 
A Fruit Shop at Yaldanight, Tehran
By r. A. Jafarey
WinterSolstice, Yule, Yuletide, Yalda
All storing or migrating animals, from the tiniest insect to the largest
mammal, are well acquainted with the changes of seasons. They have their
"calendar." They know the approach of spring, summer, autumn andwinter and
prepare to come in open, migrate from a
fixed place to another, begin storing and/or prepare to retire or hibernate
in their winter quarters.
Mankind has been doing the same since its evolution and then the dispersion
into different lands. We have signs of how humans have closely observed the
movements of the sun, the moon and the stars since thousands of years. We
have records of how they knew the solar calendar for their day-to-day living
since cave days. This climate and calendar consciousness has been common to
humans all over the world. They have known the equinoxes and solstices in
both hemispheres.
Their preparations to adjust to the seasonal changes have evolved into
ceremonies that begin with each change. Obviously, where seasonal changes
have been more marked, the recognition was more accurate and
where it did not matter much, the change brought hardly any marked change in
life.
The people for whom winter meant quite an experience, paid more attention to
the Winter Solstice, the people to whom spring brought new life, welcomed
the Vernal Equinox and the people who depended more on seasonal rains,
hailed the beginning of monsoon as their festive time.
History shows that the people nearer to the North Pole were more concerned
with the Winter Solstice than any other people. The Nordic people,
comprising of the Celts and Germanics, have been paying attention
comparatively to the very longest night more than
others. They are the people for whom the Winter Solstice, the turn to have
more of the sunlight meant much. Samhain of the Celts and Yule of the
Germanics stand for Winter Solstice. For them, it was a "rebirth" ofthe sun
whose light had shortened to few hours a day. And once an idea gets a
community, imagination wanders and wonders to create a myth around it. Yule
and Yuletide meant the re-death and re-birth of the Sun god. It may be added
here that many scholars of Nordic studies think that "yule" means"wheel"
and that it stands for the "Wheel of the Sun" and the solar cycle.
Santa Claus, with a number of other names, is yet another sign that the
Winter Solstice of Christianity has its roots far into the North of Nordics.
Meanwhile, the people on the Mediterranean were also paying more attention
to the seasonal changes. The sun played a very bright part in their life.
They too noticed the longest night, of course shorter than what the Nordics
went through, that heralded the lengthening of daylight - the"growing" Sun.
Their myth had made the sun "Invictus," unconquerable, yet theyimagined it
dwindling only to take birth out of the rock as a full grown strong, young
man, and not a baby.
Time brought the two peoples together and they found certain beliefs common.
That gave the Winter Solstice celebration of the rebirth of the Sun (god) a
new impetus to Europe and the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean - today's Turkey and the Near East.
The two terms "Yule" and "Yuletide - Yule time" traveled tothe eastern
Mediterranean. Meanwhile, we know that the First Ecumenical Council held in
Nicea in 325 CE under Emperor Constantine (about 274-337 CE), himself an
overt convert from Solar henotheism to
Christianity, made Christianity the state religion of the Byzantine Empire
and that Yuletide was declared to become the Birthday of Jesus.
One can guess that "Yuletide" connected to the "re-birth"sounded to the
Semitic ears of the Syriac people so similar to "yalda," the word for
"birth." "Yalda" easily replaced "Yuletide"and quite correctly for the
Semitic Christians. It made sense.
Meanwhile, in the Iranian Plateau with its well-marked four seasons, the
Vernal Equinox was the beginning of the New Solar Year - Nowruz. It has all
along been the greatest national festival for the Iranians. But their true
tropical calendar had also the first day/date of
the fourth month Tir on the beginning of the Summer Solstice, Autumnal
Equinox on the first day of the seventh month - Mehr, and the Winter
Solstice on the first day of the ninth month Dey. The four seasons
began/begin on the first day of each quarter in their turn. Winter on the
Plateau also means more of indoor living. The Solstice for them was the
beginning of the 40 very cold days of the winter time. They called it
"Chelle-ye Zemestbn - Winter Forties" compared with
"Chelle-ye Tbbestbn - Summer Forties," the very hot days of summer.
Winter Solstice was also celebrated by the Assyrian and Chaldean Iranians as
"Yalda." We have Iranian astrologists, historians and poets of early10th
century CE mention "Yalda, 25th December," as the
Birthday of Jesus.
And now for decades we have daily newspapers, radio and television in modern
Iran. Their commentators have dramatized and generalized it so much so that
the entire Iranian nation, knowingly and unknowingly,
celebrates Yalda more as the night of the rebirth of the "Sun" thanconnect
it with the birth of Jesus who is the "Son" of God for Christians andthe
Prophet of God for Muslims!
Hardly any person cares to re-think and realize that the pre-Zarathushtrian
mythology does not speak at all about the births and deaths of its gods and
goddesses - Sun, Moon, Wind, Cloud, Thunder, Rain, Rivers, Waters and a long
list of other visible (daeva/deva)
deities, and Varuna, Mithra , Airyaman and other invisible (ahura/asura)
beings. They have always been there. No birth, no death, no dates!
Again, hardly any person cares to re-think and realize that "Good
Conscience," the Good Religion founded by Zarathushtra Spitbma has no myth
and legend to entertain any person fond of fiction. It speaks of the Fact of
Good Life and how to live it all along perfection, immortality and Ushtb,
Radiant Happiness.
The only birthday celebrated in the Avesta is the Birthday of Zarathushtra,
a unique human personality of Good Guidance for all times and climes.
But the Iranians have, like many other nations, finding reasons and excuses
to celebrate as many joyful occasions as they can make it! Yalda is one of
them. Happy Yalda to all!
Ali A. Jafarey
28 Azar 3740 ZRE = 19 December 2002 CE.
PS. This was just a note. I have a long essay in English and Persian on the
subject. I leave it for a more appropriate occasion.
WeekendEdition
December 24/25, 2005
The True Meaning of December 25thHappy BirthdayMithras!By GARY LEUPP
Taken from Countrpunchnewsletter: http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp12242005.html
TheNew
Testament provides no specific date for the birth of Jesus. If it
occurredas the Gospel of Luke tells us, as shepherds were watching over
their fields bynight, it probably wouldn't have taken place in
December. Too cold. So why domost Christians observe December 25 as
Jesus' birthday? The most plausibleanswer is that in ancient Rome, as
Christianity was emerging as a new faith, itscalendar was influenced by
other up-and-coming belief systems bunched togetherby adherents of
traditional Roman religion as "mystery religions."
One of these was the worshipof Mithras, an Indo-Aryan deity (the Mitra of Vedic religion, the Mithra of thePersian Avesta)
associated with the heavens and light. His cult enteredthe Roman Empire
in the first century BCE and during the formative decades ofthe
Christian movement was a formidable rival to the latter, with temples
fromSyria to Britain. Given his solar associations, it made sense to
believe that hehad been born on the darkest day of the year, the winter
solstice. That fallsthis year on December 21 but the Romans celebrated
the birth feast of Mithras onDecember 25, ordered to do so by Emperor
Aurelian in 274 CE. Christian textsfrom 325 note that the birthday of
Jesus had come to be observed on that sameday, and the Roman Catholic
Church has in modern times acknowledged that theDecember 25 Christmas
quite likely derived from Mithraicpractice.
Mithras, the
story went, hadbeen born of a virgin. Virgin-birth stories were a
denarius a dozen in theancient world, so this similarity to the gospel
story isn't surprising. ButMithras was also born in very humble
circumstances in a cave, and upon hismiraculous birth found himself in
immediate proximity to the bovine. In hiscase, not mellow manger beasts
but a wild bull. In the Persian version of themyth, this bull had been
the first creation of Ahura Mazda, another, greater godof light. (Ahura
Mazda, in the history of Persian religion, gradually
becomesconceptualized as something like the Judeo-Christian God. But
his worship in theZoroastrian tradition probably predates the Jewish
conception of Yahweh asuniversal deity. Quite likely the Zoroastrian
conception of God influenced theJewish one.)
Mithras
serving Ahura Mazdasubdued the bull, confining it in the cave, and
later slaughteed it. The bloodof the slaughtered bull then generated
vegetation and all life. This myth surelyhas something to do with
cattle-worship among ancient Aryan peoples, which ofcourse survives to
this day in India. In Rome the Mithras cult involved suchrituals as
drenching the Mithras devotee in bull-blood, and having believers
insecret ceremonies consume in the form of bread and wine the flesh and
blood ofthe fabled slaughtered bull. A communion ceremony, if you will.
Mithras died andwas entombed, but rose from the dead. In some accounts,
he does so on the thirdday.
The Mithras
cult was affectedby earlier religious traditions. Anyone studying
mythologies in historicalperspective knows that any particular god
might have numerous connections acrosstime and space. The Sumerian
fertility goddess Inana becomes the BabylonianIshtar becomes the Greek
Aphrodite and the Roman Venus. Inana grieving for herhusband Tammuz,
who had died after being gored in the groin by a bull, followshim to
the netherworld. There are differing stories but in one she achieves
hisresurrection; in another, the resurrection of both is accomplished
by the god ofwisdom Enki, on the third day.
The Romans
were very familiarwith myths about virgin births, births marked by
celestial signs, gods born inhumble circumstances, newborn gods barely
escaping death. The Mithras cult,arriving from Persia in the first
century BCE and popular among the Romansoldiers, was accepted
nonchalantly in a society which had its devotees of Isis,who had
rescued her brother-husband Osiris from the netherworld; Attis,
whoimmaculately conceived by Nana, was gored by a wild boar but
resurrected onMarch 22 (note the proximity to Easter); and the gods of
other mysteryreligions. When the worship of Jesus Christ came along,
spreading from RomanPalestine to Jewish communities throughout the
empire, and attracting non-Jewsas well, they added it to this exotic
collection of devotional options. Theearly Christians for their part
were surely influenced by beliefs and practicesof other cults.
Many find
insights and truthsin myths. Joseph Campbell said that "Myths are clues
to the spiritualpotentialities of the human life." Sigmund Freud felt
the stories ofOedipus and Elektra illuminated human psychological
development. But he regardedreligion as a delusion. Those suffering
from the delusion see their own myths asthe definitive story, and
resist any attempt to explain those myths asderivative from or
comparable to others. Thus the Church Father Justin Martyr(ca. 100-65)
in his Apologia (I, 66) claimed that "wicked devilshave
imitated" the Christian communion ceremony "in the mysteries ofMithras,
commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup ofwater
are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who
isbeing initiated, you either know or can learn." He noted the
obvioussimilarity between Mithraic and Christian practice, and probably
realized thatthe Mithraic rite long preceded the Christian one. But he
could not acknowledgeChristian borrowing. The Mithraic practice
was devilish, while theChristian sent down directly from God and
bearing no relation to previousearthly ones was holy.
The Eucharist
is one thing. Itis mentioned in the gospels and in Paul's first letter
to the Corinthians, whereit's referred to as "the Lord's supper." So
even if it reflectsMithraic borrowing, it at least has scriptural
authority. It's based, thebeliever knows, on God's Word
dictated down through the power of the HolySpirit into the pen of the
inspired scribe. But Christmas celebrated on December25 is a completely
non-Biblical tradition, and realizing that, variousChristians over the
centuries have actively opposed its observance. The Puritanscontrolling
the English Parliament in the 1650s outlawed it, ordering
churchesclosed and shops open this day. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, a
law passed in 1659stated, "Whoever shall be found observing any such
day as Christmas and thelike, either by forbearing labor, feasting, or
any other way upon such accountas aforesaid, every such person so
offending shall pay for each offense fiveshillings as a fine to the
country."
The use of
Christmas trees tomark the occasion has often come under attack. What
does a pine tree have to dowith the birth of Jesus? Nothing, but it has
a lot to do with Attis, into whosetemple in Rome each March 22 a pine
tree would be carried and decorated withflowers and carvings. Its entry
into Christian practice probably comes fromCeltic and Germanic pagan
customs; the Druids in Britain, for example, usedevergreens in
connection with winter solstice rituals. The Norse god Odin
hangedhimself on the yew tree named Yggdrasil, pierced by his own
spear, to acquirewisdom. There is a legend that in the eighth century
St. Boniface, who convertedthe Germans to Christianity, found pagans
worshipping an oak tree sacred toThor, and when he had it cut down
there sprouted in its place a fir tree that hetook as a sign from God.
But the practice of bringing such trees into the homeonly began in
Germany during the Reformation in the sixteenth century,
withencouragement, according to legend from Martin Luther. German
Hessians broughtthe custom to America during the Revolution, but it did
not become popular untilthe nineteenth century and even by 1900, only
one in five U.S. families had one.The majority came to do so during the
next two decades.
Holly? Used in
Druid andGermanic winter solstice rituals. Yule log? More Druidism.
Christmas stockings?Well, no paganism there. Legend is St. Nicholas
(Santa Claus is from the DutchSint Niklaas), bishop of Myrna (in what's
now Turkey) in the fourth century anda very kindly man, discretely
dropped pouches of coins down the chimney of animpoverished nobleman's
home. They miraculously dropped into stockings hungthere to dry by his
several daughters who needed dowries to marry. The point is,all these
customs are the products of an explainable human history.
So too, the
beliefs thatproduce the holiday. The babe born of a virgin, in a
stable, heralded by anangelic host, visited by Magi (Persian
Zoroastrian astrologers) following astar, targeted for death by an evil
king. None of this would have struck theaverage Roman as entirely
original, but the vague familiarity of the stories mayhave lent them
credibility. It appears that the Christian movement, highlydiverse in
the first few centuries, was able to incorporate narratives
andpractices from other traditions into itself that gave it a
comparative advantageby the early fourth century. In 313 Emperor
Constantine legalized and patronizedthe faith. Soon thereafter an
already formidable empire-wide administrativeapparatus merged with
state power, and heresies and paganisms were outlawed andlargely
suppressed. But Christianity continued to incorporate new
influencessuch as the above-mentioned Christmas practices. Few
Christians (or others)nowadays know of Mithras, but today much of the
world unwittingly celebrates hisbirth.
My wife and
kids and I asusual have up a beautiful tree, honoring not only what's
allegoricallyworthwhile in the Jesus story but in the host of innocent
paganisms that fellvictim to official Christianity. I've always seen
the tree, intruding as it doesinto the inner sanctum of the Christian
home, as paganism's quiet revenge. Sohere's a glass of wine, raised in
honor of the hero of the day, transformingeucharistically even as I
partake. Happy birthday, Mithras! As the daysgrow
longer and the nights grow shorter, we thank you, Sun God, for the
miracleof photosynthesis you performed to bring us this sacred tree. We
thank you forthe promise of springtime, which we have faith will arrive
without fail, as thelandscape predictably dies and resurrects year
after year. And we thank you forshining century after century over our
delusional imaginations.
Gary Leuppis Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct Professor ofComparative Religion. He is the author of Servants,Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; MaleColors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and InterracialIntimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900. He is also acontributor to CounterPunch's merciless chronicle of the wars onIraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, ImperialCrusades.
He can be reached at: gleupp@granite.tufts.edu
Happy Yalda or Yuletide
Dec 21, 2006
Ali Mostofi - Persian Journal
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Just
a moment ago the New Moon started. The worshippers of the Moon
havestarted another month. Their calendar loses time and for all
practical purposes,is wrong. There are the Hindus that celebrate their
New Year from the New Moonin Scorpio, and the Chinese that celebrate
their New Year with the New Moon inAquarius, of course the Moslems.
But the Iranian Cosmologists, Astronomers,
Astrologers, were responsible forcreating observatories, and following
the change in the amount of light everyday. They created a calendar
that connected the change in daylight to theseasons. Astrologically
they created what is called the Horoscope. In presentday Iran the
calendar is an Astrological calendar. It has withstood the test oftime,
and the people of Iran have four celebrations to commemorate the
interplayof Light and Darkness. The Yin Yang of time, to make it clear
to the Chinesefolk who buy all that oil from Iran, is called the
Ohrmazd-Ahriman dialectic.These are the Twin Forces that show up in all
realms of Life.
Whatever you look at, the Twin Forces are at work.
Look at a battery, and yousee a plus at one end, and minus at the other
end. Look at the sky, and you seethe birds flying in pairs. Put your
hand on your heart, and you hear boom-boom.Look at the days get shorter
in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, and you seethe lights in the Christianworld
get brighter and brighter. Look at any believer in pre-Christian
andpre-Islamic Iran, and they are stocking up on the huge party called
Yalda, thatis has been going for at least ten thousand years. We all
will stay up on thelongest night of the year to eat, and be merry, to
show that the enthusiasm andfire within all of us humans will defeat
the darkness of the longest night ofthe year.
But the main reason for the celebration, is to
welcome the first longer day,called Yalda. And yes, it does sound
similar to Yuletide, because Iranians arerelated to the Europeans.
Modern scientists have looked at the Y Chromosomes ofIranians, and they
have linked us to our distant cousins. And culturallyIranians do
assimilate well with our EUand American cousins. We have been very grateful for all the love and supportthey have given us in these difficult times.
Cyrus the Great followed and understood this form of reasoning, when he enteredBabylon and released the Jews.The
Magi of Iran knew this reasoning, when they saw that the ancient
prophecy inancient Iranian oracles, about the coming of Jesus Christ.
It was the Iraniansthat gave the honour and respect first to baby
Jesus. And finally it was anIranian priest that saw the coming of the
age of Pisces with the Eclipse overMedina. Salman Parsi was the Iranian
that created what we now call Islam,but
he believed in the Lunar calendar, burning and destroying all the
creativeforces of Sun worshipping Iranians. Many ancient Fire Temples
were snuffed out.We must recall both the dark and the bright side as we
approach Yalda.
And it is really wonderful from the first moments
that the Sun rises on Yaldaday. The Earth is really close to the Sun,
as it is whizzing past the Sun at itfastest, and Yalda will be the
first Longer day. And so Iranians call it theBirthday of Light, and the
Three Wise Men knew, that Jesus Christ is thepersonification of the
birth of Light, when the planets' inclinations were suchthat it looked
as one big bright Star over Bethlehem.
Happy Yalda or Yuletide to all.
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发表于 2009-11-30 16:11
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