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Yalda Night
Red pomegranates and red watermelon on the longest night of the year, the colour of the dawn that will follow.
The colours of Yalda Night
Shab-e Yalda is the night of the winter solstice, the longest of the year, and Iranian families stay up through it together. The table is covered with a cloth, often red, and set with red fruit: pomegranates split open to show their seeds, and watermelon kept from the summer. The red is the colour of dawn and of the glow of life, and eating summer fruit in midwinter is thought to keep the body well through the cold. Nuts and dried fruit are passed round, candles are lit, and the poems of Hafez are read aloud, opened at random to tell each person's fortune. After this night the days lengthen, so Yalda is a celebration of light returning.
#A8142BPomegranate redThe fruit of the night: the red of dawn and life.#E8455AWatermelonSummer fruit eaten in midwinter.#11142BLongest nightThe dark that the family sits through.#F2B84BCandle goldCandles and the returning sun.#93C572Pistachio greenNuts passed round the table.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Yalda Night" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.