Besides Iran, peoples in the Central Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and some Caucasian states such as Azerbaijan and Armenia observe the annual festival that marks winter solstice on December 21, when the Earth receives the least sunlight of the year.
In this special night all family members come together to stay awake all night long. They are entertained with dried nuts, watermelon and pomegranate as well as classic poetry and old mythologies. Submerged in peace and tranquility, everybody prays for God's increasing bounties in a jubilant atmosphere.
Yalda is a Syriac word borrowed by the Persian language, meaning birth, and the Yalda festival is meant to celebrate the renewal of the Sun and the victory of light over darkness.
Celebrating the renewal of the Sun at a special night tends to convey yet another message: it tells the story of nations in the region that try to show their respect for the Mother Nature by reuniting themselves with her.
The Yalda Night is an occasion reminding us to not to be forgetful about expressing our high regards for the Creator by resorting to His signs of creation, and it is a collective attempt to reunite with the universe.
Iran as a venue for sophisticated arts, mesmerizing literature, poetry and music and prestigious architecture, through its history, has been a cradle of peaceful trends and moderation.
Praised globally, the moderation and peaceful approaches adopted by the Iranians, constituting as major components of the Persian culture, have tended to influence other cultures from the Caspian basin to the Mediterranean Sea.
Common historical experiences like the Yalda festival have served as a strong basis helping Iran promote bilateral relations with other nations that is why, by re-identifying and reviewing the common cultural values, the globalized world can reshape and promote itself.
Unlike arguments by some, suggesting that the so-called new world order will bring cultures, economies and policies under the single parachute of globalization, the future world will be comprised of diversified social, economical, and political components of We the Peoples.
It is inevitable in the globalized world of the future, historical cultural values, including the Yalda festival could be used as a source of remedy for all the pains and sufferings of the global mankind and a cause of integration.
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Tehran, Dec 20, IRNA – The Yalda Night as a common historical experience and a tradition rooted in the Persian civilization is celebrated each year by the Iranian people around the world and other nations in the region.
