12/21/2020
يلدا خجسته🥳🎉🔥🌙🌝🥰♥️Happy Winter Solstice! Shab e Chelleh shâd o farkhonde bâd! Tonight is the eve of the Winter Solstice, called "Shab e Chelleh" in Persian or also by the Syriac loanword "Yalda".
Although Winter Solstice celebrations predate Zarathushtra's teachings, they found harmonious symbolism with his doctrine called Mazdayasna (Devotion to Wisdom). Zarathushtra conceives of the world we live in as a theater of conflict between two diametrically opposed ways of being (mainyus), they stand for mental attitudes in the psychological domain, and also opposing moral vectors in all of creation.
There is a progressive or beneficial Way of Being that moves us towards light and closer to the Divine and the frustrating or harmful Way of Being that moves us away from the light, towards darkness. This dualist moral doctrine is later translated as the struggle between "Good" vs "Evil" -- but this struggle is one that occurs within the individual.
The universe is to be understood as a potentially ideal evolution which has been contaminated by internal opposition and frustration. The world is capable of being perfected by the actions of humans by reason of their capacity of moral choice. Through Free Will, human action can promote good and reject evil leading to its ultimate banishment.
You can see how this fits in so well with the symbolism of the Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year, the Eve of the Winter Solstice is a symbolic turning point, after which the days (and light) grow longer on every subsequent day.
Modern traditions involve staying up late with your loved ones eating red foods symbolizing the sun like pomegranates and watermelon, reading poetry, drinking, and general merrymaking.
The idea is to come together in strength and by focusing on love, goodness, and the triumph of light over darkness in our thoughts, words, and deeds - we pool together our collective light to illuminate even the darkest night of the year.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season full of light, love, and ushtâ (radiant happiness)! A big thank you to our dear friend family &