1JCAL(1) BSD General Commands Manual JCAL(1)
3
5 jcal — displays a calendar
6
8 jcal [-epPVjy13] [[month] year]
9
11 jcal displays a simple calendar. If arguments are not specified, the
12 current month is displayed. The options are as follows:
13 -1 Display single month output. (This is the default.)
15 -3 Display prev/current/next month output.
17 -j Display Julian dates (days one-based, numbered from Farvardin 1).
19 -p Display Farsi numbers and names.
21 -P Display year based on Pahlavi epoch.
23 -e Display english names for weekdays.
25 -y Display a calendar for the current year.
27 -V Display calendar version.
29 A single parameter specifies the year (1 - 9999) to be displayed; note
31 the year must be fully specified: “cal 90” will not display a calendar
32 for 1390. Two parameters denote the month (1 - 12) and year. If no
33 parameters are specified, the current month's calendar is displayed.
34 A year starts on Far 1.
36
38 True solar year, also known as tropical year, was a still later discov‐
39 ery. One has to take equinox or solstice into account to keep an accu‐
40 rate track of the solar year. The equinoxes are the two intersections of
41 the sun's apparent annual path with the celestial equator. The sun
42 reaches the vernal equinox on 1st of Farvardin, on or about 21st March,
43 the summer solstice on 1st of Tir, on about 22nd June, the autumnal
44 equinox on 1st Mehr, on or about 23rd September, and the winter solstice
45 on 1st of Dey, on or about 22 December. Because the two planes, the path
46 of the sun and the celestial equator move in opposite directions, the
47 equinoxes and solstices do not occur at the same points every year. This
48 anti-clock movement of the intersection point is called precession. It
49 moves one degree in 72 years, one Zodiac sign of 30 degrees in 2,156
50 years and one circle in 25,868 years. For further information on calen‐
51 dar, solar or tropical year, precession, and other astronomical data,
52 refer to any good encyclopedia or a publication on astronomy and astrol‐
53 ogy. The tropical year, based on the four seasons, is precise. It is
54 365.24224 solar days (365 days 5 hr 48 min 45.5 sec), and the tropical
55 lunar year is 354.36708 solar days, a difference of 10.87516 solar days.
56 We need not go far to find a workable calendar. Of all the present calen‐
57 dars, the official Iranian calendar, based on the astronomical system, is
58 the most scientific calendar in use and bears the names of what are known
59 as Zoroastrian months. It rightly has the vernal equinox (on or about
60 21st March) at the beginning of the spring and the year. The fourth month
61 begins on the summer solstice (on or about 22 June), the seventh month on
62 the autumnal equinox (on or about 23 September), and the ninth month on
63 the winter solstice (on or about 22 December). In the true seasonal
64 year, the first half contains 186 days and the second half about 179.242
65 days. This means that the first six months are of 31 days each, the fol‐
66 lowing five months of 30 days each, and the last month of 29 days, but
67 which automatically becomes of 30 days in the so-called "leap" year. The
68 four seasons begin on the first days of the seasonal quarters. This is
69 exactly what the Iranian calendar follows: The first six months are of 31
70 days each, the next five months of 30 days each and the last month is of
71 29 days but of 30 days in the leap year. Reports indicate that the Cen‐
72 tral Asian republics may follow suit. Historical evidence that the five
73 Gatha days were added at the end of summer proves that the early "Zoroas‐
74 trian" calendar had this fact in view.
75
77 Evidences from the Avesta and the Vedas show that the Indo-Iranians, like
78 many other people, followed a lunisolar year for their animal husbandry
79 and agricultural purpose. The names of the six Gaahaanbaars, six parts
80 of the Vedic year and the Achaemenian months, as seen below, show that
81 the calendar was based on various seasonal phases of the year. The
82 Gathas speak of the paths of the sun and the stars, and speaks about the
83 waxing and waning phases of the moon, a sure sign of an accurate luniso‐
84 lar year. The language used is astronomical, and it confirms the reports
85 written in ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean writings that
86 Zarathushtra was an outstanding astronomer also. It also confirms the
87 statement in post-Sassanian Iranian astronomy books that Zarathushtra
88 built an observatory in Zabol, Sistan (eastern Iran) and that it was
89 inaugurated on 21st March 1725 BCE, the day King Vishtaspa and his
90 courtiers converted, chose the Good Religion and joined the Zarathush‐
91 trian Fellowship. It also provides us with the clue that the Good Reli‐
92 gion was founded by Zarathushtra, exactly twelve years earlier on vernal
93 equinox of 1737 BCE. The Vispered, dedicated only to the six seasonal
94 festivals, the "Gaahaanbaars", also shows that the early Zarathushtrian
95 calendar was almost the old Indo-Iranian lunisolar calendar with its wax‐
96 ing and waning lunar phases. The month was based on moon's phases, and
97 the year was calculated on the solar basis. The difference was corrected
98 by an intercalation of eleven days at the end of the year on the Hamas‐
99 pathmaidhaya Gahanbar of the vernal equinox. This was 0.12484 day or
100 2.99616 hours shorter. Only a further intercalation of one day after
101 eight years (precisely after 8.010253 years), could keep the seasonal
102 festivals in their proper places. How did the Gathic people correct it,
103 we do not know. We know this much that no complaint has been recorded by
104 them about the festivals drifting away from their relevant agricultural
105 seasons. Sometime during the later Avestan age, the year was made into a
106 purely solar year of 365 days with twelve months of thirty days and the
107 five "Gatha" days as the intercalary period. Should we believe a 9th cen‐
108 tury Pahlavi tradition, the correction of five hours and a fraction was
109 made good every four years, or the community had to wait for 40 years to
110 intercalate 10 days or still more for 120 years to add a thirteenth month
111 of 30 days. The usual reference to one month intercalation at the end of
112 120 years only reminds us of the disorder that prevailed during the last
113 days of the Sassanian Empire and its subsequent fall.
114
116 A point about intercalation in a ``leap'' year: The precise time of ver‐
117 nal equinox is determined by the International Meridian, at present
118 Greenwich. The usual way is to count the year of 365 days and 6 hours.
119 Four 6 hours, or one day, is added to bring back the year on the right
120 track. This fourth year is called the ``leap year'' because it leaps one
121 day ahead. But the actual length of the year is 6 hours but 5 hours 48
122 minutes and 45.5 seconds, a difference of 11 minutes and 14.5 seconds.
123 This amount to one day in 128 days. It was to correct this that the leap
124 years are those eras which are divisible by 400. Even this makes the
125 Christian or Common year 26 seconds longer than the tropical year. The
126 Iranian calendar does not have this problem. Its new year begins exactly
127 at the beginning of the equinox. Although the formal Iranian year of the
128 present days has its leap year, it should never worry about it. All it
129 has to do is to see that if the right times falls after midnight 0 hours
130 00 minutes and 01 seconds to 0 hours 00 minutes and 00 seconds -- the
131 first day of the year also begins with it. This is because the Avestan
132 day begins with the ``Ushahin Gaah,'' the Dawn Time, which begins from
133 midnight. Yes, the Iranians have been counting their day from midnight
134 for, at least, 3738 years and it is the West that has adopted it very
135 late in our times. The Iranian calendar DOES NOT need a leap year at all.
136 It is automatically within the right time. I hope that one day the
137 authorities concerned would realize this FACT and amend the calendar by
138 eliminating the so-called leap year.
139
141 Each of the twelve Avestan months and thirty days were named after a
142 deity, some of them old Aryan gods and goddesses discarded by Zarathush‐
143 tra but reintroduced later by authoritative priests, and some of them
144 Gathic principles personified by the same priests into divine entities,
145 all now called yazatas, meaning "venerated, venerable." "Year" in gen‐
146 eral was called "yaairi" or "yaari", but the intercalated solar year was
147 known as "saredha", Old Persian of the Achaemenians "tharda", and Pahlavi
148 and modern Persian "saal" (compared Sanskrit "sharad", autumn, year).
149 This calendar is followed to this day by Iranian Zartoshtis and some Par‐
150 sis. It is called Fasli, a modern Persian-Arabic word meaning "seasonal"
151 However, majority of Parsis use Shahenshahi, the "Imperial" calendar. The
152 Parsis have not intercalated since 1126 CE. It now begins in the last
153 week of August 21st, full seven months plus one day earlier. The Iranian
154 Zoroastrians, who follow the Qadimi Calendar, have abandoned intercala‐
155 tion since 1006 CE and the 365-day year has now forwarded their new year
156 day by eight months. As seen, the two calendars are neither precisely
157 "Gathic" nor astronomically scientific. So is the present Zoroastrian era
158 of 1370 followed by the Shahenshahis, Qadimis and Parsi Faslis. It is
159 based on the ascension of the last Sassanian king Yazdegerd III (632-642
160 CE + 10 years of wandering until his murder by Khosrow the miller) and
161 has no religious significance at all. Fortunately, with the exception of
162 a minute number, mostly residing in India, all Iranian Zoroastrians have
163 given up the Qadimi calendar in favor of the Fasli one, and they reckon
164 the Zarathushtrian Religious Era as the beginning. At present there is a
165 move to unify all Zoroastrians, at least in North America and Europe, to
166 adopt the Fasli calendar.
167
169 The Gaahaanbaars: The agricultural people were in tune with nature in
170 their day-to-day life. They fully knew the solar and lunar movements and
171 the changes in the seasons. They had timed their activities to suit the
172 climate in which they lived. This timetable was kept in step with
173 saredha, the tropical solar year of 365 days, 5 hr, 48 min, and 45.5 sec,
174 but differed a little on certain points. Their activities were scheduled
175 to correspond with various phases of their agricultural life on the Ira‐
176 nian Plateau. It was divided into six phases. The end of one phase and
177 the beginning of other were celebrated as a special time of festivity.
178 The six seasonal festivals were: (1) Hamaspathmaidhaya, meaning "vernal
179 equinox," the 1st day of Farvardin, the beginning of spring, on or about
180 21st March, was to celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of
181 the new year. It was, according to the Avesta, the time to "properly set"
182 everything and prepare for the new year. (2) Maidhyoi-zaremaya (Mid-
183 spring), 14th day of Ardibehesht, on or about 4th May, was the time to
184 celebrate the occasion for the cattle having delivered their young and
185 yielded "abundance of milk" and also for appraising the crops sown in
186 late winter or early spring. (3) Maidhyoi-shema (Midsummer), 12th day of
187 Tir, on or about 3rd July, was the beginning of the harvesting season.
188 (4) Paitish-hahya (Grain-reaping), 25th day of Shahrivar, on or about
189 16th September, marked the end of harvesting. (5) Ayaathrema (no-
190 travel), 24th day of Mehr, on or about 16th October, was to enjoy the end
191 of trade caravans and the time to mate cattle before the winter set in.
192 (6) Maidhyaairya (Midyear), 15th day of Dey, on or about 4th January,
193 heralded the passing of the winter peak and for making preparations to
194 meet the spring with agricultural activity.
195 Only the first two festivals coincided with the solar seasonal changes.
197 The others were purposely put off to meet the living conditions. They
198 were not calendarically or traditionally bound but were very practical
199 people, a point to note. Most probably the festivals were celebrated
200 with sacrifices to gods and goddesses and by indulging in a joyous fes‐
201 tivity. Gahanbars and Zarathushtrians: Asho Zarathushtra, born in an
202 agricultural environment, preached and spread his Good Religion among
203 people engaged in crop cultivation and animal husbandry. His dynamic mes‐
204 sage introduced a completely new order in spiritual, or better, as he put
205 it, mental sphere and purged out all evil and superstitious thoughts,
206 misleading words, harmful deeds, and superficial, superfluous rituals,
207 but helped to strengthen and promote all the then-existing constructive
208 activities of a good living. And the Gahanbars were one of the construc‐
209 tively enjoyable festivals.
210
212 Avestan evidences, particularly the book of Vispered, show that the early
213 Zarathushtrians turned the Gahanbar into an occasion to fit into their
214 new pattern of life. Each festival was traditionally celebrated for one
215 and later for five days. They were devoted to reciting, chanting,
216 explaining, understanding, and holding questions-and-answers on each of
217 the five Gathas of Asho Zarathushtra. The festival was rounded up with a
218 feast prepared by collective participation and efforts, and merrymaking.
219 A piece in the Avesta directs that all participants should bring whatever
220 they can afford; dairy products, meat, vegetables, legumes, grain, other
221 food ingredients, and firewood. If one was not in a position to contrib‐
222 ute in kind, one might put his or her labor in preparing the food in a
223 common pot, or just join the prayers. The food, with a large variety of
224 ingredients, was a tasty stew, resembling today's more sophisticated Ira‐
225 nian "aash" or the Parsi spiced "dhansaak", both relished on the occa‐
226 sion. Merrymaking was the folk music and dances still observed among Ira‐
227 nian tribes all over the Iranian Plateau and beyond. The Zarathushtrian
228 Assembly celebrates the Gahanbars with a relevant Gahanbar prayer, Gatha
229 recital and explanation, a brief talk on an interesting subject, potluck
230 lunch, friendly conversation, and music and dance.
231
233 It may be noted that the Indo-Aryans had also six seasons (Sanskrit rtu,
234 Avestan ratu) evidently modified to meet the climate in the Indus Valley.
235 They were: Vasanta (Spring), Grishma (Summer), Varsha (The Rains), Sharad
236 (Autumn), Hemanta (Winter), and Shishira (the Cool season). Persians and
237 Other Iranian Calendar: The Achaemenians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, and
238 Armenians, all Zoroastrians by faith, had their own names for their
239 months. The names of the Achaemenian months, as given in the bas-reliefs
240 of Darius the Great are rendered to convey (1) Irrigation-canal-cleaning
241 month, (2) Vigorous spring, (3) Garlic-collecting month, (4) Hot-step,
242 (7) God-veneration, (8) Wolf-birth, (9) Fire-veneration, (10) Anaamaka --
243 Nameless month, and (12) Digging-up. Three names have not been given in
244 Old Persian but we have their Elamite pronunciations and all, except two,
245 are nonreligious terms. The Achaemenians had numbers instead of names for
246 the days of the month. (see Old Persian, Ronald G. Kent, 2nd ed., New
247 Haven, 1953). That confirms that the months as well as the days named
248 after pre-Zarathushtrian deities and post-Zarathushtrian personifications
249 of Gathic abstracts is a later addition. There are indications that it
250 was done during the reign of Artaxerxes II (405-359 BCE), and that naming
251 the months and days in honor of deities were adopted from the Egyptians.
252 The names of the Gahanbars, and those of the Vedic, Achaemenian, Sogdian,
253 Chorasmian, and Armenian months show that the names of the pre-Zarathush‐
254 trian and Gathic months must have been based on the seasons and social
255 activities, and not on deities. These old names have, however, been so
256 well obliterated by the authoritarian priests that we do not have any
257 inkling of what they were.
258
260 The names of the twelve months in modern Persian and their Avestan forms
261 with their corresponding Zodiac names are
262 1. Farvardin Fravashi/Fravarti Aries 21 March
264 2. Ardibehesht Asha Vahishta Taurus 21 April
266 3. Khordaad Haurvataat Gemini 22 May
268 4. Tir Tishtrya Cancer 22 June
270 5. Amordaad Ameretaa Leo 23 July
272 6. Shahrivar Khshathra Vairya Virgo 23 August
274 7. Mehr Mithra Libra 23 Sept
276 8. Aabaan Ap Scorpio 23 Oct
278 9. Aazar Aathra Sagittarius 22 Nov
280 10. Dey Dathva Capricorn 22 Dec
282 11. Bahman Vohu Manah Aquarius 21 Jan
284 12. Esfand Spentaa Aaramaiti Pisces 20 Feb
286 Note: Of these only those in bold letters are the Gathic "Primal Princi‐
288 ples of Life," Aazar/Aathra has been mentioned in the Gathas as the sym‐
289 bol of the Progressive Mentality (Spenta Mainyu), and "ap" (water) is
290 also mentioned in the Gathic texts, but the rest are later Avestan names.
291
293 The early Avestan people had no notion of the week, a period of seven
294 days now in universal use as a division of time. Week is a man-made unit.
295 Its length has, among various people, been from five to ten days. But
296 since the lunar month, one of the earliest ways of reckoning time, is
297 alternately of 29 and 30 days with two phases of waxing and waning moon,
298 it was quite easy to further divide it and have four quarters of seven
299 and eight days accommodated in it. The seven planets visible to the naked
300 eye may have also played a part in its formation. That is why weekdays
301 are named after celestial bodies. However, the present universal week is
302 most probably of Chaldean or Hebrew origin, and has been generalized by
303 Jewish, Christian and Islamic persuasion. The later Avestan solar calen‐
304 dar, based on thirty days in a month, has four quarters -- the first two
305 of seven days and the last two of eight days. But Avesta and Pahlavi do
306 not have any names for each of these quarters or for the weekdays. Modern
307 Persian follows the Hebrew pattern of having Saturday as Shanbeh, Per‐
308 sianized form of "Shabbath", and then counting from one to five as Yek-
309 shanbeh, Do-shanbeh, Se-shanbeh, Chahaar-shanbeh, Panj-shanbeh, and under
310 the Islamic influence, Aadineh or Jom'eh for Friday, the day of mass
311 prayers.
312
314 Pahlavi writings tell us that the religious era began from the day
315 Zarathushtra proclaimed his Divine Mission to humanity. This era, based
316 on the astronomical calculations that Zarathushtra declared his mission
317 on the vernal equinox when, according to the precession, the period of
318 Aries is supposed to have begun, comes to be 3738/39 in 2001 CE i.e. 1737
319 BCE. It has been called the "Year of Religion" in Pahlavi writings. The
320 Zarathushtrian Assembly calls it the Zarathushtrian Religious Era
321 (Z.E.R./ZRE) and has, since its establishment in 1990, observed it as the
322 beginning of the Zarathushtrian calendar. The Zartoshti community in
323 Iran joined in to observe ZRE as its calendar in 1993, and many Irani
324 Zartoshtis in diaspora have also accepted it. Earlier, each of the Ira‐
325 nian kings, following the pattern set by other Middle Eastern rulers,
326 particularly the Babylonians, observed a new era from his own ascension
327 to the throne. With as many as 80 rulers on the Iranian throne during
328 the thousand and odd years of Achaemenians, Macedonians, Parthians, and
329 Sassanians, much confusion in chronology has arisen, and many dates have
330 been misinformed, misused, misplaced, misinterpreted, miscalculated, and
331 missed. The Yazdgerdi era reminds one of the last Emperor who got over‐
332 thrown by Arab invaders. It is not a happy recollection. Sassanians and
333 Two Calendars: The Sassanians continued to maintain both the "yaairi" of
334 365 days and the "saredha" of 365.24224 days. The first they called
335 "oshmurdik" meaning "rememberable, reckonable" and the second "vihezakik"
336 meaning "moving, progressive, intercalary." While the "rememberable" was
337 easy for the laity to memorize and count them by names, the "intercalary"
338 belonged to the astronomer priests, linked with the imperial court, to
339 keep the formal year precise and in tune with the seasons. The fall of
340 the Sassanian Empire fell the astronomer priests of their high position.
341 Nevertheless, the intercalary year was, Pahlavi books and the present
342 position of the Qadimi and Shahenshahi calendars tell, kept until the
343 11th century CE. The decline of astronomer priests put an end to Viheza‐
344 kik and the lay priests have continued with their "Ushmordik," advancing
345 about one day in every four years out of the season and the solar year.
346 Economic and seasonal revenue collection, however, forced the Muslim
347 Caliphs to maintain, evidently by those astronomer priests who had
348 embraced Islam, the intercalary year in addition to the Islamic calendar
349 of a purely lunar year. It was this Vihezakik year maintained halfheart‐
350 edly by Muslim rulers, which was improved, perfected and formally
351 restored by Omar Khayyam and other Iranian scientists. It was named the
352 "Jalaali" calendar after its patron, Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah
353 Saljuqi (1072-1092 CE). The Fasli year, officially observed by Iranians
354 -- Zartoshtis, Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- in modern Iran, is the
355 "saredha" of the Avestan people, "tharda" of the Achaemenian, "Vihezakik"
356 of the Sassanians, and the "Jalali" of Omar Khayyam. The precise solar
357 year also reckoned by all observatories in the world. It is the Universal
358 Astronomical and Scientific Year. It is this Vihezakik (Persian
359 "Behizaki") calendar, now called "Khorshidi" (solar), the official Ira‐
360 nian calendar, the precise calendar, with its dates numbered, that the
361 Zarathushtrian Assembly follows. It is astronomically precise. It is
362 progressively Zarathushtrian.
363
365 NO HISTORY.
366
368 No other versions rumor to exist.
369
371 Written by Ashkan Ghassemi. <ghassemi@ftml.net>
372
374 Report jcal bugs to <ghassemi@ftml.net>
375 libjalali home page: <http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/jcal/>
377
379 jdate (1), jctime (3), jstrftime (3), jstrptime (3)
380
382 Copyright (C) 2011 Ashkan Ghassemi.
383 License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
385 <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free
386 to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent per‐
387 mitted by law.
388BSD Khordad 6, 1390 BSD