Nayrouz or Neyrouz (Arabic Nārūz < Persian Nawruz) is a feast when

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s and

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Coptic Orthodox Church. Celebrated on September 11, the day is both the start of the Coptic new year and its first month,

Thout Thout ( cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ, ), also known as Thoth ( grc-gre, Θωθ, ''Thōth'') and Tut. ( ar, توت), is the first month of the ancient Egyptian calendar, Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between 11 September and 10 October of the Gre ...

. The Feast of Nayrouz marks the first day of the Coptic year. Multiple theories have been proposed for the origin of the word. One popular theory, repeated on many Websites, is that the word is Coptic in origin: Ignorant of the Coptic language for the most part, the Arabs confused the Coptic new year's celebrations, which the Copts called the feast of ''Ni-Iarōou'' (Bohairic lit. the feast of the rivers), with the Persian feast of

Nowruz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

, from which the word ''Nayrouz'' etymologically comes. The misnomer remains today, and the celebrations of the Coptic new year on the first day of the month of Thout are known as the Nayrouz. Others dispute this view, and hold that the word is fully Persian. They note that the word ''Nayrouz'' does not occur anywhere in the Synaxarium, that there is no evidence of the use of the supposed Coptic etymon in historical sources, and that a Persian etymology sufficiently explains the current name. The recorded Bohairic name for the new year was pi-klhom inte-tirompi, "the crown of the year." During the reign of Khosrow II (590–628), the Persians reached Egypt for the second time in history, and established control for a decade (

Sasanian Egypt Sasanian Egypt (known in Middle Persian sources as ''Agiptus'') refers to the brief rule of Egypt and parts of Libya by the Sasanian Empire, following the Sasanian conquest of Egypt. It lasted from 618 to 628, until the Sasanian general Shahrbar ...

). According to

Touraj Daryaee Touraj Daryaee ( fa, تورج دریایی; born 1967) is an Iranian Iranologist and historian. He currently works as the Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies and Culture and the director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the U ...

, the celebration of Nayrouz in Egypt may be one of the lasting Sasanid influences in Egypt. Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month of

, the first month of the Egyptian year, which for AD 1901 to 2098 usually coincides with 11 September, except before a Gregorian leap year when it begins September 12.

The Coptic year

The chronology of the Coptic Orthodox Church begins when

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

became Roman emperor in 284 AD. His reign was marked by torture of Christians to force them to deny their faith, as well as by mass executions, especially in Egypt. It is believed this time was one of the worst times that the Coptic church faced, known to believers as " the martyrdom era". Hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for ''

Anno Martyrum The Era of the Martyrs ( la, anno martyrum), also known as the ''Diocletian era'' ( la, anno Diocletiani), is a method of numbering years used by the Church of Alexandria beginning in the 4th century AD/CE and by the Coptic Orthodox Church of ...

'' or "Year of the Martyrs"). It should not be confused with the A.M. abbreviation used for the unrelated Jewish year, which is ''

Anno Mundi (from Latin "in the year of the world"; he, לבריאת העולם, Livryat haOlam, lit=to the creation of the world), abbreviated as AM or A.M., or Year After Creation, is a calendar era based on the Bible, biblical accounts of the Genesi ...

'' ("year of the world").

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* Coptic Orthodox Church September observances Christian festivals and holy days New Year celebrations Observances honoring the dead Christian martyrs Sasanian Egypt {{CopticOrthodoxy-stub

The Coptic year

See also

References

Sources