TEHRAN – Esfandgan is an ancient Iranian celebration devoted to women and mothers. It is celebrated on Sepandarmaz Day in the month of Esfand, the last month of the Iranian calendar.

Esfandgan is a celebration for honoring the dignity of Izad Sepandarmazd whose materialistic symbols are women and the earth, said Farzaneh Goshtasb, a PhD graduate in ancient Iranian culture and languages, told the Tehran Times.
Izads were symbols of the qualities of God, and each day of a month was named after an Izad, she explained.
February 18, the fifth day of the ancient month of Esfand, according to the old Iranian calendar, is the day of the Esfandgan celebration, said Goshtasb, adding it is a day that the name of the day and the name of the month are the same.
According to the ancient Iranian calendar, every day of the month had a name -- instead of a number, said Goshtasb. “It is similar to the current Iranian calendar in which each month has a name which is the name of one of the ancient Iran’s Izads.”
In ancient Iran, each month, on the day that a coincidence between the name of the month and the name of the day happened, a monthly celebration was held, and Esfandgan is the coincidence of the day Esfand with the month of Esfand, she noted.
Esfand means the mother of creation or holy perfect-thinking and it is one of the qualities of God, she maintained.
The earth is the worldly symbol of Esfand and it is the source of life, birth, piety and purity, Goshtasb, a faculty member of the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, pointed out.
The qualities of the earth such as love, piety, generosity, purity, and birth are undoubtedly hidden in women and mothers, she stressed, adding both women and the earth are symbols of birth and creation in many cultures because seeds grow in them, she pointed out.
Abooreyhan Birooni (937-1408), in his book Asarolbaghiye, explains about Esfandgan as a celebration to value honest, pious and husband-lover women. He introduces Esfandgan as the celebration of women or women’s day in which men granted presents to their wives, she explains.
Goshtasb, a member of the association of Zoroastrian clergies, went on to say that “the status of women in a society demonstrates its cultural development. Allocation of a special day to women is a considerable criterion proving the maturity of Iran’s ancient society.”
She said currently Esfandgan is celebrated in different parts of Iran with different ceremonies. For example, in the village of Afoos in Isfahan Province “Golbahar” a similar celebration is held at the beginning of spring and on this day all men leave the village during the day and women take all responsibilities, and at the evening when men return home, they present their wives a gift, she explained.
Goshtasb further noted that another similar celebration is held in Javaherdeh village, northern Iran, which is like a harvesting festival and at the end of the day husbands give presents to their wives.
She added there is no information available about the ceremonies held in Esfandgan day in ancient Iran. It is said that only in Asarolbaghiye on this day men presented women gifts and it is also mentioned that on this day people tried to make the earth clean or cultivate a plant, she explained.
Although the time of Esfandgan and Valentines Day is very close, they have no correspondence, Goshtasb noted. “Despite the fact that women are one of the most important representations of love and friendship, love can exist between friends, parents and children or countrymen.”
In ancient Iran, like many other countries, women’s day or mother’s day was a unique issue not being mixed with the day of lovers, she concluded