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Mehrgân (alternatively: Mihragān, (ペルシア語:مهرگان) or Jashn-e Mehr ''Mehr Festival'') is a Zoroastrian and Persian (Iranian) festival 〔http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/civica/inc/displayblobpdf2.asp?BlobID=3982〕〔http://www.un.org/spanish/aboutun/organs/ga/55/verbatim/a55pv94e.pdf〕〔http://www.nipoc.org/Mehrgan/〕〔http://www.paaia.org/cs/board_of_directors/mariam_khosravani〕 celebrated since the pre-Islamic era to honor the Yazata of "Mehr" ((ペルシア語:مهر)), which is responsible for friendship, affection and love. It is also widely referred to as Persian Festival of Autumn. ==Introduction== Mehrgan was once a Persian festival, and possibly even older, but what forms it then remains in the realm of speculation. By the 4th century BC, it was observed as one of the Zoroastrian name-day feasts, a form it retains even today, even in predominantly Islamic Persia, where it is of the few pre-Islamic festivals that continue to be celebrated by the public at large. As mentioned above, Mehrgān is a name-day feast. These name-day feasts are festivals celebrated on the day of the year when the day-name and month-name dedicated to a particular angel or virtue intersect. The pre-Islamic Persians (Iranians) had 30-day months, which means that each day in each month had a different name. 12 of the days are also names of the 12 months. The day whose name corresponded to the name of the month was celebrated. It was a celebration of life, the season, God, and joy. Concerning Mehrgan, the Mehr day in the Mehr month also corresponded to the day farmers collected their crops. They thus also celebrated the fact God had given them food to survive the coming cold months. Today, only two of these name-day continue to have a wide following in (predominantly) Islamic Iran. These are Mehrgan, dedicated to Mehr, and Tirgan, dedicated to Tishtrya/Tir. Irrespective of which calendar is observed, Mehrgān falls on the 196th day of the calendar year. For details on how this date is calculated, see basis for the date, below. For calendars that have March 21 as Nowruz or New Year's Day (i.e. in the ''Fasili'' and ''Bastani'' variants of the Zoroastrian calendar as well as in the Iranian civil calendar), Mehrgān falls on October 2. For the ''Shahanshahi'' variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, which in 2006–2007 has New Year's Day on August 20, Mehrgān fell on March 3 of the following Gregorian year. For the ''Kadmi'' variant, which has New Year's Day 30 days earlier, Mehrgān falls on February 1. In Biruni's 11th century ''Book of Instructions in the Elements of the Art of Astrology'' (233), the astronomer observed that "some people have given the preference to Mihragān (Nowruz, i.e. New Year's day/Spring Equinox ) by as much as they prefer autumn to spring."〔.〕 As Biruni also does for the other festival days he mentions, he reiterates a local anecdotal association for his description of Mehrgan (''ha al-mirjan'' in the author's Arabic parlance) with a fragment of a tale from Iranian folklore: On this day, Fereydun vanquished the evil Dahak and confined him to Mount Damavand. This fragment of the legend is part of a greater cycle that ties Mehrgan with Nowruz; Dahak vanquished Jamshid (who the legends have as the one establishing Nowruz or New Year's Day), and Fereydun vanquishes Dahak, so restoring the balance. The association of Mehrgan with the polarity of spring/autumn, sowing/harvest and the birth/rebirth cycle did not escape Biruni either, for as he noted, "they consider Mihragān as a sign of resurrection and the end of the world, because at Mihragān that which grows reaches perfection."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mehregan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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