Solar Hijri calendar

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The Solar Hijri calendar^[a] is the official calendar of Iran. It is a solar calendar, based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Each year begins on the day^[b] of the March equinox and has years of 365 or 366 days. It is sometimes also called the Shamsi calendar, Khorshidi calendar or Persian calendar. It is abbreviated as SH, HS, AP, or, sometimes as AHSh, while the lunar Hijri calendar (commonly known in the West as the 'Islamic calendar') is usually abbreviated as AH.

The epoch (very first day) of the Solar Hijri calendar was the day of the spring equinox, March 19, 622 CE. The calendar is a "Hijri calendar" because that was the year that Mohammed is believed to have left from Mecca to Medina, which event is referred to as the Hijrah.

Since the calendar uses astronomical observations and calculations for determining the vernal equinox, it theoretically has no intrinsic error in matching the vernal equinox year.^[3][4][5][6] According to Iranian studies, it is older than the lunar Hijri calendar used by the majority of Muslims (known in the West as the Islamic calendar); though they both count from the year of the Hijrah.^[7][8] The solar Hijri calendar uses solar years and is calculated based on the "year of the Hijrah," and the lunar Hijri calendar is based on lunar months, and dates from the presumed actual "day of the Hijrah".

Each of the twelve months of the solar Hijri calendar corresponds with a zodiac sign, and in Afghanistan^[c] (as well as in Iran before 1925) the names of the zodiacal signs were used for the months; elsewhere the month names are the same as in the Zoroastrian calendar. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in common years but 30 days in leap years.

The ancient Iranian New Year's Day, which is called Nowruz, always falls on the March equinox. Nowruz is celebrated by communities in a wide range of countries from the Balkans to Central Asia. Currently the Solar Hijri calendar is officially used only in Iran.

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