Mehregan

Mehregan () or Jashn-e Mehr ( Mithra Festival) is a Zoroastrian and Iranian festival celebrated to honor the yazata Mithra (Mehr), which is responsible for friendship, affection and love. "Mehregan" is derived from the Middle Persian name Mihrakān/Mihragān, itself derived from Old Persian Mithrakāna. Mehregan is an Iranian festival honoring the Zoroastrian yazata (angelic divinity) Mithra. Under the Achaemenid Empire (330–550 BC), the Armenian subjects of the Persian king gave him 20,000 horses every year during the celebration of Mehregan. Under the Sasanian Empire (224–651), Mehregan was the second most important festival, falling behind Nowruz. Due to these two festivals being heavily connected with the role of Iranian kingship, the Sasanian rulers were usually crowned on either Mehregan or Nowruz. By the 4th century BCE, it was observed as one of the name-day feasts, a form it retains in today. Still, in a predominantly Muslim Iran, it is one of the two pre-Islamic festivals that continue to be celebrated by the public at large: Mehrgān, dedicated to Mithra (modern Mehr), and Tirgan, dedicated to Tishtrya (modern Tir). Name-day feasts are festivals celebrated on the day of the year when the day-name and month-name dedicated to a particular divinity intersect. The Mehr day in the Mehr month corresponded to the day farmers harvested their crops. They thus also celebrated the fact Ahura Mazda had given them food to survive the coming cold months. Irrespective of which calendar is observed, Mehrgān falls on the 196th day of the calendar year. For details on how this date is calculated, see basis for the date, below. For calendars that have March 21 as Nowruz or New Year's Day (i.e. in the Fasili and Bastani variants of the Zoroastrian calendar as well as in the Iranian civil calendar), Mehrgān falls on October 2 but according to Jalali calendar Mehregan falls on October 8. For the Shahanshahi variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, which in 2006–2007 has New Year's Day on August 20, Mehrgān fell on March 3 of the following Gregorian year.