Light festival at Iranian Yalda + Photos

Pars Today – The Festival of Light at Iranian Yalda, featuring Yalda Night programs, is being held at Mellat Park in Tehran.

The festival, with various Yalda Night events, began on December 16, 2025, and will continue until December 20, 2025, at Tehran’s Mellat Park. This Pars Today feature takes a visual look at the festival.

Yalda Night, which begins at sunset on December 21 (the last day of autumn) and lasts until sunrise on December 22 (the first day of winter), like Nowruz and Chaharshanbe Suri, is deeply rooted in Iran’s ancient history and culture.

The word “Yalda” is derived from the Syriac language and means “birth” or “rebirth.” The origins of this celebration date back thousands of years. Some archaeologists, citing pottery vessels and animal motifs associated with the Iranian calendar months, estimate the history of Yalda to be as old as 7,000 years.

One of the most cherished Yalda traditions is reading Hafez poems, the renowned Iranian poet. The elder of the gathering opens the Divan of Hafez, reads the selected poem, and offers its interpretation. As many of Hafez’s poems carry romantic and hopeful themes, the interpretations are often joyful and uplifting.