For a long time, Iranian people and many other societies to hold a ceremony at the beginning of the winter season that has different names and motives among different ethnicities. In Iran and neighboring cultured lands, the night of the beginning of winter is referred to as “Shabe Chele” or “Shabe Yalda”, which coincides with the night of the winter revolution. Although some people today mistakenly believe that Yalda Night is the highest night of the year to eliminate malevolently, we know that in ancient Iranian beliefs no day, night, unlucky were known. Like many Iranian rituals, the Yalda night celebration is rooted in a cosmic event.
The sun reaches its lowest point in the south-eastern horizon in late autumn, which shortens the day length and increases the dark time of the night. But since the onset of winter or the winter revolution, the sun has been turning northeast again, resulting in increased daylight and reduced nighttime. In other words, in the first six months of the summer until the beginning of winter, the sun rises slightly below its previous location on the horizon every day, eventually reaching its lowest southern point at the beginning of winter, at a distance of 1.5 degrees east or equinox. From this day on, the sunrise route is reversed and back again to the high point of the summer revolution. The beginning of the sun’s return to the northeast and the rise of the day, in ancient people’s minds and beliefs, was regarded as a time of rebirth or birth of the sun and were cherished.
In the past, there were rituals at this time, one of which was the celebration of waking up to dawn and watching the sunrise. A feast whose prerequisites, the presence of elders and family elders, as well as snacks for long-term waking up to the night, such as pomegranates and watermelons that are red as the sun.
Today we can watch the birth of the sun as our ancestors watched. In antiquity, buildings were built to measure the sun’s reach to presumed positions, including summer and winter revolutions, one of the most important of which was the Niassar Kashan charttaqi. The Nasser chartaqi is a building where the sun’s birth can be seen in a tangible and visible way. Other chartaqies also have this feature.