Farvardin: Farvardin is the first month and has 31 days. Its name is associated with the fravashi, or guardian spirits, in ancient Iranian tradition. It begins the solar year with Nowruz around the vernal equinox.
SOLAR / REFERENCE
Solar Hijri calendar
The Solar Hijri calendar is a timekeeping system based on Earth’s orbit around the Sun, like the Gregorian calendar. However, it takes the migration of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from Mecca to Medina as the starting point for its era and years, rather than the birth of Christ.
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Calendars, Hijri, Gregorian, Solar Hijri and Syriac date conversion, prayer times, and local and international days and occasions.
Solar Hijri calendar
The Solar Hijri calendar is a timekeeping system based on Earth’s orbit around the Sun, like the Gregorian calendar. However, it takes the migration of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from Mecca to Medina as the starting point for its era and years, rather than the birth of Christ.
Definition:
The Solar Hijri calendar is a solar, equinox-based calendar that follows Earth’s orbit around the Sun while counting years from the Hijrah. It is also called the Iranian or Persian calendar and must not be confused with the Islamic lunar Hijri calendar: the Solar Hijri year stays aligned with the seasons, while lunar months move through the solar year.
Iranian solar timekeeping has roots in pre-Islamic traditions and later developed through the Yazdegerdi calendar and seasonal agricultural practice. In the Seljuk period, Omar Khayyam and other astronomers led the Jalali reform in 1079 CE, linking the year more precisely to the vernal equinox.
Iran adopted the modern calendar as its official national calendar in 1925, and Afghanistan adopted it in 1957 with related local forms and names. The year usually begins with Nowruz, the day assigned to the vernal equinox under the Iranian time rule.
A year has 365 days in a common year and 366 in a leap year. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30, and Esfand has 29 or 30 days. This structure keeps the calendar closely connected to seasons, agriculture, and civil administration.
The Solar Hijri calendar is used for government, education, economic administration, and agricultural seasons in Iran, and is also used in Afghanistan. Islamic worship remains tied to the lunar Hijri calendar because the two systems have different astronomical bases and year lengths.
Difference between the Solar Hijri and lunar Hijri calendars:
• Solar Hijri: It is aligned with the seasons and remains fixed within them. The year begins at an equinox—the vernal equinox in the Persian calendar, or the autumnal equinox in the solar calendar used by Umm al-Qura. • Lunar Hijri: It is based on the Moon’s orbit around Earth. Its months move through the seasons and years, and the lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year.
Solar Hijri months (names and definitions):
Ordibehesht: Ordibehesht is the second month and has 31 days. Its name comes from an ancient Iranian concept commonly rendered as the best order or best truth, and it is associated with spring and purity.
Khordad: Khordad is the third month and has 31 days. Its ancient Iranian name is associated with wholeness, health, and completeness, and it falls in late spring and early summer.
Tir: Tir is the fourth month and has 31 days. Its name is linked to Tishtrya, an ancient celestial figure associated with rain and a star, giving the month traditional associations with water and fertility.
Mordad: Mordad is the fifth month and has 31 days. Its name is derived from an ancient Iranian concept of immortality or freedom from death, and the month falls during summer.
Shahrivar: Shahrivar is the sixth month and has 31 days. Its name is associated with desirable dominion or virtuous sovereignty, and it closes the first six long months of the year.
Mehr: Mehr is the seventh month and has 30 days. Its name is connected with Mithra, an ancient Iranian figure associated with covenant and light, and it begins the five 30-day months.
Aban: Aban is the eighth month and has 30 days. Its name refers to waters and reflects the importance of water in Iranian heritage and seasonal agricultural life.
Azar: Azar is the ninth month and has 30 days. Its name refers to fire, a central symbol in ancient Iranian heritage, and the month falls in autumn.
Dey: Dey is the tenth month and has 30 days. Its name is associated with the creator or divine giving in ancient Iranian tradition, and it falls in midwinter.
Bahman: Bahman is the eleventh month and has 30 days. Its name is associated with good thought or a good mind, and it comes near the end of winter.
Esfand: Esfand is the twelfth month. It has 29 days in a common year and 30 in a leap year. Its name is associated with holy devotion in ancient Iranian tradition, and it closes the solar year before Nowruz.
Uses of the Solar Hijri calendar:
The Solar Hijri calendar, which uses the Hijrah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as its historical era and Earth’s orbit around the Sun to calculate seasons and years, is used in several main areas: • Organizing seasons and agricultural cycles: Historically and in some regions, it has been used to identify climate and farming cycles and the timing of cultivation and harvest, because solar months remain aligned with the four seasons. • Financial transactions and salaries: It is sometimes used to calculate salaries and financial entitlements, including periods when government payment schedules were aligned with a solar calendar to keep them stable compared with a lunar calendar that shifts by about 11 days each year. • Contracts and time-based agreements: It may be used to define periods in long-term agreements, such as standardized residential leases, so the contractual year has a stable seasonal length. • Official national calendars: It is the primary official calendar in countries such as Iran and Afghanistan, where government offices and national occasions, including Nowruz, are dated by it. • Agricultural and seasonal weather calendars: It helps organize astronomical seasons and weather periods, including solar signs such as Aries and Libra. Note: Islamic worship and legal obligations, including zakat, fasting, Hajj, and religious festivals, remain exclusively tied to the lunar Hijri calendar, not the Solar Hijri calendar.
References
- Taqweem. (n.d.). The Jalali Hijri calendar.
https://taqueem.net/cal/cal-jalali-ir?lang=ar - Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (n.d.). The Solar Hijri calendar.
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/تقويم_هجري_شمسي - Emory University Libraries. (2026). The Solar Hijri calendar.
https://guides.libraries.emory.edu/c.php?g=1457269&p=10835095 - Heydari-Malayeri, M. (2004). A concise review of the Iranian calendar.
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0409620 - Timeanddate.com. (n.d.). The Persian Solar Hijri calendar.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/persian-calendar.html - Encyclopaedia Iranica. (n.d.). Iranian calendar.
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/calendar