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| Yalda/Chellé Night | |
|---|---|
 Table of Chelle Night | |
| Observed by |  Iran Azerbaijan Kurdistan[1] |
| Significance | Longest night of the year in Northern Hemisphere[rs 1] |
| Date | December 21 (20 in leap year) |
| Duration | 1 night |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Yule,Nowruz,Tirgan,Chaharshanbe Suri |
| Yaldā/Chella | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Iran Afghanistan |
| Reference | 01877 |
| Region | Asia and the Pacific |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2022 (17th session) |
| List | Representative |
Yaldā Night (Persian:شب یلدا,romanized: shab-e yaldâ) orChelle Night (alsoChellah Night,Persian:شب چلّه,romanized: shab-e chelle, lit. "fortieth night") is an ancient festival inIran,[2]Kurdistan,[3][4]Azerbaijan,Uzbekistan,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan that is celebrated on thewinter solstice.[5] This corresponds to the night of December 20/21 (±1) in theGregorian calendar, and to the night between the last day of the ninth month (Azar) and the first day of the tenth month (Dey)[rs 2] of theIranian solar calendar.[rs 2]The longest and darkest night of the year is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry (especiallyHafez) andShahnameh until well after midnight. Fruits and nuts are eaten andpomegranates andwatermelons are particularly significant. The red colour in these fruits symbolizes the crimson hues of dawn and the glow of life. The poems ofDivan-e Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranian families, are read or recited on various occasions such as this festival andNowruz. Shab-e Yalda was officially added toUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in December 2022.[6]
The longest and darkest night of the year marks "the night opening the initial forty-day period of the three-month winter",[rs 1] from which the nameChelleh, "fortieth", derives.[rs 2] There are all together three 40-day periods, one in summer, and two in winter. The two winter periods are known as the "great Chelleh" period (1Day to11Bahman,[rs 2] 40 full days), followed/overlapped by the "small Chelleh" period (10Bahman to30Bahman,[rs 2] 20 days + 20 nights = 40 nights and days). Shab-e Chelleh is the night opening the "big Chelleh" period, that is the night between the last day of autumn and the first day of winter. The other name of the festival, 'Yaldā', is ultimately borrowing fromSyriac-speaking Christians.[rs 1][rs 3][rs 4] According toDehkhoda,[rs 5] "Yalda is a Syriac word meaning birthday, and because people have adapted Yalda night with the nativity ofMessiah, it's called the name; however, the celebration ofChristmas (Noël) established on December 25, is set as the birthday of Jesus. Yalda is the beginning of winter and the last night of autumn, and it is the longest night of the year". In the first century, significant numbers ofEastern Christians were settled inParthian andSasanian territories, where they had received protection from religious persecution.[7] Through them, Iranians (i.e.Parthians,Persians etc.) came in contact with Christian religious observances, including, it seems,Nestorian Christian Yalda, which inSyriac (aMiddle Aramaic dialect) literally means "birth" but in a religious context was also the Syriac Christian proper name forChristmas,[rs 6][rs 4][rs 1][rs 3] and which—because it fell nine months afterAnnunciation—was celebrated on eve of the winter solstice. The Christian festival's name passed to the non-Christian neighbors[rs 4][rs 1][rs 3][rs 5] and although it is not clear when and where the Syriac term was borrowed intoPersian, gradually 'Shab-e Yalda' and 'Shab-e Chelleh' became synonymous and the two are used interchangeably.
Yalda Night was one of the holy nights inancient Iran and included in the official calendar of the IranianAchaemenid Empire from at least 502 BCE underDarius I. Many of its modern festivities and customs remain unchanged from this period.
Ancient peoples such as theAryans andIndo-Europeans were well attuned to natural phenomena such as thechanging of seasons, as their daily activities were dictated by the availability of sunlight, while their crops were impacted by climate and weather. They found that the shortest days are the last days of autumn and the first night of winter, and that immediately after, the days gradually become longer and the nights shorter. As such, the winter solstice, as the longest night, was called "The night of sun’s birth (Mehr)" and considered to mark the beginning of the year.[8]
The Iranian (Persian) calendar was founded and framed by HakimOmar Khayyam.
The history of Persian calendars initially points back to the time when the region of modern-day Persia celebrated their new years according to theZoroastrian calendar. AsZoroastrianism was then the main religion in the region, their years consisted of "Exactly 365 days, distributed among twelve months of 30 days each plus five special month-less days, known popularly as the ‘stolen ones’, or, in religious parlance, as the ‘five Gatha Days'".[9]
Before the creation of the Solar Hijri calendar, theJalali calendar was put in place through the order of Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Malikshāh-i Saljūqī in the 5th c. A.H.[10] According to theBiographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, “After the death ofYazdigird III (the last king of theSassanid dynasty), the Yazdigirdī Calendar, as a solar one, gradually lost its position, and the Hijrī Calendar replaced it”.[10]
Yalda Night is celebrated onwinter solstice, the longest and darkest night of the year.
InZoroastrian tradition the longest and darkest night of the year was a particularly inauspicious day, and the practices of what is now known as "Shab-e Chelleh/Yalda" were originally customs intended to protect people from evil (seedews) during that long night,[rs 7] at which time the evil forces ofAhriman were imagined to be at their peak. People were advised to stay awake most of the night, lest misfortune should befall them, and people would then gather in the safety of groups of friends and relatives, share the last remaining fruits from the summer, and find ways to pass the long night together in good company.[rs 7] The next day (i.e. the first day ofDae month) was then a day of celebration,[note 1] and (at least in the 10th century, as recorded byAl-Biruni), the festival of the first day ofDae month was known as Ḵorram-ruz (joyful day) or Navad-ruz (ninety days [left to Nowruz]).[rs 1] Although the religious significance of the long dark night has been lost, the old traditions of staying up late in the company of friends and family have been retained in Iranian culture to the present day.[11]
References to other older festivals held around the winter solstice are known from bothMiddle Persian texts as well as texts of the early Islamic period.[rs 1] In the 10th century,Al-Biruni mentions the mid-year festival (Maidyarem Gahanbar) that ran from11-15Dae. This festival is generally assumed to have been originally on the winter solstice,[rs 8][rs 9] and which gradually shifted through the introduction ofintercalation.cf. [rs 9] Al-Biruni also records anAdar Jashan festival of fire celebrated on the intersection ofAdar day (9th) of Adar month (9th), which is the last autumn month.[rs 1] This was probably the same as the fire festival calledShahrevaragan (Shahrivar day of Shahrivar month), which marked the beginning of winter inTokarestan.[rs 1] In 1979, journalist Hashem Razi theorized thatMehregan — the day-name festival ofMithra that in pre-Islamic times was celebrated on the autumn equinox and is today still celebrated in the autumn — had in early Islamic times shifted to the winter solstice.[rs 10] Razi based his hypothesis on the fact that some of the poetry of the early Islamic era refers to Mihragan in connection with snow and cold. Razi's theory has a significant following on the Internet, but while Razi's documentation has been academically accepted, his adduction has not.[rs 4]Sufism'sChella, which is a 40-day period of retreat and fasting,[rs 11] is also unrelated to winter solstice festival.[12]
Food plays a central role in the present-day form of the celebrations. In most parts of Iran the extended family come together and enjoy a fine dinner. A wide variety of fruits and sweetmeats specifically prepared or kept for this night are served. Foods common to the celebration include watermelon, pomegranate, nuts, and dried fruit.[13] These items and more are commonly placed on akorsi, which people sit around. In some areas it is custom that forty varieties of edibles should be served during the ceremony of the night of Chelleh.Light-hearted superstitions run high on the night of Chelleh. These superstitions, however, are primarily associated with consumption. For instance, it is believed that consuming watermelons on the night of Chelleh will ensure the health and well-being of the individual during the months of summer by protecting him from falling victim to excessive heat or disease produced by hot humors. In Khorasan, there is a belief that whoever eats carrots, pears, pomegranates, and green olives will be protected against the harmful bite of insects, especially scorpions. Eating garlic on this night protects one against pains in the joints.[rs 2]
Inkhorasan, one of the attractive ceremony was and still is preparingKafbikh a kind of traditional Iranian sweet is made in Khorasan, specially in the cities ofGonabad andBirjand. This is made for Yalda.[14][15]
After dinner the older individuals entertain the others by telling them tales and anecdotes. Another favorite and prevalent pastime of the night of Chelleh isfāl-e Ḥāfeẓ, which is divination using the Dīvān ofHafez (i.e.bibliomancy). It is believed that one should not divine by the Dīvān of Hafez more than three times, however, or the poet may get angry.[rs 2]
Activities common to the festival include staying up past midnight, conversation, drinking, reading poems out loud, telling stories and jokes, and, for some, dancing. Prior to the invention and prevalence of electricity, decorating and lighting the house and yard with candles was also part of the tradition, but few have continued this tradition. Another tradition is giving dried fruits and nuts and gift to family and friends specially to the bride, wrapped intulle and tied with ribbon (similar to wedding and shower "party favors") in khorasan giving gift to the bride was obligatory.[16][17]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link), repr. 2001.
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