Farvardin: the first month of the Persian calendar

The Persian year doesn’t start in January or even at the start of a Gregorian month. It starts with Farvardin, and knowing where Farvardin sits makes the rest of the calendar click into place.

See exactly which Gregorian dates a Farvardin date maps to:

Why Farvardin starts where it does

Farvardin begins at the spring equinox because the Persian calendar is solar and pins its new year to that astronomical moment, not to a fixed page-date (source: Encyclopædia Britannica, “Iranian calendar”). That’s the reason the month opens in late March rather than on the 1st of any Gregorian month: the calendar is following the Sun, so the first day of the year is whenever spring actually begins.

Where Farvardin sits in the year

The Persian year is built in a simple, regular shape: the first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30, and the last has 29 (or 30 in a leap year). Farvardin is the first of those long 31-day months, so it sets the rhythm for spring. For example, 15 Farvardin falls around 4 April on the Gregorian calendar.

Because the year starts at the equinox, Farvardin spans the end of March into April on the Gregorian side. A rough mapping: 1 Farvardin is about 21 March, and 31 Farvardin is about 20 April. The exact Gregorian dates shift by a day depending on whether Nowruz fell on the 20th or 21st that year, which is explained in why Nowruz isn’t always on the same Gregorian day.

The full month, day by day (approximate)

These shift by a day in years when Nowruz lands on 20 March. For an exact date in a specific year, the converter gives the precise mapping.

Farvardin and the new year

Farvardin isn’t just the first month, it carries the new-year celebrations. Nowruz falls on 1 Farvardin, and the thirteenth day, Sizdah Bedar, is traditionally spent outdoors, closing the new-year period. So the early days of Farvardin are the most culturally active of the Persian year. The broader picture is in what is Nowruz.

The other months

Farvardin is followed by Ordibehesht and Khordad (also 31 days each), then the 30-day months from Mehr, and finally Esfand. The complete list with lengths and Gregorian overlaps is in the Persian calendar months. To find which Persian month any Gregorian date falls in, use the converter.

So Farvardin is spring’s month and the start of the Persian year. For the exact Gregorian dates in any given year, convert them rather than relying on the approximate range.