Tag: Iran travel advice

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