Samira sent me a little note about Yalda Night, and gave me permission to post it here:
Tonight Iranians celebrate Yalda night which is the longest night. From this night forward nights get shorter and shorter.
As an old tradition people gather together and stay up at night chatting and laughing. Kids are allowed to spend the night with adults and not to go bed early. It's a lot of fun, really. Oh, and there is a lot of eating and drinking. One of the things we usually eat is watermelon. It's cold but we don't want to limit our food even when it's cold. So we eat fruits and nuts and sweets to start the winter with good health and happiness. Yeah, Winter is at the door and we want to give him a warm welcome.
Yalda means birth of sun or birth of light since from this night on, days get longer.
Very interesting, Samira! In North America we certainly talk about the winter solstice, but it's not very important. All the attention is on Christmas, three or four days later.
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