About Nowruz
Nowruz is the Iranian new year, timed to the March equinox, and in 2027 it falls on Sunday, 21 March 2027. In India it is kept by Zoroastrians as Jamshedi Navroz, most visibly by Parsi and Irani families in Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Navsari. Parsis who follow the Shahenshahi calendar mark a second Navroz in mid-August, which is the one that appears on government holiday lists, and Kashmiri Pandits keep a separate spring new year called Navreh.
Nowruz means new day. It is not fixed to a calendar date at all: it is an astronomical moment, and everything else about the festival hangs off it.
How the date is worked out
Nowruz is the instant the sun crosses the celestial equator going north, which is why it lands on 20 or 21 March and occasionally on 22. The Iranian calendar turns that instant into a day with one rule: if the equinox comes before solar noon at the Tehran meridian, that day is Nowruz; if after, the next day is. India runs two hours ahead of Tehran, so an equinox late on 20 March in Iran can already be past midnight here, which is why Indian and Iranian listings sometimes differ by a day.
The United Nations fixed its International Day of Nowruz at 21 March by General Assembly resolution A/RES/64/253 in 2010. UNESCO lists Nowruz as intangible cultural heritage, and the 2016 listing names India among the twelve countries where it is practised, alongside Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and the Central Asian states.
Why Indian Parsis have two new years
Zoroastrians once kept a single 365-day religious calendar with no leap day. Without a correction, such a calendar slips a day against the seasons every four years. Three versions are now in use, and Indian Parsis are split between them.
| Calendar | Where the new year falls now | Who follows it |
|---|---|---|
| Shahenshahi | Mid-August, drifting one day earlier every four years | The large majority of Parsis in India. A single leap month was inserted around the twelfth century and never repeated |
| Kadmi, or Qadimi | Late July, a month ahead of Shahenshahi | A minority of Parsi families, largely in Mumbai and Surat. The thirty-day gap surfaced in 1745, when Indian and Iranian reckonings were compared and one group switched |
| Fasli, or Bastani | 21 March, held there by a leap day every four years | Irani Zoroastrians in India and Parsi reformist families. Introduced in India by a reform society in 1906 |
So a Parsi household may greet you with Navroz Mubarak in March and again in August, and both are correct. The August date is the Shahenshahi 1 Farvardin, the real turn of their year count, which runs in the Yazdegerdi era from the accession of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian king, in 632 CE. The year that began in August 2025 was 1395 Y.Z.
The March date is Jamshedi Navroz, named for the legendary king Jamshid, who in the Shahnameh sits on a jewelled throne while his people scatter gems and call the day Now Ruz. Shahenshahi and Kadmi Parsis keep it as a festival even though their own calendars have drifted away from the equinox. Fasli and Irani families keep it as their new year. That is the whole confusion, and almost no holiday listing states it.
Pateti is not a greeting
Pateti comes from patet, meaning confession or repentance. It belongs to the closing days of the Zoroastrian year, the Gatha days of Muktad when the dead are remembered, and it is for taking stock rather than celebrating. In Indian usage the name drifted onto the new year itself, and "Happy Pateti" now goes out every August on cards and forwards. Plenty of Parsi priests and writers object. The wording the community itself uses is Navroz Mubarak or Sal Mubarak.
How is Nowruz celebrated in a Parsi or Irani home?
In a Parsi or Irani home, Navroz starts with an early bath and new clothes, goes on to a jashan at the agiary, and comes back to a laid table and a meal that opens with sweets.
- An early bath and new clothesThe day starts with a bath and something new to wear, and the doorstep is chalked with a rangoli-like design in white powder.
- The agiaryFamilies take sandalwood to the fire temple, where a jashan, a thanksgiving ceremony, is performed. Congregants greet each other and share malida after it.
- The table is laidA mirror, a lit divo, a rose water sprinkler, a bowl of water, a book of prayers, coins, fruit and flowers. Irani families set the haft-sin, seven items whose Persian names begin with the letter seen: sabzeh, samanu, senjed, serkeh, seeb, seer and somaq.
- Looking in the mirrorSeeing your own face first, with rose water sprinkled over you, is the small private ritual most Parsis remember from childhood.
- The mealSweets first: sev, vermicelli in sugar, and ravo, a semolina pudding stirred with charoli and almonds. Then patra ni machhi, sali boti and mutton pulao, with oash and Irani naan in Irani homes.
India counted 57,264 Parsis in the 2011 census, down from about 114,890 in 1941. The community is small enough that Navroz is visible only in a few pockets of Mumbai, Surat and Navsari. Most of the country will not notice the day, which is a good reason to send a wish.
Navreh in Kashmir, and why it is not Nowruz
Kashmiri Pandits keep their own new year, Navreh, dedicated to the goddess Sharika. It is lunar, falling on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the same day as Gudi Padwa and Ugadi. That is usually one to three weeks after the equinox, so Navreh and Nowruz almost never share a date despite the similar-sounding name.
The custom is a thaal kept ready the night before and looked at first thing on waking: cooked rice, curd, walnuts, a flower, a bitter herb, salt, bread, a coin, a pen and ink, and the new year's almanac. Each stands for something wished into the year, the bitter herb for the difficulty that comes with the rest. The Kashmiri year is counted in the Saptarishi era, which tradition dates to 3076 BCE.
- Navroz Mubarak
- Blessed new day. The standard greeting, used in both March and August
- Sal Mubarak
- Happy new year, in Gujarati and Parsi usage
- Nowruz Pirouz
- May your Nowruz be victorious. Persian, used by Irani families
- Jashan
- The Zoroastrian thanksgiving ceremony performed by priests on the day
- Agiary
- A Parsi fire temple; an Atash Behram is the highest grade of fire temple
- Haft-sin
- The Iranian table of seven items beginning with the letter seen
- Muktad
- The ten days before the Zoroastrian new year when the departed are remembered
What to write
Navroz Mubarak. Wishing you and your family a clean, bright year, and hoping there is ravo left by the time you get home.
Sal Mubarak! May this year be lighter than the last one. Save me a plate of sev and I am on my way.
Navroz Mubarak to you and everyone at home. Wishing you good health and peace in the year ahead, and many more to come.
Nowruz Pirouz. May the haft-sin bring everything on that table into your year, and may the spring be kind to you.
Navreh Mubarak. Hope the thaal was the first thing you saw this morning and the year follows it.
Navroz Mubarak to our Parsi and Irani colleagues and their families. Wishing you a year of health, good work and good company.
Navroz Mubarak. Nowruz is a new day rather than a better one, and I hope this year gives you the fresh start you have earned.
Do
- Say Navroz Mubarak or Sal Mubarak. Both are used inside the community and neither can be wrong.
- Send flowers, dry fruit or mithai. Gifts around the new year are ordinary and welcome.
- Wish in March and again in August if your friend keeps the Shahenshahi calendar. It reads as care, not as a mistake.
Avoid
- Don't write "Happy Pateti". Pateti is a day of repentance at the close of the old year, and many Parsis find the usage wrong.
- Don't assume every Indian Zoroastrian celebrates on the same date. The three calendars put the new year in March, July and August.
- Don't treat Nowruz as a Parsi-only festival. It is kept by Iranians, Kurds, Afghans, Central Asians, Bahá'ís and Ismailis, most of them not Zoroastrian.
The other Indian new years in this season fall on the same lunar day as Navreh: Gudi Padwa, Ugadi and, a few weeks later, Vaisakhi and Bohag Bihu on the solar reckoning.
How to wish someone on Nowruz
Navroz Mubarak and Sal Mubarak are the greetings that work in every Zoroastrian household, in March and in August alike. The day is about a clean start rather than achievement, so wishes about health, fresh beginnings and light carry better than anything about success. If you are not sure which new year your friend keeps, wishing them on both is taken as thoughtfulness, not confusion.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Nowruz in 2026 and 2027?
Nowruz is set by the Solar (equinox) calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 1 day later than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Nowruz in 2027?
Nowruz 2027 falls on Sunday, 21 March 2027.
Is Nowruz the same as Parsi New Year in August?
No. Nowruz at the March equinox is the new year of the Fasli calendar, kept by Irani Zoroastrians and reformist Parsis, and marked by everyone else as the festival of Jamshedi Navroz. The mid-August date on Indian holiday lists is the Shahenshahi new year, followed by most Parsis in India, and it moves one day earlier every four years because that calendar has no leap day.
Why do Parsis in India celebrate two new years?
Because most Indian Parsis follow the Shahenshahi calendar, which has drifted about five months away from the seasons since no leap day was ever added to it, so their year now turns in mid-August. They still keep Jamshedi Navroz at the spring equinox as a festival honouring the legendary king Jamshid, which is the date the rest of the Nowruz-keeping world observes.
What is Jamshedi Navroz?
Jamshedi Navroz is Nowruz at the spring equinox as kept by Zoroastrians, named for Jamshid, the king of Iranian legend who in the Shahnameh is credited with the first new day. For Fasli and Irani Zoroastrians it is the new year itself. For Shahenshahi and Kadmi Parsis it is a festival, with their calendar new year falling later in the year.
Is it correct to say "Happy Pateti"?
Many Parsis say it is not. Pateti comes from patet, meaning repentance, and belongs to the closing days of the old Zoroastrian year rather than to the new year. The usage became common in India through greeting cards, but Navroz Mubarak or Sal Mubarak is what the community itself uses and is always safe.
Is Navreh in Kashmir the same as Nowruz?
No. Navreh is the Kashmiri Pandit new year, dedicated to the goddess Sharika, and it is set by the lunar calendar on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the same day as Gudi Padwa and Ugadi. Nowruz is fixed to the solar equinox, so the two usually fall one to three weeks apart.
How is the Nowruz date decided each year?
By the March equinox. The Iranian calendar rule is that if the equinox falls before solar noon at the Tehran meridian, that day is Nowruz, and otherwise the next day is, which places it on 20, 21 or occasionally 22 March. The United Nations separately fixed its International Day of Nowruz at 21 March in 2010.
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