One of the unique innovations of Iranian sailors is the marine Nowruz ritual, which was invented for traveling in the seas. Iranian sailors used the maritime calendar to start their sea voyages, which often lasted for more than nine months of the year. They started their journey on the first day of marine New Year, when the sea is calmer than other times. On this day, rituals are performed on the occasion of the beginning of the new maritime year, which is still performed in some areas.
ضوابط مقررات و خصوصیات این تقویم در طول تاریخ سینه به سینه از ناخدایان با تجربه و قدیمی به دریانوردان و کشاورزان نسل بعد انتقال داده می شود؛ و برای هریک از این زمان ها یکی از حروف الفبا در نظر گرفته شده است. به طور مثال، حرف “ب” نشانه ی نوروز بحری (دریایی) است، حرف “ز” نشانه ی نوروز زراعی است و حرف “س” نشانه ی نوروز سهیلی است.
Maritime Nowruz
The first day of maritime Nowruz coincides with the first day of August. This day coincides with the end of sixty days of sea storms, and it is a day when the sea is calmer than other times, or from this day onward, it gradually calms down, and sailors adjust the time of their sea trips accordingly. Maritime Nowruz is more common among sailors of the Persian Gulf and Oman; and has been based on the movement and position of stars and constellations for a long time and does not have twelve months like the solar year or the Gregorian calendar.
Seasons of Maritime Calendar
In this calendar, 365 days of the year are divided into four seasons. The first three seasons in the nautical calendar have 100 days and the last season, which is summer, has 65 days. The first hundred days of the maritime calendar is known as spring of the sea. Because during these days, the sea has passed 65 days full of chaos and is facing peace and tranquility. According to the so-called Persian Gulf sailors, the sea has become kinder in this season, and it is the right season for sailing ships to start traveling in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Sea of Oman, and even the African and Chinese seas.
In the maritime calendar, the seasons are divided into ten ten-day parts; and each ten days have special characteristics for the people of the sea, based on which they make all their plans. For example, in the third decade of the first season of the maritime calendar, the southern Kush winds begin to blow, and in the fourth decade of this season, swimming in the sea and diving time ends.
Rituals of Maritime Nowruz
سال ها پیش در اولین روز نوروز دریایی مردان پیش از رفتن به دریا مقداری برگ درخت خرما بر روی درب منازل خود نصب می کردند و دام های اهلی نظیر گاو، بز، گوسفند، شتر و… با خود به دریا می بردند. این مردمان پیش از آغاز سفر در ساحل به هم رنگ میپاشیدند، شاخ حیوانات را رنگ می زدند و بچه ها ساعت ها به بازی و شنا در دریا میپرداختند. زنان نیز دسته جمعی بعد از غروب به دریا می رفتند. این مردمان اغتقاد دارند که در روز اول نوروز دریای آب دریا شفا دهنده و پاک کننده است و از این طریق رنج و بلا و مصیبت را تا سال دیگر از خود دور می کردند.
Maritime Nowruz ritual is similar in countries that use maritime calendar. For example Indian and Pakistani seafarers shed coconuts and bananas in the sea and wish for a calm year. They also go swimming in the sea for cleansing and calamity; and this is why some sources have mentioned that the ritual of swimming in the sea in the hope of having a pure and good year on the first day of the maritime calendar is one of the rituals of Hinduism.