Avicenna Day · Ruz-e Ebn-e Sina

Culture of origin: Iranian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Iran

Iran marks 1 Shahrivar as the birthday of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, c. 980–1037) and, for his service to medicine, as Physicians' Day. Among the greatest thinkers of his age, he wrote The Book of Healing, a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, a standard text at medieval European universities that stayed in use as late as 1650. He wrote mostly in Arabic but also in Persian, and his tomb is in Hamadan.