Celebrating the Winter Solstice

By Catherine Ragsdale
The Collegian

Winter is associated with longer nights and shorter days, but that’s just a misconception.

Although temperatures are dipping as low as 35 degrees now, winter doesn’t start until Dec. 21, when days actually start to get longer and nights get shorter.

Fresno State is hosting “Yalda (Winter Solstice): An Iranian Festival of the Rebirth of Light,” an Iranian festival that welcomes the season with dancing, poetry and speeches, on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m., at the Satellite Student Union.

“[The festival] is an introduction of Iranian culture to the community,” festival coordinator Mina Abdollahian said.

Yalda began 4,000 years ago, and is a celebration of good versus evil in connection with the light of day and the dark of night. The festival falls on Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice.

According to Abdollahian, Yalda is the longest night of the year. Families and friends usually gather together to stay up all night by entertaining themselves. They burn fires and turn on lights throughout the night, and wait for the morning to come when a “triumphant sun reappears.”

Yalda is happening earlier on the Fresno State campus because of scheduling conflicts with the performers, said Abdollahian.

Abdollahian said many of the performers are coming in from the Bay Area.

Niosha Nafei and a group of dancers from Pleasanton, Calif., are performing traditional Persian dances at the festival.

Nafei encourages the audience to get involved. She said the master of ceremonies and another person started dancing at a recent performance in Oakland, and they weren’t even Persian.

“I encourage the audience to clap and get involved,” Nafei said.

Nafei picked mostly instrumentals for the dances.

“Most people are non-Farsi speaking,” Nafei said. “I find the performances are more enjoyable when people hear the music and aren’t focusing on what the words mean.”

Although most of the music lacks words, reading poetry is a tradition during Yalda.

Fred Pohlman is reading poetry by Hafez, an Iranian poet from the 14th century.

Most activities during Yalda are from thousands of years ago. The act of reading poetry by Hafez was added in the recent centuries.

Usually each member of the family makes a wish and then reads from the book of Hafez poems. The poem expresses what was wished and how it will come true.

According to preliminary Yalda program, students from the Iranian Culture and Art Club are set to “make a wish with Hafez” before Pohlman reads.

Yalda and its traditions are deeply rooted in the Iranian culture. Many students may think they can’t relate to the activities at the festival, but Nafei encourages everyone to attend.

“Here in America you have the chance to see different cultures,” Nafei said. “There’s a lot of similarities between cultures that people will see.”

The Yalda festival will be held on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m., at the Satellite Student Union. A refreshment bar will have drinks available for purchase. Admission to the event is free.

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