Persian calendar (Solar Hijri)

Today, Saturday, 14 November 2026, is 23 Aban 1405 (۲۳ آبان ۱۴۰۵) in the Persian calendar.

It is the year 1405 in the Persian (Solar Hijri) calendar, a common year of 365 days. Years are counted from the Hijra of 622, as in the Islamic calendar, but they are solar years, so the Persian year is 621 years behind the Gregorian one from Nowruz and 622 years behind before it. The year 1406 begins on Sunday, 21 March 2027.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is on Sunday, 21 March 2027: 1 Farvardin 1406. It falls on the day of the March equinox (20 or 21 March), and the New Year holidays in Iran end with Sizdah Be-dar on Friday, 2 April 2027. Nowruz is also celebrated in Afghanistan, Central Asia, Azerbaijan and by the Kurds.

The Persian year begins on the day of the March equinox: if the equinox is before noon Tehran time, that day is 1 Farvardin, otherwise the next day. So leap years follow astronomy rather than a fixed rule: usually every fourth year, sometimes after five years. In a leap year Esfand, the last month, has 30 days instead of 29. Afghanistan used the same calendar officially until 2022, when it switched to the lunar Hijri calendar.

The first six months (Farvardin to Shahrivar) have 31 days, the next five (Mehr to Bahman) 30 days, and Esfand 29 days, or 30 in a leap year. So the Persian months always begin on the same Gregorian dates, give or take a day: Farvardin on 20 or 21 March, Mehr on 22 or 23 September.