Yes, season’s greetings

Beloved Ones,

Often Iran in the mind of the uninitiated conjures up the image of a desert country with monotone climate that is largely dependent on income from petroleum. Surely the climate of a great percentage of country can be described as arid/semi-arid and the oil revenues have historically played a great role in the economy of the country .

Yet when one travels to Iran, it quickly becomes evident as to how important the change of seasons are to the Persian calendar as well as the celebrations of harvests since Iran is a nation of micro-climates . Also when one reads the history of municipalities like the desert city of Yazd which through its Qanat system of guiding the underground water from dozens of miles away for agriculture and the fact hundreds of thousands of people in that city lived off being a supplier to the Silk Road with quilts, scarves and carpets; one realizes that Iranians have a rich history of being innovators , designers and that their culture is really one that is one the last remaining legacies of the ancient fertile crescent.

You may now ask , what relevance does any of this have to do with the sense of mayhem that is currently dominating our world ?

My response would be one of personal experiences and anecdotes. When I try to look back at my formative years and experiences and decouple the commercialism of the holidays from their historic meaning, I find the Yalda (Persian Winter Solstice Holiday) must have meant to be a quiet occasion of reflection about the longest night of the year and coming to terms with nature while spending time with those you value most. Hence, my annual Yalda, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza letter to you and the exploration for potential common bonds. Please forgive the redundancies, if you have received this letter in the previous years.

The Pagan Romans once engaged the Persian (Partians/Ashkani Dynasty) in a five century long struggle for the control of Anatolia. Such conflicts always ​create ​unexpected consequences and exchange of traditions. It is said by many historians that the Romans became fascinated with the Mithraist Persian calendar and its precision of rituals for celebrating the change of seasons. Particular in their attention was the winter solstice – YALDA fest (in Latin-Solis Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun ), which celebrated the bounty of the fall harvest, consisting of dried and preserved agricultural products/fruits. It is also said that Yalda (the probable origin of the word Yuletide) coincided with the birthday of some of the legendary Persian mythical figures and kings like Mithra the god, as well as Artaban/Artabanus, among them. After the conversion to Christianity, the narratives of a new king born in that season and the three wise men who were by most accounts Persian, caused the newly Christianized Romans to appropriate the Yalda holiday as the approximate birth date of the Jesus of Nazareth.

Whatever the historic merits of such claims, one can not help but be attracted to the narratives of connections and the commonalities of our holidays and spiritual traditions. I think that similar connections can probably be found about Hanukkah and Kwanza as well. But what is really important is that they are pretexts for us to develop bonds with one another outside of our daily context of routines and transactions.

It is my hope that during the culminating days of this most turbulent year, we remember the greater cycles of nature and rediscover that there is nothing new under the sun . The challenges that our generation faces can be overcome with a sense of perspective and long term commitment to reforming or rebuilding our institutions; while always maintaining the moral high ground regardless of its short term costs.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza and Yalda Mobarak,

Narimon