The Zoroastrian Calendar in New Persian Poetry: “Names of Persian Days” by Masʿud Saʿd Salman

Abstract

The calendar introductions were quite widespread in the Persian poetry of the Early Classical period (X–XIII centuries). The court poets on the occasion of a seasonal holiday (Nauruz, Mihran or Sade) or the beginning of a new season turned not only to the description of weather phenomena and changes in nature, but also to the Iranian names of months and days related to holidays and seasons. Such poetization of the Zoroastrian calendar became an integral part of Persian calendar poetry; references to Zoroastrian names of days and months can be found in many poets of the era: Rūdakī, Manūčihrī, ʿUnṣurī, Farruxī. In the cycle “Names of Persian days and months” by Masʿud Saʿd Salman this poetization is revealed most fully: each day of each Zoroastrian month in the poems of this cycle is heralded as a holiday. This article publishes a commented translation of the largest part of the cycle: the thirty poems devoted to the days of the Zoroastrian month. Despite the fact that the works of Masʿud Saʿd Salman are the object of scientific interest for a wide range of both national and foreign researchers, this poetic cycle is introduced into scientific discourse for the first time.