Why do Persian festivals stay put while Islamic dates shift every year?
Because they are counted on two different calendars, and Dubai runs its working week on a third. The Iranian festival calendar is solar: its year is anchored to the March equinox, so Nowruz, Chaharshanbe Suri, Sizdah Bedar, Mehregan, Yalda and Sadeh land on the same Gregorian dates, give or take a day, for a lifetime. The Islamic Hijri calendar is lunar: its months are moon months, and twelve of them come up short of a solar year, so Ramadan, the two Eids and Muharram move steadily earlier against the Gregorian year.
The third calendar is the Gregorian one itself — offices, school terms, flight bookings, our own order screen. An Iranian family in Dubai lives on all three at once, and after a year it stops being confusing.
What is the Iranian year actually anchored to?
One moment: the instant the sun crosses the celestial equator in March. Iranians call that instant tahvil. It is calculated rather than announced, which is why families wait for a precise time of day — sometimes mid-afternoon, sometimes the small hours — not for midnight.
Every month and every festival then sits at a fixed position after that anchor. And because the Gregorian calendar is also a solar calendar, the two keep step with one another. That is the entire reason a Persian festival can go into a Gregorian diary a year ahead and still be in the right place when you get there.
What are the twelve months of the Iranian calendar?
Three months to a season, starting with spring. Most of the names trace back to Zoroastrian tradition, and several are still ordinary words in Persian: Mehr is bound up with loyalty and covenant, Aban with the waters, Azar with fire, Bahman with good thought.
| Month | Season | What sits here |
|---|---|---|
| Farvardin | Spring | Nowruz on the first day; Sizdah Bedar on the thirteenth |
| Ordibehesht | Spring | — |
| Khordad | Spring | — |
| Tir | Summer | — |
| Mordad | Summer | — |
| Shahrivar | Summer | — |
| Mehr | Autumn | Mehregan, the festival named for its month |
| Aban | Autumn | — |
| Azar | Autumn | Yalda, on the last night of the month |
| Dey | Winter | opens at the dawn that ends Yalda |
| Bahman | Winter | Sadeh |
| Esfand | Winter | khaneh tekani through the month; Chaharshanbe Suri on the last Wednesday eve |
Which Persian festival sits in which month?
The year opens on the first of Farvardin with Nowruz, the haft-sin table and the dawn that follows the fires, and the new-year visiting ends on the thirteenth of the same month, outdoors, at Sizdah Bedar, the day nobody stays inside.
The work happens before that. All through Esfand, the last month, comes khaneh tekani, the weeks when the kitchen itself is taken apart, and the last Wednesday eve of the old year is Chaharshanbe Suri, the fire night before Nowruz.
The other half of the year is quieter and just as fixed. Mehregan, the autumn festival that arrives with the first cool mornings, falls in Mehr. Yalda, the longest night of the year, closes Azar and hands over to Dey at first light. And deep in Bahman sits Sadeh, the midwinter fire festival between Yalda and Nowruz.
Why do Ramadan and both Eids arrive earlier each year?
Because a Hijri month runs from one new moon to the next, and twelve of those come up short of the solar year the Gregorian calendar measures. The whole Hijri year therefore slides backwards through the Gregorian seasons. Anyone who has been in the Gulf long enough has seen Ramadan fall in the long days of summer and, years later, in short winter ones.
The same drift carries everything attached to it: suhoor and iftar across Ramadan, the Eid morning table after the fast, and the days of Muharram and Ashura, when nazri is shared.
When is an Islamic date confirmed?
Closer to the time. The confirmation comes near the date itself rather than a year out, and it is made separately in different countries, so a household in Dubai can hear one date while relatives elsewhere hear another. That is ordinary, and not something a restaurant blog can settle for you.
What you can do is practical: pencil the week in, and firm it up when the announcement comes. If other people are involved — a table, a delivery slot, a house filling with relatives — that announcement is your cue to make arrangements, not before.
Which calendar does Dubai itself run on?
The Gregorian one, for nearly everything: contracts, term dates, appointments, the lock screen of your phone. Our website and kitchen use it too. The kitchen runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so no calendar decides when we open — what a calendar changes is the occasion, not the opening hours. Our note on holiday mornings, from Eid to National Day covers that side of it.
How does a Dubai household keep all three at once?
- Solar, so fix it early. Nowruz, Sizdah Bedar, Chaharshanbe Suri, Mehregan, Yalda and Sadeh can be written into next year's calendar today.
- Lunar, so hold it loosely. Ramadan, the two Eids and Muharram get a rough week now and a firm date later.
- Gregorian, because everyone else uses it. That is the date you will actually type into a form or a leave request.
Plenty of Iranian families here end up carrying two dates for the same day — the Farvardin one they say at home, and the March one they write down for work.
What does all this mean when you are planning the table?
For a solar festival you can arrange things a long way out. An order can be scheduled for a future time on our site, including a dawn arrival, which is the awkward hour a Yalda or Chaharshanbe Suri night tends to end on. Delivery covers 141 Dubai areas with the fee for your area shown at checkout; pickup and dine-in get you the same food.
For a lunar date, wait for the confirmation and then book. The menu and ordering and the reservation page are both on the site, and anything you are unsure about is one phone call: 04 321 8882.
