The autumnal festival of Miθrá falls on October 2^nd in the ancient seasonal Zoroastrian Calendar! Zoroastrians consider Miθrá, the guardian of early morning hours after dawn, and invoke him in their morning prayers. 

Also, the first month of autumn is dedicated to Miθrá as well as the name of the 15th and 16^th day of each Zoroastrian month. This shows Miθrá’s connection to fall festivities and the central position of Miθrá at the heart/middle of each religious month. 

Miθrá appears in the poetic gathas/god songs of the prophet Zarathustra in the sense of “ability to connect, linking things together, and good understanding of relationships, connections, as well as mutual exchange of support, care, friendship,” (See miθrö.ibyö in Yasna 46.5, 2nd rhymed verse line.”

Avestan Miθrá, comes from reconstructed Indo-European root *meit– and is a cognate of Vedic Mitrá, Latin mūtō, Gothic maidjan, Latvian mietot.

Foods that are enjoyed during this autumn festival are usually sweet-sour dishes and fruits such as pomegranate, pomegranate syrup, berry polo or berry pilaf and Rice Jewel. 

Rice Jewel is a sumptuous pilaf at once sweet, tart, salty, crunchy, and silky mixed with strips of orange, lemon or tangerine peel that are cooked with sugar and water to make a citrus syrup. Carrots are browned in butter, then sweetened with sugar. Yellow onions are salted, seasoned with several spices, then cooked until caramelized. Pistachios and other nuts are sauteed briefly with raisins and barberries and made into a small tart berry.  Everything is suffused with a heavy dose of saffron.

Another popular dish for this holiday is fesenjaan, a most delicious and rich pomegranate, walnut stew cooked over a long period to perfection. Another stew is made from quince and apples. 

But why do the celebrations of Miθrá fall on October 2^nd instead of Autumnal equinox? 

The seasonal Zoroastrian calendar begins with vernal equinox, called ham.s.path. maidhya (literally the point where the celestial paths are at an equal/same distance from each other.) The calendar consists of 12 months of 30 days; each day is named after a god-being and/or god-force. There are an additional five days before the Vernal Equinox that are dedicated to the poetic songs/gathas of the Seer-Prophet Zarathustra The cumulative lag of an additional quarter-day per year is corrected, by the intercalation of one month in every 120 years. see Holy Dēnkard, Book 3.

There are 6 seasonal thanksgiving celebrations that are named in the Avestan and Middle Iranian sources such as Āfrīnagān gāhānbār (Blessings of the thanksgiving festivals.)

There are exactly 30 days from the time of the 3^rd thanksgiving, harvest festival (paiti shahem) to the 4^th thanksgiving festival (ayáthrem) where the livestock are decorated and led back to their warm shelter (October 12-16.) The autumnal festivities of Miθrá are celebrated in the mid-point between the two festivals on October 2^nd because the name of the month and the day coincide in the Zoroastrian calendar on such day! 

ardeshir