By: Nazila Fathi
Dec. 10, 2021–
On December 21, Iranians celebrate Yalda, one of the most ancient pagan festivals. Just four nights later, on December 25, the Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. Is there a link between the two?
Yalda marks the winter solstice; it is the last night of fall and the longest night of the year.
Yalda means birth and it refers to the birth of Mithra, the Sun God, who symbolizes light, goodness, and strength on earth. The concept in ancient Persia can be traced back to the primal struggle pitting light and good against darkness and evil when Mithra was the most important of the Persia gods.
After Yalda, light triumphs, as the days grow longer and give more light. Iranians celebrate the last night of fall as the renewal of the sun and the victory of light over darkness.
Beginning with Darius the Great (522–486 BCE), the Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty adopted Zoroastrianism as the new religion of the land. It was one of the world’s first monotheistic religions.
But Darius and his successors did not wish to eradicate the old beliefs that were still dear to the hearts of many nobles. Thus, old traditions and celebrations became part of Zoroastrianism, including the celebration of the birth of Mithra on December 21 in honor of the old gods.
Today, the majority of Iran’s population are Muslim but they still celebrate pagan traditions. Yalda Night is the longest evening of the year by one minute. For Iranians, it is a night of eating, celebrating, and telling stories until the early morning.
Other than Iran, Yalda is observed in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Greeks did not worship Mithra because he had been the god of their enemies, the Persians. But, from 136 CE onward, there are hundreds of dedicatory inscriptions to Mithra in the Roman world. It is difficult to explain the reason for their interest, but it was mostly the nobles who celebrated Mithra’s birthday.
For some Romans, the celebration was the most sacred day of the year.
Is Yalda the Origin of Christmas?
Some scholars believe that the pagan Yalda celebration might be the origin of Christmas.
According to some accounts, in the 4th century CE, because of errors in counting leap years, the birthday of Mithra shifted to December 25.
Until that time, the birthday of Jesus Christ was celebrated on January 6 by the Eastern Christian Churches. But the religion of most of the Romans and the people of the western part of Europe was still Mithraism.
When Christianity spread, the priests could not stop people from celebrating Mithra’s birthday on December 25. Mithraism was a rival to Christianity. So, they declared this day to be Jesus’s birthday.
By holding Christmas at the same time as the traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced but gave up attempting to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religions.
Anthropologist James George Frazer, the influential author of The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, wrote, “Thus it appears that the Christian Church chose to celebrate the birthday of its Founder on the twenty-fifth of December to transfer the devotion of the heathen from the Sun to him who was called the Sun of Righteousness.”
The Christmas Tree
Long before the advent of Christianity, plants, and trees that remained green all year round had a special meaning for people in the winter.
In ancient Persia, Yalda festivities were symbolized by an evergreen tree. Young girls wrapped their wishes in silk cloth and hung them on the tree. Eventually, it became a custom to place gifts under the evergreen tree.
In the 16th century in Germany, devout Christians began bringing decorated trees into their homes, thus starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it.
The first record of one being on display in the United States was in the 1830s when a tree was erected by German settlers in Pennsylvania. The German settlements in Pennsylvania had community trees. However, until the 1840s, Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.
In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German consort, Prince Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike previous monarchs, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable not only in Britain but with East Coast American society.
The Christmas tree had arrived.
What does Yalda Mean to Iranians?
Yalda remains one of the most important feasts in Iran. In 2001, The New York Times published a story I wrote about the significance of the celebrations.
On the evening of December 21 or Yalda night, families of all faiths gather at an elder’s house to celebrate the start of longer days and to prepare for a cold winter.
Daytime was considered good by ancient Persians because it was a time for work, unlike the evening, when people had to light fires to keep evil spirits away. The dawn represented the victory of good over bad, an opportunity for work, which deserved to be celebrated.
At Yalda, families feast on nuts, dried fruit, watermelon, and pomegranates. They believed that watermelon kept people healthy in the wintertime. The red seeds of the pomegranate symbolize fertility, rebirth, and life.
In the weeks leading to Yalda night, shops around the country display signs advertising watermelons preserved in industrial refrigerators. Iranian state television broadcasts programs about the Yalda feast. An actor or anchor is often shown reading poetry while sitting behind a table covered with flowers, pomegranates, nuts, and a chopped watermelon.
Because December 21 is the longest and darkest night, it has come to symbolize many things in Persian poetry, such as separation from a loved one, loneliness, and waiting. Saadi Shiraz, a 13th-century Persian poet, wrote:
“The sight of you each morning is a New Year
Any night of your departure is the eve of Yalda.”
“With all my pains, there is still the hope of recovery
Like the eve of Yalda, there will finally be an end.”
How is Yalda Celebrated?
The feast aims to keep you in the company of your loved ones and to protect you from the loneliness of the longest night of the year.
An Iranian-American blogger who grew up in the US and moved to Iran, describes the celebrations in simple steps:
- Set the table
You need a coffee table large enough that everyone can sit around it.
- Munch on red fruit and nuts
You need to put on the table bowls of red fruit, specifically watermelon and pomegranate. Pomegranate is considered a heavenly fruit in Persian culture.
- Get divine guidance from Persian poets
Poetry has a special place in Persian culture. It was the main way for Persians to preserve their culture and the Persian language over centuries of invasions. Reading poetry is an integral part of the Yalda celebration.
- Feast on Persian dishes
People from different parts of the country prepare different dishes for this night, but ash-e-reshteh appears to be common. This thick bean and noodle soup is topped with kashk (a whey product) and yummy fried onions and mint.
- Sip bottomless glasses of tea
The longest night of the year calls for glass after glass of cardamom-infused Persian tea!
- Enjoy time with your family and friends
Some people have called Yalda the Iranians’ belated Thanksgiving. Be grateful for being surrounded by your loved ones, be thankful for the previous year’s blessings, and say a little prayer that 2022 will bring health and prosperity.
