Zoroastrianism has numerous festivals and holy days, all of which are bound to theZoroastrian calendar. TheShahenshahi andKadmi variants of the calendar do not intercalate leap years and hence the day of the Gregorian calendar year on which these days are celebrated shifts ahead with time. The third variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, known as eitherFasli (in India) orBastani (in Iran), intercalates according to Gregorian calendar rules and thus remains synchronous with the seasons. For details on the differences, seeZoroastrian calendar.
Six irregularly-spaced seasonal festivals, calledgahanbars (meaning "proper season"), are celebrated during the religious year. The six festivals are additionally associated with the six "primordial creations" ofAhura Mazda, otherwise known as theAmesha Spentas, and through them with aspects of creation (the sky, the waters, the earth, plant life, animal life, humankind). Due to the peculiarities of theShahenshahi andKadmi variants of the Zoroastrian calendar, which do notintercalate and are therefore no longer synchronized with the seasons, the seasonal festivals are actually celebrated many months in advance. The six festivals are:[1]
Maidyozarem Gahanbar (literally: 'midgreening'), originally celebrated as a mid-spring festival.
Maidyoshahem Gahanbar ('midsummer'), originally celebrated on the summer solstice.
Paitishahem Gahanbar ('bringing in the corn'), originally celebrated as a harvest festival.
Ayathrem Gahanbar ('bringing home (the herds)'), originally celebrated at the end of autumn.
Maidyarem Gahanbar ('mid-year'), originally celebrated on the winter solstice.
Hamaspathmaidyem Gahanbar (for which there is no generally accepted literal meaning), celebrating mankind. Thisgagambar is not a seasonal festival in the technical sense, but rather commemorates the souls of the dead at the end of the religious year. It is better known asfrawardigan.
In the present day, each of these festivals is celebrated over five days, except Hamaspathmaidyem Gahambar, which is held over ten days (two five-day periods, see "other holy days" below).
Originally, these seasonal festivals were celebrated on one day each, and were synchronous with the seasons. The Zoroastrian calendar was originally a 360-day luni-solar calendar, and also without intercalation, with the result that the seasons and the seasonal festivals gradually drifted apart. A first calendar reform (of uncertain date) introduced fiveepagomenal days at the end of the year, with the result that each festival then had two dates: one in the old 360-day calendar, and one in the new 365-day calendar. These apparently caused some confusion, and at some point the old and new festival days were joined as six-day-long observations (later reduced to five). Additionally, Hamaspathmaidyem Gahanbar, originally held on the last day of the year, came to be held on the last days of the last month of the yearand on the new five epagomena days at the end of the new 360-day year, for a total of ten days. A second reform, in the 4th or 5th century, introduced a one-month intercalation every 120 years, abruptly realigned the calendar such that the year began again on the spring equinox, and the Gahanbars were again in accord with the seasons. However, following the collapse of the Sassanian state, after which Zoroastrianism had no central authority to govern intercalation, the practice was not maintained. As a result, in living Zoroastrianism, the Gahanbar are again no longer synchronous with the seasons.
There are fifteen name-day feasts in a Zoroastrian religious year. Each of these feasts is held on the day(s) on which the day-of-the-month/month-of-the-year dedications to ayazata intersect. Eleven of these intersections are dedicated to individualyazatas, and four intersections are dedicated toAhura Mazda. A specialYasna orJashan (meaning "worship", "oblation") service is then held in honor of the respectiveyazata on those day/month intersections.
Four of the name-day feasts are dedicated toDae "Creator" (Ahura Mazda), who has the tenth month of the year plus four days per month dedicated to Him (1st, 8th, 15th, 23rd day of the month). Accordingly, the 1st, 8th, 15th, 23rd day of the tenth month are each feast-days of Ahura Mazda, and each of those four days is calledJashan of Dadvah ("Creator").
Six of theJashan days are dedicated to the sixAmeshaspands (Amesha Spentas). These six days are respectively:
Jashan ofBahman, celebrating animal creation. 2nd day of the 11th month (January 16)
Jashan ofArdavisht, celebratingfire and all other luminaries. 3rd day of the 2nd month (April 22)
Jashan ofShahrevar, celebrating metals and minerals. 4th day of the 6th month (August 21)
Jashan ofSpendarmad, celebratingthe earth. 5th day of the 12th month (February 18)
Jashan of(K)Hordad, celebratingthe waters. 6th day of the 3rd month (May 25)
Jashan ofAmurdad, celebrating plant creation. 7th day of the 5th month (July 25)
Dates in parentheses are theFasli/Bastani calendar dates.
Another five name-day feasts are dedicated to otheryazatas with a single name/month dedication:
Jashan ofFarvardin (not to be confused withFarwardigan), celebrates theFravashis on the 19th day of the 1st month (April 8)
Jashan ofTir, also known asTiregan, celebratesTishtrya and the rains, on the 13th day of the 4th month (July 1).
Jashan ofAban, also known asAbanegan, celebrates Apas, the waters, in particular ofAredvi Sura Anahita. It falls on the 9th day of the 8th month (October 26).
Jashan ofAdar, also known asAdaregan, celebration ofAtar, fire.Adargan falls on the 10th day of 9th month (November 24).
Jashan ofMihr, also known asMehregan, celebratingMithra on the 16th day of the 7th month (October 2).
Nouruz, New Year's Day. In theFasli/Bastani variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, this day is always the day of the springequinox (nominally falling on March 21). In theShahenshahi andKadmi yuppa, which do not account for leap years, the New Year's Day has drifted ahead by over 200 days. These latter two variants of the calendar, which are only followed by the Zoroastrians of India, celebrate the spring equinox asJamshed-i Nouroz, with New Year's Day then being celebrated in July/August asPateti (see below).
Frawardigan (also known as Hamaspathmaidyem Gahambar,mukhtad orpanji) is a 10-day period during which the souls of the dead (i.e. thefravashi) are commemorated. The ten days of Frawardigan span the last five days of the last month of the year, plus the five intercalary days ("Gatha" days) between the last month of the year and first month of the next year. Among Indian Zoroastrians, an extendedmukhtad of eighteen days is also observed.
Pateti, "(day) of penitence" (frompatet "confession," hence also repentance and penitence). This is actually a day of introspection, and originally occurred on the last day (or on the last 5 days) of the calendar year. For reasons related to single day occasions being observed over six days, (the last day of) Pateti came to fall on (the first day of) the New Year's Day celebrations, and in India (Shahenshahi/Kadmi calendars) came to be "celebrated" on New Year's Day itself. Although the name has been retained, Pateti is no longer a day of introspection.
Sadeh, a mid-winter festival traditionally celebrated 100 days (hencesadeh) after the first day of winter, or alternatively, 50 days (100 days and nights) before New Year's Day. Because this festival involves building a bonfire, it is also calledAdar-Jashan.
Zartosht No-Diso, the death anniversary ofZarathushtra, which is celebrated on the 11th day (Khorshed) of the 10th month (Dae). In the seasonal calendar, Zoroaster's death anniversary falls on December 26.
Khordad Sal, which celebrates the birth anniversary of Zoroaster. It falls on the 6th day ([K]hordad) of the 1st month (Farvardin). In the seasonal calendar, Zoroaster's birth anniversary falls on March 26.
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