Parsi New Year 2028: Date, History & Significance

The day begins with a bath and clean or new clothes, a visit to the agiary or atash behram for the Jashan thanksgiving ceremony, and the exchange of 'Sal Mubarak'. Homes are decorated with a rangoli of chalk and coloured powder, a 'ses' tray with a divo (lamp), rosewater, betel, coconut, sugar and a silver coin, and torans of flowers. The meal features sev, ravo, dhansak or patra ni machhi, and falooda.

Zoroastrianism, founded by the prophet Zarathushtra in ancient Iran, honours Ahura Mazda, the wise lord, and the struggle of truth (asha) against the lie. Nowruz — 'new day' — is its oldest festival, kept in Iran on the spring equinox. The Parsis who fled to Gujarat after the Arab conquest of Iran carried the Shahenshahi calendar; without a leap day it has drifted, so their Navroz now falls in August, while the equinox Nowruz is kept separately as Jamshedi Navroz.

Source: The scriptures and calendar of the tradition; community religious practice in India

The Shahenshahi calendar has been used by the Indian Parsis since their settlement in Gujarat; a reform group (the Kadmi) and a later scientific reform (the Fasli, aligned to the equinox) keep different dates. Parsi New Year is a gazetted holiday in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

• Wikipedia

1. Homes are cleaned in the days before, and on the morning chalk rangoli and a flower toran are put up at the door.
2. Families in new clothes go to the agiary to pray and offer sandalwood to the fire; a Jashan of thanksgiving is performed.
3. The rest of the day is for visits with the greeting 'Navroz Mubarak' or 'Saal Mubarak', and often a play or a community dinner in the evening.

• Mumbai, Pune, Gujarat (Udvada, Navsari). The Jashan at the fire temple, Sal Mubarak visits, the ses tray and toran at home, and a dhansak or patra ni machhi feast; community programmes at Parsi gymkhanas and baugs.

• Sev, ravo and falooda — The festive breakfast and the drink for guests.
• Patra ni machhi and mutton pulao dal — The New Year lunch.
• Lagan nu custard — The baked wedding-feast custard served as dessert.

Parsi New Year (Shahenshahi Navroz) falls on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Navroz of the Shahenshahi calendar, the Parsi New Year as kept in India, in mid-August.

at sunrise

1 Farvardin of the Shahenshahi calendar — mid-August in the present era (no leap adjustment). The Zoroastrian Shahenshahi calendar has a fixed 365-day year with no leap day and has drifted against the seasons, while the Fasli reform re-fixes the year to the spring equinox.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.