With reference to Berjis Desai’s interesting piece, "Violence over a calendar” (Parsiana, February 7-20, 2022), it is sad to note that everyone avoids the only calendar mentioned in our scriptures, namely the Mazda Yasni calendar which is meticulously described in Bundahishn 25:25.
This calendar is a blueprint of nature. It celebrates nature and inculcates reverence for nature, exactly what the world needs today in this age of environmental crises. According to Western scholars, this Persian calendar from the second millennium BCE (when Zarathushtra lived) is perfect and has needed no intercalation for 110,000 years.
Illustration by Farzana Cooper
In the Avesta, we constantly pray "I learn about and work with the solar year, the righteous period.” But in practice, we don’t want to even look at it. Our festivals and gahanbars express reverence to nature and their names are mathematical ones, pinpointing exactly the days of their celebration. This accuracy can only be achieved with an accurate nature-based calendar.
I will translate the names of the gahanbars to demonstrate the mathematics involved. For detailed explanation, one can visit
http://zarathushticalendar.com/ or
http://ancientiran.com/
The first gahanbar, Maidhyo-Zarem, means mid-spring. Spring has 92.8 days so mid-spring will be on the 46th day after the vernal equinox (May 4/Ardibehesht 15). Similarly, Maidhyo-Shahem means mid-summer*, the 108th day after the vernal equinox/middle of the Arctic summer. Paiti-Shahem means end of summer, the 186th day after the vernal equinox. Ayeh-Therm means the coming of winter*, the 216th day after the vernal equinox/Arctic winter starts on the 217th day. Maidh-Yarem means mid-winter, 44.5 days before the vernal equinox. Winter is for 88.9 days. Hamas-Path-Maedem means equality in nature (day and night, hot and cold, etc) the last day of the year.
The two gahanbars marked above with an * are based on the two Arctic seasons when our ancestors lived in Aryan Vieja. Another of the Arctic festivals is Sadeh — Saad means 100 and Sadeh is celebrated on the 100th day after Ayeh-Therm gahanbar. Everything is mathematically interlocked so that one cannot go wrong.
Nouruz and Mehregan are the celebrations of the two equinoxes and Tirgan and Yalda are the celebrations of the two solstices. Each of these festivals is the start of a new season and the first day of the month. One starts the season in the name of Ormazd/Hormazd. The days and the months are tied to events in nature and even the leap year automatically fits in. When one celebrates nature one learns to respect it, like one respects deities, and one can no longer pollute it.
I would like to draw attention to another perfect calculation to demonstrate the wisdom of our ancestors. In the Mehr Yasht, we are told of the location from where Mehr-Mithra (the sun) spreads its arms and holds the two ends of the landmass. This location is 63° longitude in Ancient Balkh (where Zarathushtra lived), in modern day Afghanistan, when the sun (Mithra) is at the mid-day (nimruz). This can be checked on
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/perfect-calendar.html FARIBORZ RAHNAMOON
Vancouver, Canada
fariborzr@hotmail.com