Yalda Night by the Iranian Cultural Organization
Event Marks Ancient Iranian Traditions
Shahab Parsa
Staff Writer
On Friday, January 27th, the campus-wide Iranian Cultural Organization (ICO) presented the Yalda Night to the campus community at the all-new Aldea Community Center in order to raise cultural awareness within our community about the Iranian culture and traditions.
The event included traditional Iranian food and deserts as well as some fruits such as pomegranates and watermelons, which are traditionally served on this night. Over 80 students and staff from the different programs on campus attended this event to mingle with the other attending students and become more closely acquainted with Iranian traditions.
In addition to Iranian music with a running slideshow showing pictures of many historical sights and art pieces from Iran, there was a presentation on the history of Yalda Night as well as two pieces of live music demonstrating two of our traditional instruments, daf (a frame drum) and tonbak (a goblet drum), played by our very own talented Soha Haghani (D1) and Payam Ishani (D2). Traditionally, Yalda Night is celebrated on December 21st but due to the winter break and scheduling issues, this event was held on January 27th. We thank all of the ICO board members who made this event a reality.
Yalda Night (shab-e Yalda or shab-e chelleh) is a celebration of winter solstice in the Persian culture that dates back to over 4000 years ago. In the days when Zorostrianism was the primary religion in the ancient Persia, Yalda was one of the religious holidays widely celebrated throughout the country. Yalda means birth, signifying the birth of Mithra, the angel of light and truth and the protector of crops and waters. Being the longest night of the year, the forces of Ahriman (the destructive spirit of darkness) were thought to be at their peak during Yalda night. The sunrise however represented the victory of sun over darkness and the beginning of the day belonging to Ahura Mazda, the lord of light (ahura) and wisdom (mazda). Throughout this night, fires were lit and prayers were given to Mithra to ensure his victory over the forces of darkness, bringing about longer days and protecting the winter crops. There was also temporary chaos and disorder throughout the festival with the normal order being restored after the festival, signifying the belief at the time that creation was order that came out of chaos.
In Western culture, Mithraism and Yalda celebration are believed to have influenced the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia (Saturn the God of Agriculture) and Sol Invictus (the Sun God) with many similar traditions. Moreover, some historians believe that these ceremonies (especially Satrunalia) affected the celebration of Christmas being set to December 25th as opposed to its previous celebration on January 6th with similar traditions such as gift-giving, lighting candles and paying visits to friends and family to stay up into the night.
Most recently in the post-Islamic era, Yalda Night has lost its widely festival-like celebration but has become a night of family gatherings, enjoying fruits (traditionally pomegranates and watermelon) and Persian Ajil (a mixture of pistachios, almonds, and other nuts and dried fruits). The presence of dried and fresh fruits is reminiscence of the ancient feasts to celebrate and pray to the deities to ensure the protection of the winter crops. In addition, this night is very famous for reading Persian poetry, especially those of Hafez ("Divan e Hafez") often thought to tell one's fortune.
Shahab Parsa is a second-year dental student.
This article appeared in the February 9, 2012 issue of Synapse.