تیر (tir) is the heart of Persian summer, June 22 to July 22, named for a Zoroastrian rain-bringer star.
What it actually means
تیر is the fourth month of the Iranian solar calendar, running June 22 to July 22. The month opens just after the summer solstice and contains some of the hottest days of the Iranian year. Schools are out, families head to cooler northern provinces (شمال, shomâl) along the Caspian, and Tehran empties on weekends. The word تیر also means “arrow” in Persian (a separate but historically related word), so when you read تیر in old poetry, context decides whether the poet is talking about an arrow, a star, or the month.
How to say it
Formal
tir
“fourth month, June-July”
تیر
Colloquial (Tehrani)
tir
unchanged in speech
تیر
How to use it
- تیر هوا خیلی گرمه. · tir havâ kheyli garm-e. · The weather is very hot in Tir.
- تیر ماه میریم شمال. · tir-mâh mirim shomâl. · We go to the north in Tir.
- دهم تیر برمیگردم. · dahom-e tir barmigardam. · I’m coming back on the 10th of Tir.
Common pairings
- تیر ماه (tir-mâh) “the month of Tir”
- سیزده تیر (sizdah-e tir) “the 13th of Tir” (the festival of Tirgan)
- اواخر تیر (avâkher-e tir) “late Tir”
- تابستان تیر (tâbestân-e tir) “Tir summer” (peak heat)
Where it comes from
تیر comes from Avestan Tishtrya, the Yazata of rainfall and the star Sirius. In Zoroastrian myth, Tishtrya battles the demon of drought, Apaosha, every summer to bring rain to the Iranian plateau. The Yazata is associated with the brightest star in the sky (Sirius, called Tishtar in Middle Persian) and with the seasonal rains that broke the summer heat. The month dedicated to this Yazata in the Sasanian calendar carried the same name, and modern Persian inherited تیر intact. The month also gives its name to the festival of تیرگان (tirgân), an ancient Zoroastrian water-throwing celebration on the 13th of Tir, still observed in some Iranian communities.
Cultural note
تیرگان (tirgân), the festival on the 13th of Tir, is a water-throwing celebration with roots in the Zoroastrian myth of Tishtrya defeating the drought-demon. In the original myth, the warrior-archer Arash shot an arrow that flew from dawn until noon and fell at the eastern border of Iran, settling a territorial dispute. The arrow (تیر, tir) gives the month its second resonance: the heroic shot. The festival is still observed in Iranian Zoroastrian communities, with water games and storytelling.
Related
Adjacent months: خرداد (khordâd) and مرداد (mordâd). For the festival, see the Persian holidays guide.
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