Esfand (, ) is the twelfth and final month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Esfand has twenty-nine days normally, and thirty during leap years. It begins in February and ends in March of the Gregorian calendar. Esfand corresponds to the zodiac sign of Pisces.
Esfand is the third and last month of the winter season (Zemestan), and is followed by Farvardin.
Events 28 - 1292 - The first Stanley Cup Final in hockey history concludes with the victory of the Toronto Hockey Club, champion team of the National Hockey Association (NHA) against the Victoria Aristocrats, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). 26 - 1316 - Anschluss of Austria into Germany 13 - 1328 - The 1951 Asian Games Opening Ceremony is held in New Delhi, India, the first in Asian Games history. 3 - 1366 - Askeran riots in the USSR - beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict 29 - 1373 - Tokyo subway sarin attack 12 - 1384 - 2006 World Baseball Classic, the first edition of modern international baseball tournament, opens 20 - 1389 - Japanese earthquake - Fukushima disaster 5 - 1400 - 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine begins 9 - 1404 - Operation Epic Fury begins
Observances 5 Esfand: Sepandārmazgān 5-6 Esfand: Defender of the Fatherland Day and National Day of Brunei 6-7 Esfand: Independence Day (Estonia) 7-10/11 Esfand: Ayyam-i-Há 12-13 Esfand: Liberation Day (Bulgaria) 15 Esfand: Arbor Day in Iran This date, which typically starts on March 5, starts Natural Recyclable Resources Week, ending on March 12. 17-18 Esfand: International Women's Day 26-27 Esfand: St. Patrick's Day 28-29 Esfand: Saint Joseph's Day Last Tuesday of Esfand: Chaharshanbe Suri
Movable observances and festivals Lantern Festival: Held 15 days following the Chinese New Year, date falls on first or second week of this month Frawardigan: Held 19-29 Esfand in normal years, and 20-30 Esfand in leap years, Zoroastrian period of remembrance of the dead
Births 24 Esfand is the Reza shah birthday. 26 - 1323 - Homeyra
Deaths
16 - 1391 - Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela from 1999 CE until his death in 2013 CE 17 - 1308 - William Howard Taft, Chief Justice and 27th President of the United States 18 - 1390 - Simin Daneshvar, Academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator 9 - 1404 - Ali Khamenei, 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
References