Every year, around December 21st, millions of people celebrate Shab-e Yalda. What is it exactly?
Shab-e Yalda is an ancestral Persian feast that marks the winter solstice, that is to say the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. It is celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and within the Persian diasporas around the world. More than an astronomical landmark, Yalda is a symbolic celebration of the passage from shadow to light.
Because it marks a threshold. In ancient traditions, it was believed that the longest night concentrated the forces of darkness. Crossing Yalda awake, surrounded by loved ones, was a way to assert trust in the return of light.
From this night, the days begin to imperceptibly lengthen again. Yalda therefore symbolizes the rebirth of the sun, but also hope, the continuity of life and the victory of day over night.
The term Yalda comes from the Syriac and means "birth ". It refers to the birth of the soleil, to the rebirth of light after its maximum withdrawal. This etymology reveals the spiritual depth of the festival, well beyond a simple seasonal celebration.
Families gather to stay together until midnight, sometimes until dawn. We share symbolic fruits, pomegranate, watermelon, walnut, whose colors recall life and the sun. The candles are lit, the narratives transmitted, and poetry occupies a central place.
A very widespread ritual consists of opening the Divân by Hafez and reading a poem at random, as a form of poetic and inner consultation.
Because poetry is considered a language of the soul. On the longest night, words become companions. Reading Hafez is inviting an ancient wisdom to dialogue with the present. Poetry does not give definitive answers : it enlightens, it accompanies, it connects.
Yes. Yalda is often associated with the idea of gestation and matrix. Light does not appear suddenly: it is born slowly, carried by darkness. In many symbolic interpretations, this night evokes the feminine principle, fertile and invisible, from which all transformation emerges.
At a time marked by speed and dispersion, Yalda recalls the importance of slowing down, of recognizing the passage times, the periods of withdrawal necessary for any renaissance.
She invites us not to flee moments of shadow, but to go through them with presence, trust and solidarity.
Because its message remains universal: even when the night seems endless, the light already begins to grow again.
Shab-e Yalda is not a gaze turned towards the past, but a gesture of transmission, a reminder that hope often lodges where one believes to see only darkness
January 03rd, 2026
"Do not be the moon imprisoned in the night. Let the light of your soul shine beyond the shadows." — Jalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî
Rana Gorgani accompanies you from a distance in a drawing inspired by the dervish way: a time of clarity, self-awareness and alignment, supported by Sufi poetry and the symbol of rotation.
