Khordad — month 3 of the Persian year
The third month of the Solar Hijri calendar: Khordad in Iranian usage, Jawza in Afghan usage, where a month is also referred to by its number.
The month at a glance
- Month number
- 3
- In Iranian usage
- Khordad
- In Afghan usage
- Jawza, or borj 3
- Length
- 31 days
- Gregorian window
- May 21 to June 22
This month shares its Afghan name with a zodiac sign. What the tradition carries for the sign is on the sign's own page; this page is about the month.
Khordad and Jawza: one month, two naming systems
The third month of the Solar Hijri calendar is called Khordad in Iranian usage and Jawza in Afghan usage. These are two names for the same month of the same calendar. Neither is the real name and neither is a variant of the other.
In Afghan usage the traditional borj names are the month names, and in everyday speech and writing a month is commonly referred to by its number instead. That is what borj 3 means: the third month of the year, which is this one. A reader who asks which month borj 3 is has asked about Khordad, called Jawza.
Because there is only one calendar underneath both naming systems, the month boundaries are the same in Iran and in Afghanistan, the month lengths are the same, and the leap rule is the same. Only the names change.
Where the month falls in the year
Khordad, or Jawza, is the third month of the Solar Hijri year and the last of the three spring months. The month before it is Ordibehesht, called Sawr in Afghan usage. The month after it is Tir, called Saratan, which opens summer.
The month runs 31 days, in every year, whether the year is a leap year or not. Its length does not vary, so the number of days is the same in both naming systems and in both countries.
Why its Gregorian window shifts
The lengths of the Solar Hijri months are set by the calendar's own rule. The start of the year is not: it is tied to the vernal equinox, an astronomical moment rather than a chosen Gregorian day. Every month of the year inherits its Gregorian starting date from that moment, so the day Khordad, or Jawza, begins on is determined rather than fixed by convention, and it drifts by a day one way or the other from year to year.
Across the documented range of 101 consecutive Persian years, 1329 to 1429, which for this month spans the Gregorian years 1950 to 2050, the month began on 21, 22 or 23 May and ended on 20, 21 or 22 June. That is 3 possible starting dates, and the window is narrow because the equinox itself moves only a little against the Gregorian calendar.
It also explains why a printed calendar that gives a single fixed Gregorian range for this month is right in most years and wrong in the rest. The spread comes from the equinox, not from any irregularity in the month itself.
When Khordad began
The month lengths are set by the calendar's own rule, but the year starts at the spring equinox — so the Gregorian day this month begins on is not the same every year.
Across the 101 years below, Khordad began on 3 different Gregorian dates. A calendar printed with one fixed range is right for most of them and wrong for the rest.
From 1950-05-22 to 2050-06-21.
May 21
1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2029, 2032, 2033, 2036, 2037, 2040, 2041, 2044, 2045, 2048, 2049
May 22
1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2030, 2031, 2034, 2035, 2038, 2039, 2042, 2043, 2046, 2047, 2050
May 23
1951, 1955, 1959
Sources
- Borkowski, The Persian Calendar for 3000 Years — the vernal-equinox anchoring that fixes every month boundary
- The Solar Hijri calendar's own month lengths: thirty-one days in the first six months, thirty in the next five, and twenty-nine or thirty in the last
- The traditional borj names, used as the month names of the Solar Hijri calendar in Afghanistan, where a month is also referred to by its number