NEWS
# 'Yalda Night' in List of National Treasures
Yalda Night festival will be officially added to
The ceremony will be attended by the Vice President in charge of
Yalda eve, 21st of December, is considered the longest night of the year when ancient Iranians celebrated the birth of Mithra, the goddess of light.
However, it is now considered a time when family members get together at the home of the elders until after midnight. They are served with dried fruits, nuts, and winter fruits like pomegranates and watermelons, which are said to symbolize the red color of dawn in the sky.
During the long night, they also practice bibliomancy with the poetry of the highly respected mystic Iranian poet, Hafez.
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# Yalda Night, inherited winter feast
By Fatemeh Gholipour
In the east, life styles are more often in tune with nature. Therefore, much inspiration accompanies the natural rhythms of day and night, month to month and from season to season in this part of God's domain. This integration of nature into the human life cycle is remarkable in
Shab-e-Yalda, (Yalda night, in Persian) a traditional Iranian celebration of the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, has remained popular since ancient times. This traditional Persian winter Solstice celebration is commemorated on or around December 20 or 21 each year.
According to Iranian mythology, from Yalda night forward, light triumphs over darkness as days grow longer. This celebration, based on the Iranian calendar, comes in the Persian month of Day, the pre-Zoroastrian creator god (Deity). Later he became known as the god of creation and light. It should be noted that the English word “day,” is derived from this word and its symbolism of 'Good'.
Yalda has a root in Zoroastrian belief, to be exact, Mithraism religion. The Mithraists believed that Mithra, the Persian god of light and truth, was born to a virgin mother in the morning of the longest night of the year. In other words, Mithra was born on Yalda.
It was said that Mithra was born out of the light that came from within the
Shab-e Yalda, the longest and darkest night of the year, symbolizes many things in Persian poetry, such as the separation between loved ones, loneliness and waiting. Many believe waiting would be over after this night as the light would shine and goodness would prevail.
Previously, Iranians, like other people around the world, were more loyal to their traditions and ancient customs. In the evening of Yalda, they lighted bonfires outside, and invited each other to their houses, where they gathered around the Korsee, a traditional warmer table covered with a thick cloth.
Nowadays, Yalda has become a social occasion when friends and family gather to eat, drink and read poetry (especially Hafiz) until after midnight. Fruits, particularly pomegranates and watermelons, and nuts are served in this night. The fruits signify the hope for having a fruitful spring and summer. The red-colored fruits symbolize the crimson hues of dawn and glow of life, invoking the glory of Mithra. Pomegranates with angelica powder are believed to protect individuals against the Devil.
According to ancient tradition, the oldest member of some families thanks God for the previous year's bumper crops on this night, asking him for prosperity in the next year. Then with a knife, he cuts the melon/watermelon and gives everyone a share. The cutting symbolizes the removal of sickness and pain from the family.
The 13th century Persian poet, Saadi, wrote in his Bustan (collection of poems), "The true morning will not come, until the Yalda Night is gone."
Yalda Night was officially added to
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# Yalda
Yalda, Yalda Night (Shab-e Yaldâ), or Shab-e Chelleh, is the Persian Winter Solstice Celebration which has been popular since ancient times. Yalda is celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, Yalda is celebrated on or around December 20 or 21 each year.Yalda has a history as long as the Mithraism religion. The Mithraists believed that this night is the night of the birth of Mithra, Persian god of light and truth. At the morning of the longest night of the year the Mithra was born. [wiki]
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# Details from NASA
2010
Solstice Lunar Eclipse
Everyone knows that "the moon on the breast of new-fallen snow gives the luster of mid-day to objects below."
That is, except during a lunar eclipse. The luster will be a bit "off" on Dec. 21st, the first day of northern winter, when the full Moon passes almost dead-center through Earth's shadow. For 72 minutes of eerie totality, an amber light will play across the snows of
2001
Winter Stolstice happens at 11:21 am on 21st Dec 2001 (PST)
Longest night of the year
15 hrs and 54 minutes from Sunset of 21st
Dec to
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Original Celebration of Christmas has been due to
birthday of Mithra/Mehr (21st Dec) celebrated in
and other parts of
Coincidence with Jewish Hanukkah (Festival of Lights) is not just an accident.
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Happy Yalda, Yuletide, Mithrakana
Birth of Mehr/Mithra/Jesus Christ
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guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 December 2010 16.43 GMT
# Lunar eclipse and winter solstice to coincide for first time in 372 years
Tomorrow's lunar eclipse over
The skies over
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# Shab-e Chelleh
Derived from a pre-Zoroastrian festival, Shab-e Chelleh is celebrated on the eve of the first day of winter in the Persian calendar, which always falls on the solstice. Yalda is the most important non-new-year Iranian festival in modern-day
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# Yalda
The True Meaning of December 25th
Happy Birthday Mithras!
By GARY LEUPP
The New Testament provides no specific date for the birth of Jesus. If it occurred as the Gospel of Luke tells us, as shepherds were watching over their fields by night, it probably wouldn't have taken place in December. Too cold. So why do most Christians observe December 25 as Jesus' birthday? The most plausible answer is that in ancient
One of these was the worship of Mithras, an Indo-Aryan deity (the Mitra of Vedic religion, the Mithra of the Persian Avesta) associated with the heavens and light. His cult entered the Roman Empire in the first century BCE and during the formative decades of the Christian movement was a formidable rival to the latter, with temples from
Mithras, the story went, had been born of a virgin. Virgin-birth stories were a denarius a dozen in the ancient world, so this similarity to the gospel story isn't surprising. But Mithras was also born in very humble circumstances in a cave, and upon his miraculous birth found himself in immediate proximity to the bovine. In his case, not mellow manger beasts but a wild bull. In the Persian version of the myth, this bull had been the first creation of Ahura Mazda, another, greater god of light. (Ahura Mazda, in the history of Persian religion, gradually becomes conceptualized as something like the Judeo-Christian God. But his worship in the Zoroastrian tradition probably predates the Jewish conception of Yahweh as universal deity. Quite likely the Zoroastrian conception of God influenced the Jewish one.)
Mithras serving Ahura Mazda subdued the bull, confining it in the cave, and later slaughteed it. The blood of the slaughtered bull then generated vegetation and all life. This myth surely has something to do with cattle-worship among ancient Aryan peoples, which of course survives to this day in
The Mithras cult was affected by earlier religious traditions. Anyone studying mythologies in historical perspective knows that any particular god might have numerous connections across time and space. The Sumerian fertility goddess Inana becomes the Babylonian Ishtar becomes the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus. Inana grieving for her husband Tammuz, who had died after being gored in the groin by a bull, follows him to the netherworld. There are differing stories but in one she achieves his resurrection; in another, the resurrection of both is accomplished by the god of wisdom Enki, on the third day.
The Romans were very familiar with myths about virgin births, births marked by celestial signs, gods born in humble circumstances, newborn gods barely escaping death. The Mithras cult, arriving from Persia in the first century BCE and popular among the Roman soldiers, was accepted nonchalantly in a society which had its devotees of Isis, who had rescued her brother-husband Osiris from the netherworld; Attis, who immaculately conceived by Nana, was gored by a wild boar but resurrected on March 22 (note the proximity to Easter); and the gods of other mystery religions. When the worship of Jesus Christ came along, spreading from Roman Palestine to Jewish communities throughout the empire, and attracting non-Jews as well, they added it to this exotic collection of devotional options. The early Christians for their part were surely influenced by beliefs and practices of other cults.
Many find insights and truths in myths. Joseph Campbell said that "Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life." Sigmund Freud felt the stories of Oedipus and Elektra illuminated human psychological development. But he regarded religion as a delusion. Those suffering from the delusion see their own myths as the definitive story, and resist any attempt to explain those myths as derivative from or comparable to others. Thus the Church Father Justin Martyr (ca. 100-65) in his Apologia (I, 66) claimed that "wicked devils have imitated" the Christian communion ceremony "in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn." He noted the obvious similarity between Mithraic and Christian practice, and probably realized that the Mithraic rite long preceded the Christian one. But he could not acknowledge Christian borrowing. The Mithraic practice was devilish, while the Christian sent down directly from God and bearing no relation to previous earthly ones was holy.
The Eucharist is one thing. It is mentioned in the gospels and in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, where it's referred to as "the Lord's supper." So even if it reflects Mithraic borrowing, it at least has scriptural authority. It's based, the believer knows, on God's Word dictated down through the power of the Holy Spirit into the pen of the inspired scribe. But Christmas celebrated on December 25 is a completely non-Biblical tradition, and realizing that, various Christians over the centuries have actively opposed its observance. The Puritans controlling the English Parliament in the 1650s outlawed it, ordering churches closed and shops open this day. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, a law passed in 1659 stated, "Whoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting, or any other way upon such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for each offense five shillings as a fine to the country."
The use of Christmas trees to mark the occasion has often come under attack. What does a pine tree have to do with the birth of Jesus? Nothing, but it has a lot to do with Attis, into whose temple in Rome each March 22 a pine tree would be carried and decorated with flowers and carvings. Its entry into Christian practice probably comes from Celtic and Germanic pagan customs; the Druids in
Holly? Used in Druid and Germanic winter solstice rituals. Yule log? More Druidism. Christmas stockings? Well, no paganism there. Legend is St. Nicholas (Santa Claus is from the Dutch Sint Niklaas), bishop of Myrna (in what's now
So too, the beliefs that produce the holiday. The babe born of a virgin, in a stable, heralded by an angelic host, visited by Magi (Persian Zoroastrian astrologers) following a star, targeted for death by an evil king. None of this would have struck the average Roman as entirely original, but the vague familiarity of the stories may have lent them credibility. It appears that the Christian movement, highly diverse in the first few centuries, was able to incorporate narratives and practices from other traditions into itself that gave it a comparative advantage by the early fourth century. In 313 Emperor Constantine legalized and patronized the faith. Soon thereafter an already formidable empire-wide administrative apparatus merged with state power, and heresies and paganisms were outlawed and largely suppressed. But Christianity continued to incorporate new influences such as the above-mentioned Christmas practices. Few Christians (or others) nowadays know of Mithras, but today much of the world unwittingly celebrates his birth.
My wife and kids and I as usual have up a beautiful tree, honoring not only what's allegorically worthwhile in the Jesus story but in the host of innocent paganisms that fell victim to official Christianity. I've always seen the tree, intruding as it does into the inner sanctum of the Christian home, as paganism's quiet revenge. So here's a glass of wine, raised in honor of the hero of the day, transforming eucharistically even as I partake. Happy birthday, Mithras! As the days grow longer and the nights grow shorter, we thank you, Sun God, for the miracle of photosynthesis you performed to bring us this sacred tree. We thank you for the promise of springtime, which we have faith will arrive without fail, as the landscape predictably dies and resurrects year after year. And we thank you for shining century after century over our delusional imaginations.
Gary Leupp is Professor of History at
Happy Yalda or Yuletide
Dec 21, 2006
Ali Mostofi - Persian Journal
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# Yalda
Significance of winter solstice in Persian culture
By Massoume Price, December 8, 1999
Yalda, a Syric word imported into the Persian language by Syric Christians means birth (tavalod and meelaad are from the same origin). It is a relatively recent arrival and refereed to the "Shab e Cheleh" festival, a celebration of Winter solstice on December 21st. Yalda, forty days before the next major Persian festival "Jashn e Sadeh", has been celebrated in countless cultures for thousands of years. The ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia (God of Agriculture, Saturn) and Sol Invicta (Sun God) are amongst the best known in the Western world.
In most ancient cultures, including
The Persians adopted their annual renewal festival from the Babylonians and incorporated it into the rituals of their own Zoroastrian religion. The last day of the Persian month of "Azar" is the longest night of the year, when the forces of Ahriman are assumed to be at their peak. While the next day, the first day of the month of "Day" known as "Khoram rooz" or "Khore rooz" (the day of the sun) belongs to Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. Since the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, this day marks the victory of the sun over darkness. The occasion was celebrated in the festival of "Daygan" dedicated to Ahura Mazda, on the first day of the month of "Day".
Fires would be burnt all night to ensure the defeat of the forces of Ahriman. There would be feasts, acts of charity and a number of deities honored and prayers performed to ensure the total victory of the sun that was essential for the protection of winter crops. There would be prayers to Mithra (Mehr) and feasts in his honor, since Mithra is the Eyzad responsible for protecting "the light of the early morning", known as "Havangah". It was also assumed that Ahura Mazda would grant people's wishes.
One of the themes of the festival was the temporary subversion of order. Masters and servants reversed roles. The king dressed in white would change place with ordinary people. A mock king was crowned and masquerades spilled into the streets. As the old year died, rules of ordinary living were relaxed. This tradition persisted until the Sassanid period, and is mentioned by Biruni and others in their recordings of pre-Islamic rituals and festivals. Its origin goes back to the Babylonian new year celebration. These people believed the first creation was order that came out of chaos. To appreciate and celebrate the first creation they had a festival and all roles were reversed. Disorder and chaos ruled for a day and eventually order was restored and succeeded at the end of the festival.
The Egyptian and Persian traditions merged in ancient
Another related Roman festival celebrated at the same time was dedicated to Sol Invictus ("the invincible sun"). Originally a Syrian deity, this cult was imported by Emperor Heliogabalus into
It is not clear when and how the world "Yalda" entered the Persian language. The massive persecution of early Christians in
Iranian Jews, who are amongst the oldest inhabitants of the country, in addition to "Shab e Cheleh", also celebrate the festival of "Illanout" (tree festival) at around the same time. Illanout is very similar to the Shab e Cheleh celebration. Candles are lit and all varieties of dried and fresh winter fruits are served. Special meals are prepared and prayers are performed. There are also very similar festivals in many parts of
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# Winter Solstice, Yule, Yuletide, Yalda
By: Dr. A. Jafarey
All storing or migrating animals, from the tiniest insect to the largest
mammal, are well acquainted with the changes of seasons. They have their
"calendar." They know the approach of spring, summer, autumn and winter and
prepare to come in open, migrate from a fixed place to another, begin storing and/or prepare to retire or hibernate in their winter quarters.
Mankind has been doing the same since its evolution and then the dispersion
into different lands. We have signs of how humans have closely observed the
movements of the sun, the moon and the stars since thousands of years. We
have records of how they knew the solar calendar for their day-to-day living
since cave days. This climate and calendar consciousness has been common to
humans all over the world. They have known the equinoxes and solstices in
both hemispheres.
Their preparations to adjust to the seasonal changes have evolved into
ceremonies that begin with each change. Obviously, where seasonal changes
have been more marked, the recognition was more accurate and
where it did not matter much, the change brought hardly any marked change in
life.
The people for whom winter meant quite an experience, paid more attention to
the Winter Solstice, the people to whom spring brought new life, welcomed
the Vernal Equinox and the people who depended more on seasonal rains,
hailed the beginning of monsoon as their festive time.
History shows that the people nearer to the North Pole were more concerned
with the Winter Solstice than any other people. The Nordic people,
comprising of the Celts and Germanics, have been paying attention
comparatively to the very longest night more than
others. They are the people for whom the Winter Solstice, the turn to have
more of the sunlight meant much. Samhain of the Celts and Yule of the
Germanics stand for Winter Solstice. For them, it was a "rebirth" of the sun
whose light had shortened to few hours a day. And once an idea gets a
community, imagination wanders and wonders to create a myth around it. Yule
and Yuletide meant the re-death and re-birth of the Sun god. It may be added
here that many scholars of Nordic studies think that "yule" means "wheel"
and that it stands for the "Wheel of the Sun" and the solar cycle.
Santa Claus, with a number of other names, is yet another sign that the
Winter Solstice of Christianity has its roots far into the North of Nordics.
Meanwhile, the people on the
to the seasonal changes. The sun played a very bright part in their life.
They too noticed the longest night, of course shorter than what the Nordics
went through, that heralded the lengthening of daylight - the "growing" Sun.
Their myth had made the sun "Invictus," unconquerable, yet they imagined it
dwindling only to take birth out of the rock as a full grown strong, young
man, and not a baby.
Time brought the two peoples together and they found certain beliefs common.
That gave the Winter Solstice celebration of the rebirth of the Sun (god) a
new impetus to
Mediterranean - today's
The two terms "Yule" and "Yuletide - Yule time" traveled to the eastern
Nicea in 325 CE under Emperor Constantine (about 274-337 CE), himself an
overt convert from Solar henotheism to
Christianity, made Christianity the state religion of the
and that Yuletide was declared to become the Birthday of Jesus.
One can guess that "Yuletide" connected to the "re-birth" sounded to the
Semitic ears of the Syriac people so similar to "yalda," the word for
"birth." "Yalda" easily replaced "Yuletide" and quite correctly for the
Semitic Christians. It made sense.
Meanwhile, in the Iranian Plateau with its well-marked four seasons, the
Vernal Equinox was the beginning of the New Solar Year - Nowruz. It has all
along been the greatest national festival for the Iranians. But their true
tropical calendar had also the first day/date of
the fourth month Tir on the beginning of the Summer Solstice, Autumnal
Equinox on the first day of the seventh month - Mehr, and the Winter
Solstice on the first day of the ninth month Dey. The four seasons
began/begin on the first day of each quarter in their turn. Winter on the
Plateau also means more of indoor living. The Solstice for them was the
beginning of the 40 very cold days of the winter time. They called it
"Chelle-ye Zemestbn - Winter Forties" compared with
"Chelle-ye Tbbestbn - Summer Forties," the very hot days of summer.
Winter Solstice was also celebrated by the Assyrian and Chaldean Iranians as
"Yalda." We have Iranian astrologists, historians and poets of early 10th
century CE mention "Yalda, 25th December," as the
Birthday of Jesus.
And now for decades we have daily newspapers, radio and television in modern
the entire Iranian nation, knowingly and unknowingly,
celebrates Yalda more as the night of the rebirth of the "Sun" than connect
it with the birth of Jesus who is the "Son" of God for Christians and the
Prophet of God for Muslims!
Hardly any person cares to re-think and realize that the pre-Zarathushtrian
mythology does not speak at all about the births and deaths of its gods and
goddesses - Sun, Moon, Wind, Cloud, Thunder, Rain, Rivers, Waters and a long
list of other visible (daeva/deva)
deities, and Varuna, Mithra , Airyaman and other invisible (ahura/asura)
beings. They have always been there. No birth, no death, no dates!
Again, hardly any person cares to re-think and realize that "Good
Conscience," the Good Religion founded by Zarathushtra Spitbma has no myth
and legend to entertain any person fond of fiction. It speaks of the Fact of
Good Life and how to live it all along perfection, immortality and Ushtb,
Radiant Happiness.
The only birthday celebrated in the Avesta is the Birthday of Zarathushtra,
a unique human personality of Good Guidance for all times and climes.
But the Iranians have, like many other nations, finding reasons and excuses
to celebrate as many joyful occasions as they can make it! Yalda is one of
them. Happy Yalda to all!
Ali A. Jafarey
28 Azar 3740 ZRE = 19 December 2002 CE.
PS. This was just a note. I have a long essay in English and Persian on the
subject. I leave it for a more appropriate occasion.
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# Merry Mitra
By Hashem Farhang - December 11, 1997
A chance meeting, some two years ago, of an Iranian scholar who, as fate has it, now lives in
At this particular time of the year, I would like to share something with my fellow Iranians that I think speaks volumes of everything Iranian that has been stolen. I feel sure that there are thousands of Iranians who are aware of this, but somehow have not kept reminding others of the facts.
When my children were growing up and were still at home, Christmas was a difficult time for us parents. At school and other gatherings, my children like all other Iranian children, could not quite understand the lack of enthusiasm that we exhibited at the holiday season. I dare say that this indifference in us parents, may have even strengthened the feeling that their parents are "different." They, as children everywhere, never felt different. But their parents? Well you know.
The result of the chance meeting, was that a small amount of research produced a very sweet little historical fact. And had I known this, I would have happily, gladly, and most proudly celebrated this particular holiday season as one of my very own. And I would not have been uncomfortable at Christmas, whether I had a tree or not.
For this reason, I want to share this fact with all Iranians, in
Iranians celebrated Yalda and decorated an evergreen tree, the sarve. The sarve (Rocket Juniper - what a name! - also known as the cypress tree), being straight, upright and resistant to the cold weather (symbol of hardship) was thought appropriate, to represent Mitra. The younger girls had their "wishes" symbolically wrapped in colorful silk cloth and hung them on the tree with lots of presents for Mitra, to answer their prayers.
As you may know, Pope Leo in the fourth century, after almost destroying the temple of Mitra (A.D. 376), in his campaign against Mitraism -- and in the good old Christian tradition, "If you can't claim it, imitate it" -- proclaimed the 25th of December as Christ's birthday instead of January 6th, a date, by the way, that is still celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Armenians.
Again in the same tradition, Luther, the famous German reformer, in the 18th century (1756, I believe), having learned of the Yalda sarve tree, introduced the Christmas tree to the Germans. As sarves were not much known in
So now with or without the children at home, we decorate a small sarve with a star on top and many presents, not necessarily for Mitra, but to my ancestors ant for my children and hopefully soon to my grandchildren. Happy Yalda and greetings of the season to all you Iranians -- no matter what your religion.
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# Yalda
By: Parviz Varjavand
Mithrakana, The Reason for the Season ! Mehrgan in Farsi, Mehrajan in Arabic, and Mithrakana in Latin, all mean festivals and celebrations in honor of Mithra, Mithras, or Mehr Izad. These festivals do not necessarily occur at the same time. In present day Arabic usage, Mehrajan means any great celebration. In 1976 there was a great Islamic gathering in
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# Iranian Festivals
Nowruz: Celebration of the start of spring ("Rejuvenation"). It starts on the first day of spring (also the first day of the Iranian Calendar year) and lasts for 13 days.
Sizdah Bedar: Persian Festival of "Joy and Solidarity". The 13th/last day of Nowruz celebration ("Getting rid of the thirteen!"). It is celebrated outdoors along with the beauty of nature.
Mehregan: Festival of Mehr (or Mihr). A day of "Thanksgiving".
Jashne Sade: A mid-winter feast to honor fire and to "defeat the forces of darkness, frost and cold".
Shabe Chelle: The turning point. End of the longest night (darkness) of the year, and beginning of growing of the days (Lights). A celebration of Good over Evil. Also known as Shab-e Yaldā.
Sepandarmazgan: Day of Love, Friendship and Earth in ancient Persian culture.
Chaharshanbe Suri: Festival of Fire, last Tuesday night in the Iranian Calendar year. It marks the importance of the light over the darkness, arrival of spring and revival of nature.
wiki
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