No, we haven't time-traveled to the medieval era! It is the date according to the Persian calendar (aka Jalaali aka Shamsi). The calendar was named after Jalaal-ol-Din Malek-shaah-e Saljuqi, the ruler and patron of Hakim Omar Khayyam (who revised the calendar in 1079). It is official in Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asian Republics andKurdish Mesopotamia.
The calendar year is the same length as the Gregorian one, but but is based on the seasons and deals with leap years differently. The first six monthsof Jalaali all have 31 days and the second six months all have 30 days
in leap
years, with the last month having 29 days in non-leap years. The first day of the year is the first day of spring (our March 21st). I imagine this reflects the ideals of the rulers during the time it was created. The Gregorian calendar if based on religion: it counts years from the
traditional incarnation of Jesus. It is curious that the Persian rulers' focus during this time differs from the European one, since both were agrarian societies and both were politically dominated by their religion.
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