Zoroastrian calendar

The Zoroastrian calendar is a religious Iranian calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith, and is an approximation of the tropical solar calendar. To this day, Zoroastrians, irrespective of geographic location, adhere to variations of this ancient Iranian calendar for religious purposes.
== History ==
Prior to the Zoroastrian calendar a common use of a 360-day year existed simultaneously since At least the mid-5 Th century BCE and estimated that at the time of Final Judgement the two systems would be out of sync by four years.
In 1006, the roaming New Year's Day once again coincided with the day of the vernal equinox, and (according to legend) it was resolved that the Zoroastrian calendar henceforth intercalate an additional month every 120 years as prescribed in Denkard III.419 (it must however be noted that the Denkard is itself a 9th-century work). At some point between 1125 and 1250, the Parsi-Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent inserted such an embolismic month, named Aspandarmad vahizak (the month of Aspandarmad but with a vahizak suffix). That month would also be the last month intercalated: subsequent generations of Parsis neglected to insert a thirteenth month.
At the time of the decision to intercalate every 120 years, the calendar was called the Shahenshahi (imperial) calendar. The Parsis, not aware that they were not intercalating correctly, continued to call their calendar Shahenshahi. This practice has survived to this day, and adherents of other variants of the Zoroastrian calendar denigrate the Shahenshahi as "royalist".
Meanwhile, the Zoroastrians who remained in Iran never once intercalated 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 adjusted their calendars according to the recommendation of their priests. This calendar became known as the Kadimi calendar in both India and Iran, which in due course became contracted to Kadmi or Q­mi.
In 1906, Khurshedji Cama, a Bombay Parsi, founded the "Zarthosti Fasili Sal Mandal", or Zoroastrian Seasonal-Year Society. The Fasili or 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.This calendar had two salient points: 1) It was in harmony with the seasons and New Year's Day coincided with vernal equinox. 2) It followed the Egyptian-Zoroastrian model (12 months of 30 days each plus 5 extra days), but also had an auto-regulatory leap day every four years: the leap day, called Avardad-sal-Gah, followed the five existing Gah days at the end of the year. 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 the calendar was considered to contradict the injunctions expressed in the Denkard (III.419). In Iran, however, the Fasli calendar gained momentum following a campaign in 1930 to pers­e the Iranian Zoroastrians to adopt the new calendar of the seasons, which they called the Bastani 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 the majority of the Zoroastrians. In Yazd, however, the Zoroastrian community resisted, and to this day follow the Kadmi calendar.
In 1992, all three calendars happened to have the first day of a month on the same day, and although many Zoroastrians suggested a consolidation of the calendars, no consensus could be reached. Some priests also objected on the grounds that the religious implements would require re-consecration, at not insignificant expense.
== Month and day names ==
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 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.
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, 29. Manthra Spenta, 30. Anaghra Raočā.
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 Spentas, 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 yazatas 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, Great 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.
=== 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 genetive 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:
: 1. Frawardin (Frauuašinąm)
: 2. Ardwahisht (Ašahe Vahištahe)
: 3. Khordad (Haurvatātō)
: 4. Tir (Tištryehe)
: 5. Amurdad (Amərətātō)
: 6. Shahrewar (Xšaθrahe Vairyehe)	
:  7. Mihr (Miθrahe)
:  8. Aban (Apąm)
:  9. Adur (Āθrō)
: 10. Dae (Daθušō [Ahurahe Mazdå])
: 11. Wahman (Vaŋhə̄uš Manaŋhō)
: 12. Spendarmad (Spəntayā̊ Ārmatōiš)
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 Fravashis.
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 ==
* Zoroastrian festivals
* Iranian calendar
* Armenian calendar
* Zoroastrianism
== External links ==
* Parsi Calendar
* Zoroastrian Calendar
* RozCalc - Zoroastrian Calendar Calculator
== References ==
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Category:Specific calendars
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