Iranian Ancient holidays versus the Muslim holidays
Iran has 22 days of official national holidays which are marked in our Shamshi calendar and more unofficial holidays that most domestic travelers use for their holiday time. Some of the occasions date back to Ancient Persia to the Zoroastrian important events such as Persian New Year (Nowrooz) while many of them are related to the religious holidays which are mostly used in Shiite Muslim countries. Some also commemorate contemporary historical events. The ancient Iranian holidays are fixed every year on the Persian calendar because they are considered on the Solar Hijri calendar “Shamsi Calendar” with 365 days. So you could mark it on your calendar “Gregorian calendar” as a fixed date for Iran’s holiday.
But the Muslim religious holidays of Iran do not have a fixed date in the Persian Calendar. Because those dates sets on the Lunar calendar which is mostly used in the Islamic Shia countries. The number of days on this calendar is between 354 to 355 days. This makes about a 10-11 days difference to our Persian calendar. So the national religious holidays of Iran move forward between 10-11 days every year and it makes it complicated for those who would like to travel to Iran or for travel agencies, tour operators, and other companies who work with Iran.
Below is the list of Iranian Public holidays and some details:
| Index | Event | Number of Holidays | Local Name | Remarks | Type of Calendar |
| 1 | Persian New Year | 4 | Nowruz | Celebrating Iranian Ancient New Year | Solar |
| 2 | Nature Day | 1 | Sizdah Be-dar | Celebrating the rebirth of nature after Nowruz | Solar |
| 3 | Islamic Revolution Day | 1 | Dahe-ye Fajr (celebrating Iran’s Islamic revolution for 10 days) | contemporary historical events | Solar |
| 4 | The demise of Imam Khomeini | 1 | contemporary historical events | Solar | |
| 5 | 15 Khordad National Uprising | 1 | Qiam-e Panzdah-e Khordad | contemporary historical events | Solar |
| 6 | Islamic Republic Day | 1 | Ruz-e Jomhuri Eslami | contemporary historical events | Solar |
| 7 | Oil Nationalization Day | 1 | Ruz-e Melli Shodan-e Sna’at-e Naft | contemporary historical events | Solar |
| 8 | Muharram | 2 | Tasua & Ashura | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar |
| 9 | Arbaʽeen | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 10 | Eid al-Fitr | 2 | Islamic holiday | Lunar | |
| 11 | Martyrdom of Hazrat Fatima | 1 | Ayyam-e Fatemiyah | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar |
| 12 | Birthday of Imam Ali | 1 | Ruz-e Pedar (Father’s Day) | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar |
| 13 | Martyrdom of Imam Ali | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 14 | Eid-e Mab’as | 1 | Celebrating the day on which prophet was selected by God as his messenger | Islamic holiday | Lunar |
| 15 | The demise of Prophet Muhammad and the Martyrdom of Imam Hassan | 1 | Islamic and Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 16 | Birthday of Imam Mahdi | 1 | Nime-ye Sha’ban | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar |
| 17 | Martyrdom of Imam Sadeq | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 18 | Eid al-Adha | 1 | Eid-e Qurban | Islamic holiday | Lunar |
| 19 | Eid al-Ghadir | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 20 | Martyrdom of Imam Reza | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 21 | Birthday of the Prophet and Imam Sadegh | 1 | Islamic and Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar | |
| 22 | Martyrdem of Imam Hassan Askari | 1 | Shiite Muslim holiday | Lunar |
If you pay attention to some of the above holidays, a few of them, shown in” red”, are two or more continuous days like the Persian New Year holiday which is a long public holiday. These concurrent holidays in many cases impact the trip of tourists who travel to Iran, which we have discussed in another post of “Busy days of Iranian travelers “.
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