Mehregan Festival

In ancient Persia, people used the opportunities for happiness and getting together. In that time, each day of a month had a specific name and when the name of the month and the day were the same, people celebrated. So, there were twelve celebrations according to these occasions. “Mehregan” was the day “Mehr” (16th) of the month “Mehr”.

Two oldest and most important celebrations were Nowruz and Mehregan that were relatively similar to each other. Mehregan like Nowruz has also its own special traditions. People cleaned their homes and set a heliotrope table cloth with fall fruits on it (like grapes, pomegranates, apples, quinces, figs and persimmon) and dried nuts plus serving special beverage and bread.

They gave each other greeting cards, also light fire and candles with aromatic substances such as aloes-wood and ambergris. They were dancing and singing some songs with special kind of music.

Like other ancient Persian celebrations, Mehregan was also related to natural phenomena which is the beginning of fall and planting time. In Mehregan, people gave thanks for all of God’s blessings and wished for the following productive agriculture and year in gerenral. Persians have celebrated Mehregan from the second millennium BC and Zoroastrians still celebrate that, especially in the historical cities of Yazd and Kerman.

Bahareh Yousefian