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By
Dr Parviz Varjavand
The
festival of Nowrooz is approaching and most persons of
Persian cultural heritage will celebrate this ancient
festival at the vernal equinox. Most Iranians will
celebrate it as Khorshidi year 1382, yet they all know
that the age of Nowrooz goes much further back in history
than this date. Persian legends trace back Nowrooz to king
Jamshid, a prehistoric king with many magical
attributes.
A
great Iranian astronomer and master of the art of calendar
was the late Zabih Behrooz (1890-1971). His two books
about the art of calendar making in Iran are uncontested
classics in this field.
Based
on studying some ancient Persian calendars found in Turfan,
China, that were printed in the Journal of Royal Asiatic
Society-October 1945, Zabih Behrooz was able to calculate
that the year Zero for devising these calendars was the
spring equinox of the year 1725 BCE. This benchmark he
realised to be of enormous significance. Using this year
as a starting point, a great amount of astronomical data
reaching us from ancient times and making no sense, would
fall in place and compliment one another with great
harmony.
Some
Zoroastrian texts pointed to a special Nowrooz that
Zoroaster as an astronomer was supposed to have calculated
when he was 42 years old. Behrooz made an assumption that
this historic Nowrooz of 1725 BCE could only be that
special Nowrooz inculcated by Zoroaster. Iranian and
Zoroastrian scholars examining Behrooz’s work concluded
that he had a valid point and other dates related to
Zarathushtra based on this benchmark year were assumed.
The
Zoroastrians of Iran accepted the dates 1767 BCE as the
year of birth, 1738 BCE as the year of assenting to be a
prophet, and 1690 BCE as the year of passing away of
Zarathushtra. We must remember that other than 1725 BCE
which has historic bases, these other dates pertaining to
the life of Zarathushtra are assumptions and secondary
dates.
This Nowrooz of 2003 CE, Iranian Zoroastrians will
be celebrating their Nowrooz of 3741 ZRE (Zoroastrian
Religious Era) because they decided to start their
calendar from 1738 BCE, the date they consider
Zarathushtra to have been chosen as a prophet by Ahura
Mazda.
Nowrooz is a cultural and national festival and as
such it will be robbed of its strength if a particular
religion monopolizes it as only their own. All Persons of
Persian heritage love and celebrate Nowrooz while all of
them are not Zoroastrians. Besides, it is the year 1725
BCE that is of historic significance and not 1738 BCE. The
years calculated from the benchmark of 1725 BCE were
referred to as “Nowroozi Shahriyari” years. Here
“Shahriyari” stands in contrast to “Dini”, as
“Civil” contrasts with “Religious”. If we want to
adopt a non religious beginning for Nowrooz, the year 1725
BCE is the only befitting and logical choice. In
conclusion, we can trace the earliest Nowrooz to a
historic date of 1725 BCE.
Since
the years calculated from this benchmark are called
“Nowroozi Shahriyari,” this spring equinox of 2003 CE
is the Nowrooz 3728 NS (Nowroozi Shahriyari). This system
of dating is non-religious and all persons of Persian
heritage can celebrate it with comfort and joy.
MAY
WE ALL HAVE A VERY HAPPY NOWROOZ 3728 NS.
Mehr
Afzoon,
Parviz Varjavand
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