The Solar Hijri calendar is the official calendar of Iran and the most widely used calendar in Afghanistan. It is a solar calendar, based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Each year begins on the day of the March equinox and has years of 365 or 366 days. It is sometimes also called the Shamsi calendar, Khorshidi calendar, Persian calendar, or Iranian Solar calendar and the most recent of the Iranian calendars. It is abbreviated as SH, HS, AP, or, sometimes as AHSh, while the lunar Hijri calendar (commonly known in the West as the 'Islamic calendar') is usually abbreviated as AH.
The epoch (very first day of the first year) of the Solar Hijri calendar was the day of the spring equinox, March 19, 622 CE. The calendar is a "Hijri calendar" because that was the year that Muhammad is believed to have left from Mecca to Medina; this event is referred to as the Hijrah.
The calendar is widely used by many Central Asian and West Asian ethnic groups, such as the Kurds, Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Persians, Azerbaijanis, Yazidis, Lurs, Gilaks, Mazanderanis, Qashqais, Khorasani Turks, Nuristanis, Pashayis, Aimaqs, and Talysh people. Smaller groups of Turkmens, Balochs, Uzbeks, and Arabs also use this calendar.
Since the calendar uses astronomical observations and calculations for determining the vernal equinox, it theoretically has no intrinsic error in matching the vernal equinox year. According to Iranian studies, it is older than the lunar Hijri calendar used by the majority of Muslims (known in the West as the Islamic calendar); though they both count from the year of the Hijrah. The solar Hijri calendar uses solar years and is calculated based on the "year of the Hijrah," and the lunar Hijri calendar is based on lunar months, and dates from the presumed actual "day of the Hijrah".
Each of the twelve months of the solar Hijri calendar corresponds with a zodiac sign. In Iran before 1925 and in Afghanistan before 2023, the names of the zodiacal signs were used for the months; elsewhere the month names are the same as in the Zoroastrian calendar. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in common years, 30 in leap years.
The ancient Iranian New Year's Day, which is called Nowruz, always falls on the March equinox. Nowruz is celebrated by communities in a wide range of countries from the Balkans to Central Asia.
Structure Epochal date The calendar's epoch (first year) corresponds to the Hijrah in 622 CE, which is the same as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri calendar. Because it counts solar years rather than (shorter) lunar years, the two calendars' year numbers do not coincide with each other and are slowly drifting apart, being about 43 years apart as of 2023.
Days per month The first six months (Farvardin–Shahrivar) have 31 days, the next five (Mehr–Bahman) have 30 days, and the last month (Esfand) has 29 days in common years or 30 days in leap years. This is a simplification of the Jalali calendar, in which the commencement of the month is tied to the sun's passage from one zodiacal sign to the next. The sun is travelling fastest through the signs in early January (Dey) and slowest in early July (Tir). The current time between the March and September equinoxes is about 186 days and 10 hours, the opposite duration about 178 days, 20 hours, due to the eccentricity of Earth's orbit. (These times will change slowly due to precession of the Earth's apsides, becoming inverted after around 11,500 years.)
New Year's Day
New Year's Day in this calendar is called Nowruz and is dated 1Farvardin. The calendar year begins at the spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, on or about 21 March in the Gregorian calendar. If the exact moment of astronomical equinox occurs before noon (Tehran time), that day is deemed to be 1Farvardin ("Nowruz"). If the equinox occurs after noon, this day is 30Esfand and the following day is designated as Nowruz. In other words, the first mid-day is on the last day of one calendar year, and the second mid-day is the first of the following year.
Leap years
This calendar is not determined by a mathematical formula and thus does not add formal leap days in the manner of the Julian or the Gregorian calendars. The number of days in a year (365 or 366) and thus the number of days in Esfand (29 or 30) are as many as are needed to ensure that Nowruz begins according to the New Year's Day rule above. Consequently, this calendar remains closely aligned to the solar year.
Months
Order Days Persian (Iran) Dari (Afghanistan) Tajik Kurdish (Iran) Pashto Azerbaijani Gregorian range Zodiac sign Native script Romanized Native script Romanized Native script Romanized Sorani script Kurmanji script Native script Romanized Arabic script Latin script 01 31 Farvardin Hamal Farvardin / Hamal Xakelêwe Wrai Ağlar-gülər March – April ♈️Aries 02 31 Ordibehesht Sawr Urdibihisht / Savr Gulan (Banemer) Ǧwayai Gülən April – May ♉️ Taurus 03 31 Khordad Jawzā Khurdod / Javzo Cozerdan Ǧbargolai Qızaran May – June ♊️ Gemini 04 31 Tir Saratān Tir / Saraton Pûşper Cungāx̌ Qora bişirən June – July ♋️ Cancer 05 31 Mordad / Amordad Asad Murdod / Asad Gelawêj Zmarai Quyruq doğan July – August ♌️ Leo 06 31 Shahrivar Sunbula Shahrivar / Sunbula Xermanan Wəǵai Zumar August – September ♍️ Virgo 07 30 Mehr Mīzān Mehr / Mizon Rezber Təla Xəzəl September – October ♎️ Libra 08 30 Aban ʿAqrab Obon / Aqrab Xezelwer (Gelarêzan) Laṛam Qırov October – November ♏️ Scorpio 09 30 Azar Qaws Ozar / Qavs Sermawez Lindəi Azər November – December ♐️ Sagittarius 10 30 Dey Jadī Day / Jadī Befranbar Marǧumai Çillə December – January ♑️ Capricorn 11 30 Bahman Dalwa Bahman / Dalv Rêbendan Salwāǧa Donduran January – February ♒️ Aquarius 12 29/30 Esfand / Espand Hūt Isfand / Hut Reşeme Kab Bayram February – March ♓️ Pisces
The first day of the calendar year, Nowruz ("New Day"), is the greatest festival of the year in Iran, Afghanistan, and some surrounding historically Persian-influenced regions. The celebration is filled with many festivities and runs a course of 13 days, the last day of which is called (; "outdoor 13th"), or formally Nature Day ().
The Dari (Afghan Persian) month names are the signs of Zodiac. They were used in Iran in the early 20th century when the solar calendar was being used.
Days of the week In the Iranian calendar, every week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. The names of the days of the week are as follows: shanbeh, yekshanbeh, doshanbeh, seshanbeh, chahārshanbeh, panjshanbeh and jom'eh. Yek, do, se, chahār, and panj are the Persian words for the numbers one to five. The name for Friday, jom'eh, comes from Arabic (). Jom'eh is sometimes referred to by the native Persian name, ādineh (). In some Islamic countries, including Iran and Afghanistan, Friday is the weekly holiday.
Current usage As of 2024 CE, the only official user of the calendar is Iran.
Iran
On 21 February 1911, the second Iranian parliament adopted as the official calendar of Iran a sidereal calendar with months bearing the names of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and month lengths varying based on the astronomical events; it remained in use until March 1925. The present Iranian calendar was legally adopted on 31 March 1925, the last year of the Qajar era. The law stated that the first day of the year should be the first day of spring in "the true solar year", "as it has been" ever so. It also fixed the number of days in each month, which previously varied by year with the sidereal zodiac. It revived the ancient Persian names, which are still used. It also officially set the epoch to the Hijrah, although that epoch was already in use since the 1911 law. It also deprecated the 12-year cycles of the Chinese-Uighur calendar, which were not officially sanctioned but were commonly used.
Afghanistan Afghanistan legally adopted the official Jalali calendar in 1922 but with different month names. Afghanistan uses Arabic names of the zodiacal signs; for example, the Saur Revolution in 1978 took place in the second month of the Solar Hijri calendar (Persian Ordibehesht; Saur is named after Taurus).
Under the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, the lunar Hijri calendar was imposed, thus changing the year overnight from 1375 to 1417.
Tajikistan Tajikistan does not use the Solar Hijri calendar and has never done so, despite being part of the Persian-speaking world. The country does, however, celebrate Nowruz, although the official New Year's Day in Tajikistan is 1 January in the Gregorian calendar, which is also the case in other non-Persian speaking Iranian or Turkic communities ranging from Eastern Europe to Western China. The name of Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, is taken from the Solar Hijri calendar and translates to "Monday" in Persian.
Comparison with Gregorian calendar The Solar Hijri year begins about 21 March of each Gregorian year and ends about 20 March of the next year. To convert the Solar Hijri year into the equivalent Gregorian year add 621 or 622 years to the Solar Hijri year depending on whether the Solar Hijri year has or has not begun.
+ Correspondence of Solar Hijri and Gregorian calendars (Solar Hijri leap years are marked*) 33-year cycleThe Persian calendar for 3000 years, (Kazimierz M Borkowski), Earth, Moon, and Planets, 74 (1996), No. 3, pp 223–230. Available at . Solar Hijri year Gregorian year Solar Hijri year Gregorian year 1 1354* 21 March 1975 – 20 March 1976 1387* 20 March 2008 – 20 March 2009 2 1355 21 March 1976 – 20 March 1977 1388 21 March 2009 – 20 March 2010 3 1356 21 March 1977 – 20 March 1978 1389 21 March 2010 – 20 March 2011 4 1357 21 March 1978 – 20 March 1979 1390 21 March 2011 – 19 March 2012 5 1358* 21 March 1979 – 20 March 1980 1391* 20 March 2012 – 20 March 2013 6 1359 21 March 1980 – 20 March 1981 1392 21 March 2013 – 20 March 2014 7 1360 21 March 1981 – 20 March 1982 1393 21 March 2014 – 20 March 2015 8 1361 21 March 1982 – 20 March 1983 1394 21 March 2015 – 19 March 2016 9 1362* 21 March 1983 – 20 March 1984 1395* 20 March 2016 – 20 March 2017 10 1363 21 March 1984 – 20 March 1985 1396 21 March 2017 – 20 March 2018 11 1364 21 March 1985 – 20 March 1986 1397 21 March 2018 – 20 March 2019 12 1365 21 March 1986 – 20 March 1987 1398 21 March 2019 – 19 March 2020 13 1366* 21 March 1987 – 20 March 1988 1399* 20 March 2020 – 20 March 2021 14 1367 21 March 1988 – 20 March 1989 1400 21 March 2021 – 20 March 2022 15 1368 21 March 1989 – 20 March 1990 1401 21 March 2022 – 20 March 2023 16 1369 21 March 1990 – 20 March 1991 1402 21 March 2023 – 19 March 2024 17 1370* 21 March 1991 – 20 March 1992 1403* 20 March 2024 – 20 March 2025 18 1371 21 March 1992 – 20 March 1993 1404 21 March 2025 – 20 March 2026 19 1372 21 March 1993 – 20 March 1994 1405 21 March 2026 – 20 March 2027 20 1373 21 March 1994 – 20 March 1995 1406 21 March 2027 – 19 March 2028 21 1374 21 March 1995 – 19 March 1996 1407 20 March 2028 – 19 March 2029 22 1375*20 March 1996 – 20 March 1997 1408*20 March 2029 – 20 March 2030 23 1376 21 March 1997 – 20 March 1998 1409 21 March 2030 – 20 March 2031 24 1377 21 March 1998 – 20 March 1999 1410 21 March 2031 – 19 March 2032 25 1378 21 March 1999 – 19 March 2000 1411 20 March 2032 – 19 March 2033 26 1379* 20 March 2000 – 20 March 2001 1412* 20 March 2033 – 20 March 2034 27 1380 21 March 2001 – 20 March 2002 1413 21 March 2034 – 20 March 2035 28 1381 21 March 2002 – 20 March 2003 1414 21 March 2035 – 19 March 2036 29 1382 21 March 2003 – 19 March 2004 1415 20 March 2036 – 19 March 2037 30 1383* 20 March 2004 – 20 March 2005 1416* 20 March 2037 – 20 March 2038 31 1384 21 March 2005 – 20 March 2006 1417 21 March 2038 – 20 March 2039 32 1385 21 March 2006 – 20 March 2007 1418 21 March 2039 – 19 March 2040 33 1386 21 March 2007 – 19 March 2008 1419 20 March 2040 – 19 March 2041
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