Iran Press/Iran News: Yalda is a winter solstice celebration, it is the last night of autumn and the longest night of the year.
Yalda means birth and the mythological goddess of light. Since days get longer and nights to get shorter in winter, Iranians celebrate the last night of autumn as the rebirth of the sun and the victory of light over darkness.
On this night, families, friends and relatives usually gather at the home of grandparents or the eldest in the family to pass the longest night of the year with family members, eating nuts and fruits, reading Hafez poems, making good wishes for the future.
The tradition of Yalda includes eating nuts, watermelons, pomegranates, and this has been the custom for centuries.
Fruits of Shab-e-Yalda have symbolic significance as well. Some believe that watermelon symbolizes the sun by its spherical shape while others believe that eating watermelon keeps one safe from being hurt by winter diseases. Pomegranate is also a symbol of birth and its bright red seeds symbolize the glow of life.
Reading poems from the Divan of Hafez is an entertaining tradition of Yalda Night.
Each of the members of a family or a group of friends makes a wish-while keeping it a secret- and randomly opens the book of Hafez; then the eldest member of the family or friends reads the randomly selected poem loudly.
In this way, the last and the longest night of autumn comes to an end happily and the first day of winter begins.
Yalda Night is also celebrated in countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and in some of the Caucasian states such as the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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