Mehr 16 · the festival of Mehr
Mehregan
Afzoon.
May your Mehr grow. See you next Mehregan.
One of the oldest festivals of Iran
Mehregan is one of the oldest festivals of Iran, standing alongside Nowruz and Yalda. It falls on Mehr 16, the day of Mehr in the month of Mehr, as summer turns to autumn and the harvest comes in.
Mehr means friendship, affection, and keeping your word. The festival honours it the way people always have: gathering together and sharing what the season gave, pomegranates, apples, grapes and sweets, with the people they are bound to.
Where Nowruz greets the spring and Yalda keeps watch through the longest night, Mehregan belongs to autumn: gratitude, loyalty, and warmth that stays as the days get shorter.
- When
- Mehr 16 · around October 8
- Season
- Harvest, the turn to autumn
- Meaning
- Friendship · a promise kept · light
- On the table
- Pomegranate, apple, grapes, sweets
Three festivals. One year.
- SpringNowruz
The new year: the first day of spring and everything starting again.
- AutumnMehregan
Friendship and a promise kept, as the harvest comes in.
- WinterYalda
The longest night, kept awake together until the sun comes back. We made a game of it.
NightForge, the game →
Mehr is the whole idea
Panjgoosheh runs on the same thing Mehregan celebrates: people bound to each other, who keep their word.
