PER 
princes of the blood and the grandees; the fifth to the 
children of the royal family ; and the fixth to his fubjefts 
generally, receiving on that day the prefents which they 
were accuftomed to make him. 
Such were the ceremonies of the Perfian new year, at 
court. At the autumnal equinox they were not wholly 
unlike, though fomewhat differently conducted. The 
angel of the month Mihr (September) was fuppofed to 
be the intelligence which regulated the Sun, and to pre- 
fide over love and friendship. On the 16th, being this 
angel’s particular day, began one of their greateft festi¬ 
vals called Mihrgan. The king on the firft day of this 
feftival, after anointing himfelf with the oil of ban, (as did 
all his i'ubjefts who could procure it,) drefled in a Superb 
robe of many colours, his head adorned with the royal 
taj, (diadem,) on which was a fplendid figure of the Sun, 
feated himfelf on his throne; when the high-prieft, en¬ 
tering alone, with a large filver difh, filled with fugar, 
peaches, quinces, apples, citrons, pomegranates, the ju¬ 
jube, the lote, a bunch of white grapes, and feven myrtle 
berries, muttered over them a prayer, and prefented them 
to the king, who ate of them all ; after which the nobility 
and others, approaching according to their rank, followed 
the Sovereign's example; when a variety of robes and 
other rich furniture, from the royal wardrobes, were dis¬ 
tributed amongft them in proportion to their degree. 
On this day it was efteemed fortunate to wean or name 
children ; and, if a fon was then born to the king, he was 
immediately, with great folemnity, confecrated high pried 
of the Sun. 
Mur dad, (July.) This angel was one of the reputed 
guardians of trees, herbs, fruits, and feeds. Murdad, 
amongd other attributes, is fuppofed to be the prefiding 
angel of Winter; but that mud, apparently, have been 
when his month (now July) correfponded with Novem¬ 
ber, for the fame reafon that the ridiculous parade of 
KuJ'ah nijhin (the proceflion of Kufah), mentioned to have 
been celebrated in the month Azur, mud apply to it when 
coinciding with the vernal equinox. This fedival, how¬ 
ever whimiical it may appear to us, was Solemnized in 
Perfia, by all ranks, from the prince to the peafant. An 
old toothlefs beardiefs figure, reprefenting Winter in his 
departure, was mounted on a mule or afs. He was ge¬ 
nerally Some poor buffoon, (if one-eyed So much the 
better,) who, by ludicrous gediculations afforded much 
mirth to the people; fome Sprinkling him with warm 
water and giving him hot victuals, whild others were 
drenching him with cold; Kufah all the while fanning 
himfelf, and exclaiming, Garma! garma ! O heat! heat 1 
He had a crow in one hand, and a fan or fcourge in the 
other; and was attended even by the family of the king, 
or of the governor of the city, who accompanied him on 
horfeback through the whole of the fantaffic ceremony. 
In this manner he paraded the dreets, entering the houfe 
of every nobleman, who was obliged to give him a piece 
of money, if he did not wifh to have his clothes bedawbed 
with a piece of red clay, which, difl'olved in water, he 
carried by his fide, in a little earthen veffel. He then went 
into every fhop, the owners of which took efpecial care 
to have their money ready, for a moment’s delay gave 
Kufah a right to Seize all that was in them. Whatever 
was thus collefted before the fird prayers, became the 
property of the king, if in the metropolis, or of the go¬ 
vernor in any other city ; but from that hour until the 
Second prayer, the receipts were referved by Kufah him¬ 
felf, who then Suddenly difappeared ; for, if this repre¬ 
sentative of Winter was found in public'after that time, 
any perfon might beat him with impunity. 
On the fame grounds, we mud place in the month of 
April, another fedival of a more dignified nature, which 
they celebrated anciently on the 8th of the month Day 
(December), called lihurm roz (cheerful day) ; when, ac¬ 
cording to the Farhangi Jahanguiri and other authors, 
the king of Perfia, clothed in white robes, defcended from 
his throne, and Seating himfelf on a white carpet, the 
Vot. XIX. No. 1334. 
S I A. 675 
farapardah (or veil before the royal throne) was thrown 
open, and all his fubjefts were admitted to his prefence. 
The hufbandinen were treated with particular refpeft, 
fome of their chiefs dining at the fame table with their 
Sovereign, when headdrefled them in the following drain: 
“ I am one of you ; my fubfidence, and that of my people, 
reds on the labour of your hands; the fucceffion of the 
race of man depends upon the plough ; without you we 
cannot exid ; but your dependence upon me is recipro¬ 
cal ; we ought, therefore, to be brothers, and to live in 
perpetual harmony.” 
We cannot poflibly be difpleafed with the attention 
paid by the Sovereign to hufbandry, or hufbandmen ; but 
we confefs, that the following cudom affefts us dill more 
clofely. We have indeed heard, in our own country, of 
privileges appertaining to the ladies in leap-year, in the 
choice of their lovers; but it Seems that in Perfia every 
year has leap-year privilege, though redrifted to one 
month, and to one day of that month; but then, in re¬ 
venge, it extends to married women as well as to maidens; 
and includes hufbandsas well as bachelors, under its do¬ 
minion. Sapandarmuz, (February, xiith month.) To 
this angel they afligned the care of the earthly globe, and 
alfo the guardianlhip of virtuous women ; in confequence 
of which, the fifth, his peculiar day, was confidered as 
highly aufpicious to every circumdance relative to mar¬ 
riage. One of the names of this day, was viardgiran, 
(taking or governing men,) founded, as they fay, upon 
a cudom which prevailed in ancient times of veding the 
ladies on that day with defpotic power, the hufbands pay¬ 
ing an implicit obedience to the mod arbitrary commands 
of their wives; whild the virgins, in their refpeftive 
clafles, had the Singular privilege of choofing for them- 
felves a hufband from among the unmarried part of the 
male Sex ; who, they fay, had too high a refpeft for this 
gallant inditution to hefitate a moment in receiving their 
fair admirers. The pairing of the birds about this feafon 
might poflibly have fuggeffed thofe inducements to ma¬ 
trimony, as well to the wed as to the ead; Valentine’s 
day, in old times, with fome variation of ceremony, bear¬ 
ing a drong refemblance to this Perfian fedival. (From 
Wilkins’s edit, of Richardfon’s Perfian Dift.) 
Of Persia under the Mahometan Dynasties, to 
THE PRESENT TIME. 
The hidory of all the dynadies which we have enume¬ 
rated, and thofe to which we are proceeding, will be 
found to be very nearly the fame. A military leader, 
difl'atisfied with the court, and of an enterpriling genius, 
attaches to his dandard companions of a Similar character. 
H is fird fuccefles are rewarded by an ample Spoil, which 
generality or policy induces him to divide. Numbers 
flock to his banners. Ambition and avarice are his aux¬ 
iliaries ; and he has only to contend againd a feeble Sen¬ 
timent of attachment for an unknown prince, who pofli¬ 
bly might not poflefs a fingle quality calculated to infpire 
it, and whofe name had furnifhed a fanftion to every Spe¬ 
cies of mifrule. The people remain paflive fpeftators of 
the approaching contefl : and the royal phantom vaniffies 
as foon as it is attacked. The commander, who now 
ceafes to be a rebel, commences the funftions of Sovereign¬ 
ty. Bred up in habits of bulinefs, and inured to the con¬ 
flicts of aftive life; aware that he poflefles power by a 
precarious tenure, he endeavours to make himfelf refpeft- 
ed as well as feared: his difcipline is Severe; abufes in 
the adminiflration are correfted, and every department 
of the date rigoroufly Scrutinized. A comparifon of his 
rule with the luxurious indolence and effeminacy of the 
preceding reign, is entirely to his advantage. At his 
death, he tranfmits to his fucceflfora throne Supported by 
the experience of its beneficial eft'efts, and defended by 
an army formidable by its numbers, its difcipline, and its 
attachment. His fon, who probably fought and conquer¬ 
ed by the fide of his father, purlues the fame policy, ex¬ 
tends his dominions, enforces his regulations, and enafts 
8 K new 
