Yalda is an Iranian festival celebrated on the between the night between the last day of autumn and the first day of winter. Yalda is a winter solstice celebration, that is, in the night of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice. In the calendar, this corresponds to the night of December 20/21 (±1) in the Gregorian calendar.
In the Iranian mythology, Yalda is the birthday of Mitra, the goddess of sun, justice, commitment, and war. In this night, Mitra returns to the world. She is an Indo-Iranian goddess and prolongs the day time to manifest supremacy of the sun.
Yalda is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry (especially Hafez) until well after midnight. The poems of Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranian families, are read or recited on various occasions such as this festival and Nowruz. Yalda was officially added to Iran’s List of National Heritages in 2008.
Like many other occasions we celebrated this festival with our colleagues and team members in Tarh Va Afarinesh on Sunday, 22nd of December. We insist on celebrating the traditional Iranian occasions, to contribute to our original and authentic culture.
At this night, which is the beginning of brighter days, I wish my family, friends, colleagues and team members all the best.
