Last Thursday of the Year · Panjshanbe-ye Akhar-e Sal

Culture of origin: Iranian · Ancient festival

Holiday sources: Iran · Lur · Zoroastrianism

On the last Thursday before Nowruz, Iranians go to the graves of their dead to honour their memory. The custom is seen as continuing an ancient one: in Zoroastrian belief, described in the Farvardin Yasht of the Avesta, the fravashis of the departed come down to their old homes in the last ten days of the year and return to the sky at dawn on the first day of Farvardin.