Feast of Frawardignan

Frawardignan, Feast of

April, September, August; 19th day of Frawardin, the first Zoroastrian month

This is a "sacred name day" feast on which the month and day names coincide in the Zoroastrian calendar. But unlike most other name-day feasts, which refer to yazatas or spiritual beings, the 19th day of Frawardin honors the spirit of those who are living, dead, and not yet born. On this day a special ceremony is performed in memory of people from the community who have died. This thanksgiving service can be held in a fire temple, a meeting-hall, or a private home.
The Zoroastrian calendar has 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days at the end of the year. Because of discrepancies in the calendars used by widely separated Zoroastrian communities around the world, there are now three different calendars in use, and the Feast of Frawardignan can fall either in April, August, or September.
Followers of the Zoroastrian religion, which was founded by the prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathushtra, believed to have lived around 1200 b.c.e.), today live primarily in Iran and northwestern India, although smaller communities exist in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada, the U.S., England, and Australia.

SOURCES:
RelHolCal-2004, p. 66