Myths, the sweetest memories of YALDA night

Extracted from Rasekhoon
The sound "YALDA" comes in. Children and grandchildren are restless to visit the elderly family. Sound of "YALDA" is quietly heard. Grandparents make homes ready to welcome the children, and on the other side, descendants and siblings are restless also to visit the elders of the family. Nut shops and fruit shops have special situation. Watermelons and pomegranates are on hand, and trays filled with gifts, which, according to the ancient tradition of "nocturnal", are sent to the new bridegrooms.
YALDA has always been protected in Iran. Although today a number of special features of this ancient tradition such as sitting round and reading the SHAHNAME are forgotten, yet every Iranian is trying to preserve the original situation of this celebration. This is YALDA night and Hafez is a guest of all Iranian homes. There were four festivities, in ancient Iran, the first day of month and the eighth, fifteenth and twenty-third. These three days had same name for the day and month.
According to the ancient times, every one of the thirty days of the month has a special name, which is the name of the angels. The names of the twelve months are also among them. Each month they celebrate the day when name of month and day are the same. In the past, they were celebrating all the three days. Today, these are celebrating one of the four festivities, and this is the first day of DEY month, which is called as YALDA, the last night of autumn, the first night of winter, the end of the arc, the beginning of the most serious and the longest night of the year.
The word YALDA is SYRIAC and means birth. The birth of the sun (MEHR, MITRA) and the Romans called it "NATALIS ENOYKTOS", means the day of "Birth of the unbeatable MEHR". The birth of the sun and the beginning of the DEY, for rituals and cultures of many ancient lands is the beginning of the year, and it was the day when the sun was saved from the ghost of the devilish nights and was a sacred day for the MEHR lovers. In DEHKHODA's dictionary, this ancient tradition is stated as: "YALDA is the SYRIAC word for Arabian MILAD," and since YALDA's night was adapted to the birth of Christ, henceforth they called that name. It should be noted that the Feast of Christ, fixed on December 25, according to the study, was originally the celebration of the emergence of MITRA, which Christians placed in the fourth century AD as the birthday of Jesus.
YALDA is the first of winter and the last night of the fall, which is the longest night of the year, and that night, or near it, the sun delivers to the tower of ceremonies, and it seems that the ancients assumed it as ominous and ungrateful. In most parts of Iran, on this evening, a ceremony is held. And the poets, are comparing this day as lover`s hair and the day of separation, because it is likened to the dark and long time. And the relation between Christ and YALDA can be understood by some poets like SANAEE, MOEZI, KHAGHANI and SEIF ESFERANGI. YALDA is the same as the first night of the ceremony and the night of the seventh day of the JALALI month and the night of French December 21. "The celebration of the YALDA night or the great CHELE night is held in all the ancient lands of Iran and among all the circles and families. YALDA can also be celebrated as a family gathering. At YALDA night, close relatives gather at the home of elders of family.
In other words, in the early cold days of winter, sitting around and eating fruit, nuts and food till midnight, and to listening to omen of HAFEZ are the advantages of this special night. The YALDA ceremony, if celebration can be named, is a family ritual and gatherings and is limited to close relatives and friends. YALDA Night Celebration has not been mentioned in books and historical documents. The Abu REIHAN BIROUNI expects the celebration of the first day of the DEY month, called the Day of the happiness, in the system of government and the kingdom. There is no mention of YALDA night, which is due to the family and publicity of the YALDA and was not officially celebrated. Foods in all celebrations and rituals, in primitive or civilized societies, eat and drink are part of the aggregate engagements and hobbies.
For the YALDA night, we do not know a special food and dinner depends on the economic situation and the family's nutrition process. YALDA's Special Foods are fruits of the Summer Season, Melon, Watermelon, Grapes, Pomegranate, Apple, Cucumber, and many more. The fruits that you had to eat all this night (except apple and quince) and nothing should be left for the next day of winter. They did not eat the fruits that passed YALDA night. Nuts and night nuts, which include grains such as wheat and grilled chickpea, watermelon seeds, pumpkin, almond, pistachio, hazelnut, raisin, figs and dried berry, were not forgotten at many nightlife, parties and excursions. But at night YALDA night, must and should be on the table.
Hafez's omen and reading SHAHNAME are other rituals of YALDA night. If YALDA traditions and customs are inherited from the culture of a few thousand years ago, but the omen of HAFIZ at YALDA night as well as the "SIZESHO" in TIR month (TIRGAN Celebration in MAZANDARAN state) in the recent centuries, have been added to the YALDA rituals . SHAHNAMEH reading and grandparent storytelling for small youth are also YALDA ritual that provide sweet memories for their adulthood. JAFAR SHAHRI writes in "Tehran Old" book: Winter had two CHELES (forty days duration). Bigger CHELE and smaller CHELE. Duration of bigger CHELE was from first of DEY month till 10th of BAHMAN month, when the earth was breathing slowly and after that was the chance of smaller CHELE till the end of BAHMAN month, and people were saying that smaller CHELE will do much harder than greater CHELE, and smaller CHELE was saying: if my back was not to the spring, I would have dried the baby in a dry swaddling cloth , and it was almost the same, and the cold of bigger CHELE could never reach to the cold of smaller CHELE. And when it was finished, the poor people were saying that the winter was over, and the black face remained for the coal and the cold sadness and lack of affordable coal were forgotten because spring was arriving.
And on the first night of the bigger CHELE or the night of YALDA, was "the longest night of the year". Each group of relatives and neighbors were arranging soiree and providing nuts, sweets and fruits, especially watermelons, pomegranates, melons. They gather for fun and nightlife, and take Hafez's omen, and they were saying by eating at YALDA night, same as time of new Eve and eating at seven S table, are converting the hot nature to cold and making their own bodies hot.
If they are suffering from warmth, eat watermelon and pomegranate, and if they are suffering from cold, they will eat berries, raisins, dates and many more like them. And they will laugh until the dawn. Gathering that was not related to the YALDA. They used every opportunity and excuse to create it. Then according to the tradition, there were three more cold days which were called as AHMAN, BAHMAN and the old woman of winter which covered the three decades of ESFAND month. These two brothers of the winter, were saying: the responsibility of everyone with us, that is, everything that winter and CHELES could not do in the winter, we can do and take revenge. And now the story of cold old woman: people say that, during the time of the Prophet (PBUH), an old woman had a camel that was unstable, so she complained to holy Prophet Muhammad about the winter which was over and the Prophet prayed and ten days were added to the winter, it turned cold. Therefore there is another cold for ten days from the first day of NOWROUZ to the tenth, which was also called cold of rose flowers.
The special rituals of Iranian folk in YALDA, due to the vastness of Iran and the prevalence of various subcultures in this vast expanse, are sometimes found to be of particular interest to a particular region. For example, in GILAN state, AKONUS is a fruit that is consumed at CHELE night, and the method of preparation is that in the autumn, thy pour raw warts (some days before it falls from the tree and ripen) in a vat, then they full the vat with water and add a little salt to it and close it down and place it in a corner outside the warm air. The hard and raw warts, after a while, becomes ripe, juicy and delicious.
Warts AKONUS is found in most homes in GILAN until the next spring, and whenever they wish, they remove the fresh and ripe and delicious warts from vat, and eat them with GOLPAR (greenery) and salt in sunshine. In Tabriz also in YALDA season ASHIGHS play. ASHIGHS are local musicians whose poetry and music are based on folk music, they read stories while performing the program, say impromptu some poems and play their musical instruments. The tales that the ASHIGHS say on YALDA night are rooted in ancient Persian myths. Championship tales like " KUROGHLOU" and the stories of love and affection like" sacrifice and fairy" are of famous tales of the ASHIGHS choir.
In LORESTAN state, people eat wheat sap in the YALDA night. This wheat is soaked in sap, and then they mix it with turmeric and salt, and then they roast it on a teak and along with a slice of almonds, walnuts, raisins, black grains and Sesame is mixed and eaten. Another beautiful tradition of LOR people is that teenagers and young boys in YALDA night, go on the roofs, hanging a bucket with a rope from the chimney holes into the house, and singing a local poem with a matter of saying to the owner of the house, Good luck to your home, and your house owner does not die, give something to this little boy to bring.
The landlord put some nuts in a sack that were served for the CHELE night, and sometimes for the fun, landlord put a small baby girl in a bag and little boy pulls the bag up and this familiarity in most cases ends to marriage in adulthood. You can see many such special rituals in holding YALDA. Iran is a country with a rich culture, whose people, according to the taste of the region they live in, have their own customs to hold their ancient traditions.