Khordad Sal

The story behind the day

Khordad Sal is the Zoroastrian celebration of the birth of Zarathushtra, also known as Zoroaster, the founder of the faith. By tradition it falls on the sixth day of Farvardin, the first month, so it follows closely after Nowruz. In the Fasli reckoning, which keeps the New Year at the spring equinox, that is in late March; in the Shenshai reckoning followed by most Parsis it comes in August. The day is traditional rather than historical, since scholars still dispute when Zarathushtra lived. Zoroastrian festival days are marked with prayers and the thanksgiving ceremony called a jashan.^[1–8]

Origins

Zoroastrians commemorate Zarathushtra's birth on 6 Farvardin, the sixth day of the calendar's first month. They hold that he received his message from Ahura Mazda, and the oldest Zoroastrian texts, the Gathas, are attributed to him. The day itself is a matter of tradition. The sources for his life are meagre and conflicting, and scholars still dispute when he lived. Modern historians place him somewhere between about 1600 and 800 BCE, many favouring a date within 1500 to 1000 BCE, but a tradition counting 258 years from Zarathushtra to Alexander once led many in the West to a date in the sixth century BCE.^{[2–3, 8–10]}

What it marks

Khordad Sal marks the birth of the prophet, whom Zoroastrians honour as the founder of their faith. It sits at the opening of the Zoroastrian year, a few days after Nowruz, the festival that opens the new year, that belongs to no single religious group, and that Zoroastrians count among their feasts of obligation.^{[1, 7, 11]}

How it came to be

The sixth day of the year was already prominent in Sasanian times, when Nowruz was divided into a Lesser Nowruz on the first day and a Greater Nowruz on the sixth. Mary Boyce's study of the Zoroastrian calendar of feasts likewise records that the sixth of Fravardin, the day named for Hordad, is the Great Nowruz. Today Zoroastrians keep the same sixth day as the birthday of their prophet.^{[2, 12]}

How it is kept

Udvada Atash Behram exterior, white dressIllustration · AI-generated

Zoroastrians mark festival days with the jashan, a thanksgiving and praise ceremony of the outer liturgy. Khordad Sal is counted among those festival days, and in the Fasli reckoning the date falls in late March, only days after Nowruz.^{[4, 6–7]}

Across traditions

Zoroastrians do not all keep the same date, because Khordad Sal is the sixth day of the year and moves with the New Year of each calendar. The Fasli calendar, which took shape in 1906, places it in late March. The Shenshai calendar followed by most Parsis has drifted, and its New Year now falls in August, so the Shenshai Khordad Sal comes in August as well. The Kadmi calendar differs from Shenshai by one month.^{[5, 13–15]}

Sources

Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.