Newroz - Nowruz and The Spring Equinox

Nowruz and The Spring Equinox

The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox, the first day of spring. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres.

In ca. 11 century CE major reforms of Iranian calendars took place and whose principal purpose was to fix the beginning of the calendar year, i.e. Nowrūz, at the vernal equinox. Accordingly, the definition of Nowruz given by the Iranian scientist Ṭūsī was the following: "the first day of the official new year was always the day on which the sun entered Aries before noon".

Read more about this topic:  Newroz

Famous quotes containing the word spring:

    With spring the father-sky remakes the world:
    The male shower has flowed into the bride,
    Earth’s body; then shifted through sky and sea and land
    To touch the quickening child in her deep side.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)