Extracted from Rasekhoon
Translator: MAJID JAMAL ZADE
Source: Rasekhoon.net
Translator: MAJID JAMAL ZADE
Source: Rasekhoon.net
In ancient times, when there was no timeline 30 day months, Iranians were keeping the account of years by 40 days (CHELE). They had two CHELE for summer and two CHELE for winter. Great Winter CHELE was from beginning of DEY month to SADE festival and small winter CHELE was from 10th of BAHMAN month till the end of this month.
By the end of BAHMAN, the annual cold season was over and the spring heat season was going to start. Iranians have been waking up to the start the great CHELE, which is the longest and darkest night of the year until the dawn, and they entertain themselves together so that the sadness of the sun`s absence and the darkness and cold will not undermine their morale, and with the rise of sun (ensuring that the sun returns after a long and dark night, and its birth has been announced recently), then they go to the sleeping room and rest for a short time. This night, the night is the birth of the sun, and the sun, and after forty days, sun with great power will shine and kill the cold.
The ritual of the CHELE night, with the mediation of love worshipers transferred from Iran to Roman Empire and was celebrated as the "Birth of the undefeatable Sun". Birth of the undefeatable Sun feast, after the Christianization of the Romans in the fourth century AD, the first era of the liberation of believe in Christianity among the Romans was approved by the Pope as the day of "Christmas", because the birth of Jesus Christ was not clear to Christians. Although, due to the computational mistake of the Roman timekeepers, four days went wrong incorrectly and settled on December 25th . This day, four days, and in leap year, is three days after the CHELE night and on December 21st. Since then, these two birth days have been held almost together. The ceremony of decorating "cypress" and "pine" at Christmas was also adapted from ancient Iran, because the Iranians believed that, these two trees, especially the "Cypress", as a manifestation of resistance to darkness and cold, and in the KHOUR day, they were standing opposite the cypress tree and were promising to cultivate another cypress tree next year.
Earlier, Iranians (people across Iranian territory), were calling the day after YALDA night (first of DEY month) as "the day of the sun" and "DEYGAN", and were celebrating it. On this day, they did not work because they did not want to do anything wrong, because the ritual of sympathy custom, on the day of sun birth, considered it a very great sin to commit any bad little work. Hermann HYRT, the great German linguist who wrote the "Comparative grammar of Aryan languages" that Persian is one of these languages, has suggested that the name of DEY, means "God" is kept on this month because Iranians were believing DEY month is the time for rebirth of sun. It should be noted that English is a Germanic language (German language family) and is a part of larger European Hindi language family. Hermann HYRT was born on DEYGAN day and was proud of his birthday, which coincided with the birth of the Sun.
FERDOWSI, according to his own source, attributed YALDA night and KHOUR day celebrations to HOUSHANG, who was one of Iran's primeval kings (the KIYANIAN, who had risen from SISTAN of Iran) and said in this regard :
We are not ashamed of the religion / there is nothing better than religion of HOUSHANG
Everywhere there is justice and sympathy / look at followers
CHELE night rituals have not changed over time, and Iranians eat dried fruits, and dry goods at night, and together they sit close the firewood so the dawn announces break the darkness, and coming of brightness and warmth. Because they believe in this night, darkness and blackness are at their peak.
The SYRIAC word of "YALDA" was used from the SASSANIAN era, which was their favorite alphabet (writing from right to left). YALDA in Arabic means "birth". And this birth or day or is not empty from the Christian field and refers to the birth of Jesus Christ at this night. It should be noted that in most parts of Iran, especially in KHORASAN and SISTAN, people use CHELE name for longest night of the year, instead of "YALDA Night", "CHELE night" (forty days left before the centenary of BAHMAN tenth). The traditions of "CHELE gathering" have also arisen from the roots of this night and its rituals.
/J