Member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) are slated to celebrate the ceremony of Yalda Night (the Iranian winter solstice) at Milad Tower in Iran’s capital Tehran on December 21.
Ambassadors of Afghanistan and Tajikistan will also attend the event.The cultural program aims to introduce the traditions of Yalda Night which is held in Iran and the neighboring countries.
Afghan and Tajik music ensembles will stage performances as part of the program.Prominent Iranian poets including Nasser Feyz, Saeid Biyabanaki will recite satirical poem and Shahrouz Iranian will read the stories of Ferdowsi’s magnum opus ‘Book of the King’.
Reciting poems of Persian poet Hafez will be one of the main parts of the Yalda Night occasion.
‘Yalda Night’ (Night of Birth), or ‘Shab-e Chelle’, for ‘chelle’ meaning 40, and Yalda celebration takes place 40 days prior to the Zoroastrian fire festival of Sadeh, according to the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies.
The ritual was registered on the National Heritage List in 2008 and proposed for a global status on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2015.
ECO is an Asian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in Tehran in 1985 by officials of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.
Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan comprise ECO member states.
Source: Iran Daily
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