Tirgan

Water in the heat of summer

Tirgan is dedicated to Tishtrya, the star-being of Zoroastrian belief who brings thunder, lightning and the rain that dry lands need. In the middle of summer, people celebrate it by splashing water on one another, dancing, reciting poetry and sharing traditional food. Historians from Gardizi and Biruni to European travellers of the Safavid era wrote about it.

Children especially enjoy one custom: rainbow-coloured bands are tied around the wrist, worn for ten days, and then thrown into a stream.

Arash the Archer

Tirgan remembers the legend of Arash. When the kings of Iran and Turan agreed to settle a dispute over their border, Arash was chosen to shoot a single arrow; wherever it fell would be the frontier. He loosed it on the thirteenth day of Tir, and it flew from the mountains of Amol to the far frontier of Khorasan. Turan had long suffered drought — and once the border was settled, rain fell on both lands and peace followed.

Where it lives on

Tirgan is still celebrated in Mazandaran and Amol in the north, in Tehran and Karaj, and in Yazd, Meybod, Ardakan, Kerman, Bam, Shiraz, Isfahan and other cities. Along the Caspian coast it survives as Tirema Sizda, “the thirteenth of Tir”, which has drifted later into the summer in the local calendar. Zoroastrian communities abroad celebrate it too.