Do you know about Yalda?
The night of Yalda is the last day of fall and it is the longest night of the year in the Northern hemisphere. In Yalda night there is a special ceremony in Iran. In most parts of Iran, the extended family gather around and enjoy their time together with a lot of foods and snacks. If I could call this night with another name that would surely be the “delicious night”!
There are many varieties of fruits, pastry, and nuts. Everyone is talking about this night weeks before and they are deciding where to gather and what to cook. Pomegranates and watermelons are the special fruits for this time. Although the watermelons are most of the time white because of the season. 🙂 parents usually give newlyweds presents on this night. children are happy that they can stay awake until late at night and enjoy their time with the family and sweets!
Wait a minute!
After writing this blog post, I started to share it on social media, and I suddenly remembered I didn’t mention anything
other than food. I obviously forget the cultural part of Yalda night, because I am so foody that I missed the most important part of this special night, reading poems!
At this night we read Hafez, Khayyam, and Ferdousi poems together, we also tell our fortune with reading Hafez poems by chance and dear Hafez speak to us and advice us what to do in the future.
After that, I got a really nice comment on my post which I will bring here.
Yalda is the longest night of the year. Yalda is also a girls name (maybe with thick long black hair).
The family gathers together, mostly at grandparents place, so they fight and survive the “darkness” together. The elderly entertain by telling stories (keep everyone busy so they forget the presence of the darkness) and feed the family with some summer fruits (saved for months in a cool place) reminding their flock of longer days ahead.
We Iranians celebrate by constantly using our profound symbols of life and creation.
Okay, now I feel much better, but I will definitely add more things on this blog as soon as I remember or if any of you remind me more traditions for this wonderful night!
Do you want to celebrate Yalda with us?
This year, Irandestina group as a tourism event organizer invites all travelers who are in Tehran to celebrate Yalda night together. This ceremony will be held in Baccara Cafe with one of the most creative team and local food and beverages. We celebrate Yalda in Baccara Cafe for happiness, poetry, live Persian traditional music, Yalda snacks, Siah Bazi performance, etc.
Join us and experience Yalda like a local.
Reserving contact:
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+989194194872
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