|
NOWRUZ,
THE ZARATHUSHTRIAN NEW YEAR
Ali A. Jafarey
CALENDAR
Almost all of us know that the year is approximately
365.25 days long. All of us in the Northern Hemisphere
know that the seasons are regular and March means the
coming of spring, June the beginning of summer, September
the beginning of fall, and December means the coming of
winter. The reverse is the case in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Many know that spring begins with the vernal equinox on
about 21 March, summer with the summer solstice on about
22 June, fall with the autumnal equinox on about 23
September, and winter with the winter solstice on about 23
December.
Some know that the "tropical," solar, or seasonal year is
of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 and 45.5 seconds. In other words,
it is 365.242+ days. They also know that one day is added
every four years to compensate for the loss of four 5
hours 48+ minutes, that each of the equinoxes and
solstices have their precise time of beginning
pre-calculated and published by many world observatories
and other astronomical establishments, and that the
astronomical and astrological worlds follow the tropical
year. A few know that the minutes and seconds in the
length of the year vary, from year to year, mainly because
of the movements of the moon and the planets and that the
present shift from 21 to 20 March is due to the fact that
instead of calculating exactly 5 hours and 48+ minutes,
the Common Era (Gregorian Calendar) has full 6 hours,
which advances it by 12+ minutes every year. This is
corrected to an extant by having a leap year every four
years. But it still has its flaw. Therefore, a year
is a leap year if either (i) it is divisible by 4 but not
by 100 or (ii) it is divisible by 400. In other words, a
year which is divisible by 4 is a leap year unless it is
divisible by 100 but not by 400 (in which case it is not a
leap year). Thus the years 1600 and 2000 are leap years,
but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. Even this does not
make it precise like the Iranian calendar and further
measures are anticipated to precisely correct it.
Very few know that the official Iranian and Afghani
calendars, both of Zarathushtrian origin, are tropical.
Only a very small number know that if the beginning of the
year is considered from the precise start of vernal
equinox, there shall never be any need to have a leap year
at all -- the reason why the ancient Zarathushtrians did
not have it!
The Iranians of old had a tropical calendar for many
centuries. The downfall of the Sassanian Empire in the 7th
century disrupted the astronomical structure of the
religion and the state. The 365-day year, followed by the
majority of Zarathushtrians in India and Pakistan with
little astronomical knowledge, for the last eleven hundred
years, has advanced the calendar to where Nowruz now
occurs in the late summer. However, almost all
Zarathushtrians in Iran and a minority of Parsis of India
and Pakistan follow the "Fasli" or seasonal calendar. It
is an almost tropical calendar. It is corrected by
observing the leap year.
Meanwhile, although the Iranians, who were converted to
Islam, observed and are observing the Muslim lunar
calendar for religious purposes, the Iranian calendar was
soon restored within a century for administrative and
economical reasons and that it continues to be their daily
time reckoning.
LEGEND AND HISTORY
Nowruz
[pronounced NO-ROOZ] in Persian means "New-[year]-day".
It is the beginning of the year for the people of
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Tajikistan. Other
Asian republics of the former Soviet Union are joining the
group, and the latest report says that Turkey too has
decided to declare Nowruz a holiday. It is also
celebrated as the new year by the people of the Iranian
stock, particularly the Kurds, in the neighbouring
countries of Georgia, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. It begins
precisely with the beginning of spring on vernal equinox,
on about March 21.
Tradition takes Nowruz as far back as 15,000 years and
that goes beyond the last ice age. King Jamshid (Yima or
Yama of the Indo-Iranian lore) symbolizes the transition
of the Indo-Iranians from animal hunting to animal
husbandry and a more settled life in human history.
Seasons played a vital part then. Everything depended on
the four seasons. After a sever winter, the beginning of
spring was a great occasion with mother nature rising up
in a green robe of colourful flowers and the cattle
delivering their young. It was the dawn of abundance.
Jamshid symbolizes the person/people who introduced Nowruz
celebrations.
Avestan and later scriptures show that Zarathushtra
improved, as early as 1725 BCE, the old Indo-Iranian
calendar. The prevailing calendar was lunisolar. The
lunar year is of 354 days. An intercalation of one month
after every thirty months kept the calendar almost in line
with the seasons. Zarathushtra, the Founder of the Good
Religion, himself an astronomer, founded an observatory
and he reformed the calendar by introducing an eleven-day
intercalary period to make it into a lunisolar year of 365
days, 5 hours and a fraction.
Later in the post-Gathic period, the year was made solely
a solar year with each month of thirty days. An
intercalation of five days, and a further addition of one
day every four years, was introduced to make the year 365
days, 5 hours, and a fraction. Still later, the calendar
was further corrected to be a purely solar year of 365
days 5 hr 48+ min. The year began precisely with the
vernal equinox every time and therefore, there was no
particular need of adding one day every four years and
there was no need of a leap year. This was [and still is]
the best and most correct calendar produced that/this far
in history.
Some 12 centuries later, in 487 BCE, Darius the Great of
the Achaemenian dynasty (700 to 330 BCE) celebrated the
Nowruz at his newly built Persepolis in Iran. A recent
research shows that it was a very special occasion. On
that day, the first rays of the rising sun fell on the
observatory in the great hall of audience at 06-30 a.m.,
an event that repeats itself once every 1400-1 years. It
also happened to coincide with the Babylonian and Jewish
new years. It was, therefore, a highly auspicious
occasion for the ancient peoples. The Persepolis was the
place the Achaemenian king received, on Nowruz, his
peoples from all over the vast empire. The walls of the
great royal palace depict the scenes of the celebrations.
We know the Parthians (250 BCE to 224 CE) celebrated the
occasion but we do not know the details. It should have,
more or less, followed the Achaemenian pattern. During
the Sassanian time (224 to 652 CE), preparations began at
least 25 days before Nowruz. Twelve pillars of mud
bricks, each dedicated to one month of the year, were
erected in the royal court. Various vegetable
seeds--wheat, barley, lentils, beans, and others--were
sown on top of the pillars. They grew into luxurious
greens by the New Year Day.
The great king held his public audience and the High
Priest of the empire was the first to greet him. Other
priests and government officials followed next. Each
person offered a gift and received a present. The
audience lasted for five days, each day for the people of
a certain profession. Then on the sixth day, called the
Greater Nowruz, the king held his special audience. He
received members of the Royal family and courtiers. Also
a general amnesty was declared for convicts of minor
crimes. The pillars were removed on the 16th day and the
festival came to a close. The occasion was celebrated, on
a lower level, by all peoples throughout the empire.
Since then, the peoples of the Iranian culture, whether
Zarathushtrians, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha'is, or
others, have, under Arab, Turk, Mongol, and Iranian
rulers, celebrated Nowruz precisely at the time of vernal
equinox, the first day of the first month, on about March
21.
ERAS
Zarathushtrians have six seasonal thanksgiving festivals,
called "Gâhânbârs," to celebrate in a year.
Vernal Equinox, called Hamaspathmaidhaya in Avesta,
meaning "Middle of Equal Paths," or in simpler rendering
"vernal equinox" is the top celebration. It was called in
later days as "Nava Saredha" and still later
Now Sal, both meaning "New Year". Today it is known as
Nowruz, New Day. It is the first day of spring in the
Northern Hemisphere.
The early Zarathushtrians counted their era, the
Zarathushtrian Religious Era (ZRE), from Nowruz (vernal
equinox) of 1737 BCE. It may be noted that the credit of
precisely calculating ZRE goes to an Iranian scholar, the
late Zabih Behruz. Right now, we are going through the
last days of the last month of 3742 ZRE. It was
practically revived by the Zarathushtrian Assembly 15
years ago and has been happily adopted by the
Zarathushtrians in Iran and abroad, including in North
America.
The Zarathushtrian era was abandoned when the Achaemenian
monarchy was influenced by the prevailing custom in the
Mesopotamia. The year started with the accession to the
throne of every monarch. That is the reason why
Zarathushtrians -- followers of the Fasli (solar), the
Shahenshahi (majority of Parsis), the Qadimi (a minority
of Parsis and Iranis of India and Pakistan) calendars --
have the Yazgerdi era, the year King Yazdgerd ascended the
throne in 632 CE. Both Shahenshahi and Qadimi reckoning
have a year of 365 days only. They have advanced almost
seven months by gaining one day every four years. It
means that they gave up the leap year (avardâd
sâlgâh -- literally "perfection of year-time) about
852 years ago -- in about 1150 CE. All Iranian
Zarathushtrians follow the Fasli, the seasonal or the
solar calendar.
When Iranian Muslims returned to the solar year, they
reckoned with the Hejra year in solar terms. It will be
1384 Khorshidi (solar) this Nowruz. The months are
Zarathushtrian -- Farvardin, Ordibehesht, Khordad, Tir
etc. -- in Iran and Zodiac – Aries, Taurus, Gemini,
Cancer -- in Afghanistan.
Continue
|
