Yalda: The Longest and Darkest Night Bringing Longer Days - Persian

On how the peak of darkness heralds the brightness, and who is the real big boss

Etymology: yalda (re-birth)

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This word has been waiting patiently on my list for months. It came to me on a summer day, but obviously, summer would not be the best time to talk about the longest night. Such a special word had to meet the minds at the right time. And here it is, that time has come.

Yalda is the Persian word for winter solstice, the dark and long night that marks the end of autumn and the beginning of winter and heralds brighter days ahead, according to the Iranian Solar Calendar, that is, the night of December 21. It is actually Shab-e Yalda in Persian, meaning Yalda Night.

In Iranian culture, this night is celebrated with feasts because after this night, the time dominated by the sun gets longer and the nights shorter.

Next week, shortly before the New Year, we will experience Yalda Night. We will know it is the longest and darkest of all nights. We will have two options: spend time hating it and complaining, or perform a ritual of celebration. If we choose celebrations, we might light candles and act as if there is no power that night. We chat a lot, laugh or make surprises, roast chestnuts, munch popcorn, and maybe play taboo or charades.

We might remember a time when there was no social media, no internet, and no need to be connected all the time. Then we remember how good it feels to be actively present in the lives of people who are always with us instead of watching other lives of foreigners on a screen, how complete it makes you feel most of the time, and how real it is.

Even in this century where technology, or Big Tech, claims to be the boss, nature reminds us who the real boss is. This fact will never change while we, as humans, are still part of nature as living beings. Even our rituals, holidays, and celebrations are shaped by nature. Yalda Night is a good example. I am sure that if we do good research, many celebrations in many cultures that are based on the flow of nature must still be going on. What a good topic to research!

I wish everyone a meaningful and hopeful Yalda Night, together with friends and loved ones.

Till next week,

— Gulsun

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Thank you for taking the time to accompany me in the story of a new word. Every word of the world’s languages is also ours, belonging to humanity while giving us an essence of the culture in which it was rooted.

We are made of stories—that is, of words.