The Iranian Winter Solstice event known as Yaldā Night or Chelle Night is observed on the longest and darkest night of the year. This corresponds to the evening of December 20/21 in the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is observed throughout Iran and other areas that have traditionally been impacted by the Persian Empire, such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. Family and friends come together on this longest and darkest night of the year to eat, drink and recite poetry ands well the Shahnameh till well beyond midnight. The practises of what are now regarded as Shab-e Chelleh/Yalda were initially norms meant to safeguard the public from evil throughout that long night, at which period the evil forces of Ahriman were believed to be at their strongest. In Zoroastrian tradition, the longest and darkest night of the year was in particular an inauspicious day. People would assemble in the security of gatherings of friends and family, exchange the final surviving summer fruits, and seek methods for passing the long night in pleasant company. People were urged to stay up for the majority of the night to avoid bad things happening to them. Therefore, Yalda Night was one of the sacred nights in ancient Iran and was inserted as a part of the official calendar of the Iranians dating since 502 BC under Darius I. This night is traditionally celebrated with events that date back centuries. Because of previous experiences, ancient people were used to the changing of the seasons and the inconsistencies that occured throughout the year. They carried out their activities and duties as the seasons and altitudes changed and the sun rotated. The latter days of autumn and the first night of winter are when the days are the shortest, were known to the ancient Indo-Europeans. Thereafter, the days and nights gradually get longer and shorter respectively. In order to mark the start of the year, they thus gave this night the name — The Night of the Suns Birth i.e. Mehr. Pomegranates and watermelons are especially significant fruits and nuts to be taken on this night. The scarlet colours of these fruits stand in for the crimson hues of dawn and the life-giving radiance. [Information and Image Credit : Yaldā_Night, Wikipedia] [Image: Table of Chelle Night] [Image Availed Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported ; Wikipedia-Image-Author : PersianDutchNetwork]
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[Source-Image-URL: : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yalda_Night_Table_Amsterdam_2011_Photo_by_Pejman_Akbarzadeh_Persian_Dutch_Network.jpg ] #Mythology
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Rituals and Customs
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