Iran has one of the oldest continuous calendars on earth. and one of the fullest. Ancient Zoroastrian fire festivals, a 13-day new year, a national picnic day, a watermelon-eating night on the winter solstice, harvest celebrations that predate Rome, and a handful of Islamic observances layered on top after the Arab conquest. If you’re learning Farsi, Persian holidays are where the language comes alive. every celebration has its own vocabulary, its own phrases, its own cultural code.
This guide maps every major Iranian holiday across the calendar year. Not deep dives. those are linked below. but enough context and vocabulary to know what’s happening, when, and what to say. Think of this as the table of contents for Iranian celebration culture.
How the Iranian Calendar Works
Iran uses the Solar Hijri calendar (تقویم هجری شمسی. taqvim-e hejri-ye shamsi), a solar calendar that begins at the spring equinox. Year 1 corresponds to 622 CE (Muhammad’s migration to Medina), but unlike the Islamic lunar calendar, the Solar Hijri tracks actual seasons. Nowruz always falls on the first day of spring. no drifting through the year like Ramadan does.
The twelve months:
| Month | فارسی | Approx. Gregorian | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farvardin | فروردین | Mar 21 – Apr 20 | 31 |
| Ordibehesht | اردیبهشت | Apr 21 – May 21 | 31 |
| Khordâd | خرداد | May 22 – Jun 21 | 31 |
| Tir | تیر | Jun 22 – Jul 22 | 31 |
| Mordâd | مرداد | Jul 23 – Aug 22 | 31 |
| Shahrivar | شهریور | Aug 23 – Sep 22 | 31 |
| Mehr | مهر | Sep 23 – Oct 22 | 30 |
| Âbân | آبان | Oct 23 – Nov 21 | 30 |
| Âzar | آذر | Nov 22 – Dec 21 | 30 |
| Dey | دی | Dec 22 – Jan 20 | 30 |
| Bahman | بهمن | Jan 21 – Feb 19 | 30 |
| Esfand | اسفند | Feb 20 – Mar 20 | 29-30 |
The first six months have 31 days (matching the longer days of spring/summer), the next five have 30, and the last has 29 (or 30 in leap years). It’s elegant, astronomically accurate, and completely confusing to anyone used to the Gregorian system. For the full number system, the Persian numbers guide covers everything.
The Nowruz Season: March
Nowruz is not one day. It’s a season. starting with fire and ending with a picnic.
Chaharshanbe Suri. The fire festival. Last Tuesday evening before Nowruz. Bonfires, fire-jumping, the zardi-ye man az to chant, firecrackers, qâshoq-zani (spoon-banging door to door). Zoroastrian roots, government disapproval, three thousand years of defiance.
Nowruz. The Persian New Year. Spring equinox, 13 days of celebration. Sâl tahvil (the exact moment), haft-sin table, did o bâzdid (family visiting rounds), eydi (cash gifts in crisp banknotes). Over 300 million people celebrate it. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Haft-Sin. The seven-item table that anchors Nowruz. Seven items starting with the letter sin (س): sabzeh, samanoo, senjed, sir, sib, somaaq, serkeh. Each symbolic. The vocabulary lesson that teaches itself.
Sizdah Bedar. Day 13. National picnic day. Everyone goes outside. Sabzeh gets thrown into running water. Unmarried people tie grass knots for love. Parks overflow. The Nowruz season closes.
Key phrases: eyd-e shomâ mobârak! (Happy New Year. formal), sâl-e now mobârak! (Happy New Year), sâl-e khubi dâshteh bâshid (May you have a good year). For the full list, the 25 holiday phrases cheat sheet covers every celebration.
Spring and Summer: Tirgan
Tirgan (تیرگان. tirgân) falls on July 1. the festival of Tir, the fourth month of the Iranian calendar. It’s a water festival with Zoroastrian roots tied to the myth of Ârash the Archer (آرش کمانگیر. ârash-e kamângir), who shot an arrow to mark Iran’s border and sacrificed his life in the act.
Traditions: water splashing (people pour water on each other), tying rainbow wristbands (تیر و باد. tir o bâd), reciting poetry. Tirgan is less widely celebrated than Nowruz or Yalda. it survives mainly in the Mazandarani region and in diaspora festivals. Toronto’s Tirgan Festival is one of the largest Iranian cultural events outside Iran.
Autumn: Mehregan
Mehregan (مهرگان. mehregân) is Iran’s autumn harvest festival, falling on the 16th of Mehr (October 2). It’s dedicated to Mithra. مهر (mehr), the deity of covenant, light, and friendship. Before the Arab conquest, Mehregan was nearly as important as Nowruz. a six-day celebration with its own decorated table (سفره مهرگان. sofreh-ye mehregân) featuring flowers, fruits, and marjoram.
Today, Mehregan is Iran’s “forgotten festival”. celebrated mainly by Zoroastrian communities in Yazd and Kerman, and by cultural organizations in the diaspora. But the word mehr lives on everywhere: it’s the name of the seventh month, and it means both “sun” and “love/kindness” in Persian.
Winter: Yalda and Sadeh
Yalda Night (شب یلدا. shab-e yaldâ). December 20-21, the winter solstice. The longest, darkest night of the year. Families gather, stay awake until sunrise, eat watermelon and pomegranate (yes, cold fruit in winter. don’t ask for logic), read Hafez poetry for fortune-telling (fâl-e Hâfez), and huddle around the korsi (heated table). One of the best-preserved ancient Iranian traditions.
Sadeh (سده. sadeh). January 30, fifty days before Nowruz. Another Zoroastrian fire festival. the midwinter bonfire that celebrates the discovery of fire. Less widely known than Chaharshanbe Suri but still observed by Zoroastrian communities in Yazd. The name comes from صد (sad. hundred), marking 50 days and 50 nights before Nowruz.
Islamic Holidays in Iran
Iran observes several Islamic holidays on the lunar Hijri calendar, meaning their dates shift roughly 10-11 days earlier each Gregorian year. These aren’t my holidays. they arrived with the Arab conquest in the 7th century. but they’re woven into the public calendar and you’ll encounter them if you spend time in Iran or with Iranian communities.
Ramadan / Ramazan (رمضان. ramazân). The month of fasting. Public eating is restricted during daylight hours. Iftar (breaking fast at sunset) becomes a social event. Eyd-e Fetr marks the end. The vocabulary is useful regardless of your beliefs.
Muharram and Ashura (محرم و عاشورا). A month of Shia mourning commemorating the death of Hossein at Karbala. Street processions, sineh-zani (chest-beating), nazri food distribution, noheh (mourning songs). The most intense religious period in the Iranian calendar.
Eid-e Qorbân (عید قربان). The Feast of Sacrifice. Animal sacrifice, communal meals.
Arba’in (اربعین). The 40th day after Ashura. Massive pilgrimage walks to Karbala.
For phrases specific to each of these, the holiday phrases guide has them organized by celebration.
The Vocabulary of Celebration
Ten words that appear across every Iranian holiday. ancient, Islamic, or modern. Learn these and you’ll understand any celebration.
| فارسی | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| جشن | jashn | celebration/festival |
| عید | eyd | holiday (used for all celebrations) |
| مبارک | mobârak | blessed/congratulations |
| تبریک | tabrik | congratulations |
| سنت | sonnat | tradition/custom |
| آیین | âyin | ritual/ceremony |
| سفره | sofreh | spread/tablecloth (for ceremonial tables) |
| مراسم | marâsem | ceremony/event |
| تقویم | taqvim | calendar |
| نذری | nazri | charitable food (distributed during religious events) |
The word جشن (jashn) is pure Persian. it predates all the Arabic-origin celebration words. You’ll see it in compound forms: jashn-e Nowruz (Nowruz celebration), jashn-e Tirgan (Tirgan festival), jashn gereftan (to celebrate). If there’s one word that captures the spirit of Iranian festivity, it’s jashn.
How Iranians in the Diaspora Keep Holidays Alive
When you live in a country where March 20 is just another Thursday and nobody at work knows what a haft-sin is, keeping Iranian holidays alive becomes a conscious act. Every diaspora Iranian makes this choice: do I let it slide, or do I build a small version of home in my apartment?
Most choose the second. The haft-sin table goes up in LA, Toronto, London, Berlin, Sydney, Milan. It’s smaller than your mother’s version. The sabzeh comes from a pot, not a tray. The ajil costs twice as much because the pistachios are imported. But the intention is the same.
Diaspora communities organize public Nowruz events. bonfires for Chaharshanbe Suri, concerts, haft-sin exhibitions, Sizdah Bedar picnics in local parks. These events double as cultural preservation and as identity markers: this is who we are, and we’re not forgetting.
The phone calls help too. Sâl tahvil at the exact second, a FaceTime call to Tehran, the whole family on screen, eyd-e shomâ mobârak echoing across time zones. The tradition bends around geography but doesn’t break.
FAQ
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Iranian holidays are a living calendar. astronomy and fire from the Zoroastrian era, Islamic observances from the Arab conquest, and modern political dates from the Republic. The ancient ones are the beating heart. This guide is the map; the deep dives below are the destinations.
Want to practice these phrases and vocabulary with someone who’s celebrated every one of these holidays (well, the ones worth celebrating)? I’m on Preply. We’ll pick the holiday closest to today and build a whole lesson around it. vocabulary, phrases, cultural context, and the stories that don’t make it into textbooks.