Persian Date Today

The Persian calendar

The Persian calendar, also known as the Solar Hijri or Shamsi calendar (and historically as the Jalali calendar), is the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Unlike the Islamic lunar Hijri calendar, it is a solar calendar — its year follows the sun, so it stays in lock-step with the seasons.

The year begins at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, the astronomical first day of spring. This is the festival of Nowruz ("new day"), the Persian New Year, celebrated across Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, and the global Persian diaspora.

The 12 Shamsi months

The first six months each have 31 days, the next five have 30, and the last (Esfand) has 29 days in common years or 30 in leap years.

Why is the Persian calendar so accurate?

The Persian calendar uses a 33-year leap cycle with 8 leap years, giving a mean year of 365.2424 days. That is within half a second per year of the true solar year — making it the most astronomically accurate calendar in widespread use today, more accurate than the Gregorian calendar.

Shamsi, Jalali, Solar Hijri — what's the difference?

These names all refer to essentially the same calendar:

• Solar Hijri — the formal name, emphasizing it is solar and counts from the Hijra.
• Shamsi — Arabic/Persian for "solar," commonly used in daily speech.
• Jalali — the historical name after Sultan Jalal al-Din Malik Shah, who commissioned Omar Khayyam's calendar reform in 1079.
• Iranian calendar — used when contrasting with the Afghan Shamsi variant, which uses slightly different month names (Hamal, Sawr, etc.) while keeping the same structure.

Nowruz: when does the Persian year begin?

Unlike most calendars, the Persian year does not begin on a fixed date — it begins at the exact astronomical moment of the vernal equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator moving northward. This moment, called Tahvil, is calculated by astronomers to the second. Iranians traditionally gather around the haft-sin table at the exact moment to mark the turn of the year.

Because the equinox varies slightly year to year, Nowruz falls on 20 or 21 March in the Gregorian calendar — never a day earlier or later. 2026's Nowruz occurred at 15:46 Iran time on 21 March, starting Persian year 1405.

Recent Nowruz dates

The 33-year leap cycle explained

The Persian calendar uses a remarkable 33-year leap rule with 8 leap years spread across each cycle. Leap years within a 33-year run fall on years 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 22, 26, and 30 (with the exact pattern shifting every ~2,820 years for even more precision). This gives a mean year of 365.2424 days — within half a second per year of the true tropical year.

By comparison, the Gregorian calendar has a mean year of 365.2425 days. The Persian calendar is actually more accurate, though both are close enough that the difference is only meaningful over tens of thousands of years.

Afghan vs Iranian month names

Iran and Afghanistan use the same calendar structure but different month names. Iran uses the names listed above (Farvardin, Ordibehesht…). Afghanistan traditionally uses zodiac-based names: Hamal (Aries), Sawr (Taurus), Jawza (Gemini), Saratan (Cancer), Asad (Leo), Sunbula (Virgo), Mizan (Libra), Aqrab (Scorpio), Qaws (Sagittarius), Jadi (Capricorn), Dalwa (Aquarius), Hut (Pisces). The days and lengths are identical.