Mehr

Mehr is named for Mithra — one of the oldest deities in the Indo-Iranian tradition, the god of covenant, friendship, and the sun's light. The month begins precisely at the autumn equinox. Its great festival, Mehregan, was celebrated 2,500 years before it became overshadowed by Nowruz. It is the Persian Thanksgiving — gratitude for the harvest, gratitude for light.

The Mihr Yasht — the Avestan hymn to Mithra — is one of the longest texts in the entire Avestan corpus: 146 verses, more than most other hymns combined. It describes Mithra with 10,000 eyes and 10,000 ears, present at every oath taken anywhere on earth, recording every promise kept and every one broken. He does not forget. The cosmos in this view is not indifferent. It is witnessed. Every agreement made in Mehr's month is made before the oldest contract-keeper in the Indo-Iranian tradition.

At Mehregan, gifts were exchanged between people who owed each other something, old grievances formally concluded, the year's social accounts settled. Achaemenid kings received tribute at this festival. The logic was not ceremonial: the harvest had come in, the earth had delivered on its agreement with those who worked it, and the proper response was to honor the deity of agreements in kind. The festival and the season were the same thought, expressed twice.