Tirgan, the Persian feast of washing

Tirgan is one of the Persian feasts that al-Biruni gathered in al-Qanun al-Mas'udi in the chapter on "the feasts of the Persians and their well-known days in their Zoroastrian times", where he calls it "the feast of washing". ² In his table it falls in the month Tir, on the day named Tir. ²

According to the passage of al-Biruni quoted by the editor, at Tirgan the Persians bathed, swept the kitchens and hearths; al-Biruni also speaks of "breaking them" (the pronoun in the quoted text refers back to these) and explains it by the people's deliverance on that day from the siege of Afrasiyab, when each went back to his work, and therefore they cook wheat with unripe fruit, since they could not then grind the wheat. ¹ As for the washing, they said that Kaykhusraw, returning from his war with Afrasiyab, halted alone by a spring and fainted from fatigue, and that Wijan son of Kudharz reached him and sprinkled water on him until he came to; bathing was practised from then on as a blessing. ¹

The editor cites this passage to show that al-Biruni did not merely list feasts and occasions but pointed to their origins and the causes that made them feasts. ¹ Al-Biruni introduces his table of Persian feasts by noting that although time places the Magians between the Jews and the Christians, the Law places them after, and that they were treated like the people of the book only because of reports to that effect. ²