Azar — month 9 of the Persian year

The month at a glance

Month number

9

In Iranian usage

Azar

In Afghan usage

Qaws, or borj 9

Length

30 days

Gregorian window

November 21 to December 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.

Read about Sagittarius, the sign

Azar and Qaws: one month, two naming systems

Month 9 of the Solar Hijri calendar is called Azar in Iranian usage and Qaws in Afghan usage. These are two naming systems for one calendar. Neither name is a translation of the other, and neither is a local variation on the other.

In Afghan usage the traditional borj names are the month names, and Qaws is also the name of a zodiac sign. Alongside the name, a month is commonly referred to by its number, which is a plain counting convention rather than a nickname: borj 9 is the ninth month of the year, and that is this month. Someone asking which month borj 9 is has asked for Qaws, the same month Iranian usage calls Azar.

Only the names differ. The month boundaries are the same, the lengths are the same, and the leap rule is the same. A day recorded in Azar and the same day recorded in Qaws are the same day on the same calendar.

Where the month sits in the year

Azar, or Qaws, is the ninth month of the Solar Hijri year and the last month of autumn. It runs 30 days, every year, with no leap-year variation of its own.

It follows Aban, called Aqrab, and is followed by Dey, called Jadi, which opens the winter half of the year. Because the two naming systems share one set of boundaries, this order and this length hold whichever names are used: the month begins and ends on the same days in both.

Why the Gregorian dates move

The month lengths are set by the calendar's own rule, while the start of the year is determined by the vernal equinox. The equinox does not arrive on the same Gregorian day each year, so the Persian year does not begin on a fixed Gregorian date, and every month after it inherits that small shift. The Gregorian date on which Azar, or Qaws, begins is therefore determined rather than chosen.

Across the documented window of 101 consecutive Persian years, 1329 to 1429 — the Gregorian years 1950 to 2050 for this month — the month has begun no earlier than 21 November and no later than 23 November, and has ended between 20 and 22 December. That is 3 distinct start dates in all, clustered rather than evenly spread.

This is why a printed calendar that gives a single fixed Gregorian range for the month is right in most years and quietly wrong in the rest. The window is narrow, but it is a window, not a line.

When Azar 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, Azar 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 1950-11-22 to 2050-12-21.

1. November 21

   20 yearsEnded December 20.

   1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2029, 2032, 2033, 2036, 2037, 2040, 2041, 2044, 2045, 2048, 2049

2. November 22

   78 yearsEnded December 21.

   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

3. November 23

   3 yearsEnded December 22.

   1951, 1955, 1959

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