Happy Yalda! Many Iranian friends make a fun festival out of this longest of nights, the winter solstice. While the traditions are ancient, the term “Yalda” or “new birth” ironically came to Sassanian Persia via Christians fleeing Roman persecution.
In recent years in America, as I pondered how we abandoned our core values, I would send private “Yalda greetings,” with an unusual night photo of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. (see extension) On such metaphorically dark political nights, I took comfort with John Adams, who on the very day that both he and Jefferson died, July 4th, 1826, remarked:
This year, I have a sense of hope, that the latest “reign of witches” in America might soon be over.
So I’ll give a different emphasis in my Yalda greetings this year, borrowing a line from this IRNA description of the Yalda traditions:
Because Yalda is the longest and darkest night, it has happened to symbolize many things in Persian poetry; separation from a loved one, loneliness and waiting.
After Yalda a transformation takes place — the waiting is over, light shines and goodness prevails.
Sounds like a plan.
