and December 31, 621 years of the western calendar can be deducted.

After a calendar reform, the calendar was introduced in Persia on March 31, 1925 (according to the Gregorian calendar) under Prime Minister Reza Khan, who later became Reza Shah Pahlavi . This day corresponds to the 11th Farwardin 1304 this now with the addition of hijri shamsi (هجری شمسی) provided calendar calculation ( hijri 'calculating according to the hijra '; shamsi 'according to the solar year'). In 1957 it was also introduced as the official calendar in Afghanistan . However, in Afghanistan the names of the zodiac signs in Persian and Pashto are used as the month names . Another calendar reform in Iran (1976) did not start with the hijra , but with the coronation of the Persian king Cyrus in 559 BC. This time calculation was canceled again in 1978 after protests by the Shiite clergy by Prime Minister Jafar Sharif-Emami .

The first day of the year in the Iranian calendar is determined by the astronomical beginning of spring, the spring equinox (see Nouruz ). In the Gregorian calendar, this is between March 19 and March 21. If the time of the spring equinox is before 12:00 noon Tehran local time , that day will be the first day of the new year, otherwise the next day. A year in the Iranian calendar therefore always goes from one spring equinox to the next. This corresponds relatively exactly to the tropical year , but not exactly .

In the old Iranian and Zoroastrian calendars , the year consisted of twelve months with a uniform length of 30 days and 5 additional days, as in the Egyptian calendar . Later, in the Jalali calendar, the length of the months was based on the length of time the sun was in the corresponding zodiac sign. As a result, the length of a month fluctuated between 29 and 32 days. In the new Iranian calendar from 1925, the length of the individual months is fixed and roughly corresponds to the length of time spent in the corresponding signs of the zodiac. The six months in the summer half-year each have 31 days (the time from the spring to the autumn equinox is 186 days and 10 hours), of the months in the winter half-year the first five have 30 days each, the last 29 days, in the leap year 30 days (the winter half-year takes 178 days and 20 hours).

Month names

The modern month names introduced in Iran on the occasion of the calendar reform around 1925 go back from Middle Persian to Old Persian and correspond exactly to the signs of the zodiac , whose names originating from Arabic are still part of Persian linguistic usage. In Afghanistan, however, after the corresponding calendar reform, the names of the zodiac signs were now introduced as month names with their Pashto equivalents .

Period	Iranian Month Name ( Persian )	Middle Persian (Pahlavi)	Avestisch	meaning	Corresponding zodiac sign	Afghan Month Name ( Persian )	Pashto	Days	Remarks
March 21st to April 20th	Farwardin فروردين [færværdin]	Farwardīn	Fravashinam	driving force	Aries	Ḥamal حمل (= Lamb)	Wrai وری	31	Beginning of spring
April 21st to May 21st	Ordibehescht ارديبهشت [ordiːbeheʃt]	Ardwahisht	Asha Vahista	Truth and purity	bull	Saur ثور (= Bull, bull)	Ġwayai غوايي	31
May 22nd to June 21st	Chordad خرداد [χordɑd]	Hordād	Haurvata	Wellbeing	Twins	Ǧauzā جوزا (= Pair)	Ġbargolai غبرګولی	31
June 22nd to July 22nd	Tir تير [tiːr]	Tīr	Tishtria	Rain angel	cancer	Saraān سرطان (= Cancer [animal])	Čangaś چينګاښ	31	Beginning of summer
July 23rd to August 22nd	Mordād مرداد [mordɑd] also Amordād	Amurdād	Ameretat	immortality	lion	Asad اسد (= Lion)	Zmarai زمری	31
August 23 to September 22	Shahriwar شهريور [ʃæhriːvær]	Schahrewar	Kheschtravarija	Your highness	Virgin	Sunbula سنبله (= Ear of wheat)	Waźai وږی	31
September 23 to October 22	More مهر [more]	Mihr	Mithra	Sun, friendship, love	Libra	Mīzān میزان (= Balance, balance)	Təla تله	30th	Beginning of autumn
October 23 to November 21	Ābān آبان [ɑbɑn]	Ābān	Apam	Protector of the water	Scorpio	ʿAqrab عقرب (= Scorpion [animal], sting)	Laṛəm لړم	30th
November 22nd to December 21st	Āẕar آذر [ɑzær]	Ā major	Atar	Fire	Sagittarius	Qaus قوس (= Bow)	Lindəi ليندۍ	30th
December 22nd to January 20th	Déi دی [dɛj]	Day	Dino	Creator	Capricorn	Adī جدی (= Kid; pole star)	Marġumai مرغومی	30th	Start of winter
January 21st to February 19th	Bahman بهمن [bæhmæn]	Wahman	Wahuman	good thoughts	Aquarius	Dalva دلوه (= Bucket)	Salwāġa سلواغه	30th
February 20th to March 20th	It found اسفند [ɛsfænd]	Spandarmad	Spendaramd	Humility	fishes	Cap حوت (= Fish, whale)	Cab کب	29 or 30	depending on the leap year

On July 24, 2006, Kurosh Niknam, the Zoroastrian MP in the Iranian Parliament, moved to officially change the name of the fifth month from Mordad to Amordad , as the current name of the month did not correspond to its historical roots. He justified his request by stating that the original name of the month was Amordad , which means "immortal". The current name Mordad is a derived form of the name Amordad and comes in Persian from the verb mordan (Persian:مردن), which means "to die", which is the exact opposite of the original meaning of the month, very close.

literature

Bozorg Alavi and Manfred Lorenz : Textbook of the Persian language. Langenscheidt, Leipzig etc. 1967, 7th edition, ibid. 1994, ISBN 3-324-00253-2 , pp. 79-82.

Web links

History and details of the Iranian calendar ( www.nabkal.de ) (private site)
Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri: نگاهی نو به گاهشمار ایرانی, DMG Negāhī-ye nau be gāh-šomārī-ye īrānī , 'New look at the Iranian calendar' (wwwusr.obspm.fr) - Exact description of the Iranian calendar ( Persian , French , English )
Afghan calendar for printing (PDF)
Iranian calendar

Individual evidence

↑ Daniel Tammet: The Poetry of Prime Numbers. Carl Hanser, Munich 2014, p. 12
↑ See Forṣat-e Šīrāzī: Buḥūr al-alḥān ( Arabic - Persian بحور الالحان, "The sea of melodies", also "The meters of melodies"), table of zodiac signs in relation to the Persian music system, Teheran 1975 (reprint of the first edition Bombay 1905), p. 16 (pers.).
↑ The exact day in the Gregorian calendar varies slightly due to the different leap years. Currently, in the year after February 29 (1391: March 2012 – February 2013), one day must be deducted from the specified date.
↑ The Middle Persian calendar still knows the leap month Frawardīgān .
↑ Archive link ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

[1] Daniel Tammet: The Poetry of Prime Numbers. Carl Hanser, Munich 2014, p. 12

[2] See Forṣat-e Šīrāzī: Buḥūr al-alḥān ( Arabic - Persian بحور الالحان, "The sea of melodies", also "The meters of melodies"), table of zodiac signs in relation to the Persian music system, Teheran 1975 (reprint of the first edition Bombay 1905), p. 16 (pers.).

[3] The exact day in the Gregorian calendar varies slightly due to the different leap years. Currently, in the year after February 29 (1391: March 2012 – February 2013), one day must be deducted from the specified date.

[4] The Middle Persian calendar still knows the leap month Frawardīgān .

[5] Archive link ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )