Officially used in Iran and Afghanistan, the Solar Hijri calendar is one of the world's most accurate calendar systems. It is also known as Persian Calendar, Iranian Calendar, and SH Calendar.
The Solar Hijri calendar is not to be confused with the Islamic Hijri calendar used in many Muslim countries and by Muslims around the world.
Tied to the Equinox
The Solar Hijri calendar is a solar calendar, meaning that its time reckoning is based on the Earth's movements around the Sun.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which follows a set of predetermined rules to stay in sync with the solar year, the Solar Hijri calendar is based on astronomical observations. The year begins at midnight closest to the vernal equinox in Iran—specifically at the Iran Standard Time meridian at longitude 52.5° east, which runs about 250 miles (400 km) east of Tehran. The first day of the new year is called Nowruz, and it is celebrated around the world by Iranian people.
Tying the Solar Hijri calendar so closely to the astronomical seasons makes it much more accurate than the Gregorian calendar, which, even in its modern form, deviates from the solar year by 1 day in 3236 years.
A year in the Solar Hijri calendar is divided into 12 months of varying lengths. The first 6 months have 31 days, and months 7 through 11 have 30 days. The last month, Esfand, has 29 days in a common year and 30 days in a leap year.
The Solar Hijri year count starts with the Islamic prophet Mohammed's migration (Hegira or Hijrah) to Medina in 622 CE. Although the Solar Hijri calendar shares this start date with the Islamic Hijri calendar, the calendar systems are not related otherwise.
The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar. Because of this, the year counts between the Solar Hijri calendar and the Hijri calendar differ substantially. For example, January 1, 2023 fell in year 1401 in the Solar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to year 1444 in the Hijri calendar.
Leap Year Rules
Like in the Gregorian calendar, a common year in the Solar Hijri calendar has 365 days while a leap year has 366 days. However, because the Solar Hijri calendar is an observational calendar, there are no mathematical rules to determine leap years. Instead, it is the number of days between two vernal equinoxes that determines if Esfand has 29 or 30 days.
A number of complex mathematical rules have been suggested to determine the distribution of leap years in the Solar Hijri calendar. One of them achieves a degree of accuracy very similar to that of the observational version, requiring about 110,000 years to accumulate an error of 1 day.
History and Background
The Solar Hijri calendar has been Iran's official calendar since 1925. In Afghanistan, it was introduced in 1957.
The earliest forms of Iranian time reckoning date back as far as the second millennium BCE. A number of different calendar systems were used in Persia through the centuries, including the Zoroastrian calendar and the Islamic calendar. The first version of the modern Solar Hijri calendar, the Jalali calendar, was developed in the 11th century by a group of astronomers including the Persian scientist Omar Khayyam.
The Iranian calendar (also known as Persian calendar or the Jalaali Calendar) is a solar calendar currently used in Iran and Afghanistan. It is observation-based, rather than rule-based, beginning each year on the vernal equinox as precisely determined by astronomical observations from Tehran.
Compared with the Gregorian calendar, which errors by one day, every 3,226 years, the Iranian calendar needs a one-day correction every 141,000 years. There are two reasons for this accuracy.
Although the Solar Hijri calendar shares this start date with the Islamic Hijri calendar, the calendar systems are not related otherwise. The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar. Because of this, the year counts between the Solar Hijri calendar and the Hijri calendar differ substantially.
The earliest evidence of Iranian calendrical traditions is from the second millennium BC and possibly even predates the appearance of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster. The first fully preserved calendar is that of the Achaemenids, a royal dynasty of the 5th century BC who gave rise to Zoroastrianism.
A mesolithic arrangement of twelve pits and an arc found in Warren Field, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, dated to roughly 8,000 BC, has been described as a lunar calendar and was dubbed the "world's oldest known calendar" in 2013.
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar.
"In 1976 UNESCO declared the ancient Bulgarian calendar as the most accurate in the world. Recent studies show that the beginning of the calendar dates back as early as 5505 BC. With its 12-year cycle it is similar to the Chinese calendar but is more ancient and most likely has served as its source.
Nowruz—which means “new day”—is a holiday marking the arrival of spring and the first day of the year in Iran, whose solar calendar begins with the vernal equinox. Nowruz has been celebrated in Iran and the Persian diaspora for more than 3,000 years.
Sizdah Be-dar is celebrated on the thirteenth day of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. It is celebrated by going outside to be in nature and spend the day outdoors.
In Iran, short dates are written as year/month/day, for example ۱۳۸۹/۵/۱۶, and long dates as day month name year from right to left, for example ۱۶ مرداد ۱۳۸۹. Both two-digit and four-digit years are valid but months and days are not usually padded with leading zeros.
Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D. Zoroastrian refugees, called Parsis, escaped Muslim persecution in Iran by emigrating to India.
Muslims around the world use the Islamic calendar (also known as the Lunar or Hijri calendar) to determine the dates of religious events and observances.
Islamic calendar, also called Hijrī calendar or Muslim calendar, dating system used in the Islamic world for religious purposes. (Most countries now use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.)
In every home, the haftseen table is decorated with seven items – since seven is considered a lucky number. Each item begins with the letter sin (s) in Persian, and each item is a symbol of spring and renewal, including: Seeb (apple), representing beauty.
These elements are Sabzeh (wheatgrass grown in a dish), Samanu (sweet pudding made from wheat germ), Senjed (sweet dry fruit of the lotus tree), Serkeh (Persian vinegar), Seeb (apple), Seer (garlic) and Somaq (sumac).
With the spread of Islam in the mid-seventh century, the Persian-speaking world became predominantly Muslim although vestiges of the earlier pre-Islamic religious and philosophical traditions remained.
Nowruz, pronounced NoRooz, literally means “New Day,” and it occurs on the day of the vernal equinox, specifically on the exact time when the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day. It must be calculated every year, and this year, it happened on March 20, 02:37:28 AM, PST.
Nowruz is two-week celebration that marks the beginning of the New Year in Iran's official Solar Hijri calendar. The celebration includes four public holidays from the first to the fourth day of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian calendar, usually beginning on March 21.
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