First published Dec. 15, 2021 in Stories Beneath the Shell.
by Kara Thompson
Over 360 people filled Riggs Alumni Center at the University of Maryland Saturday night, where the Iranian Students’ Foundation held a celebration to celebrate the winter solstice.
Yalda, or Shab-e Chelleh, is a Persian holiday celebrating the winter solstice, which falls on Dec. 21 this year. “Yalda” means “birth,” and the holiday marks the birth of Mithra, the goddess of light. Celebrating on the winter solstice, which is also the longest night of the year, marks the end of autumn as well as the victory of light over darkness.
The Iranian Students’ Foundationholds a Yalda celebration annually, but last year’s event had to be held on Zoom because of the pandemic.
One person presented the meaning of Yalda and a few students performed on Zoom, president Yasna Goshtasbi-Gowharrizi said. This year, the in-person event include a DJ and a catered dinner for those in attendance as well.
“We wanted it to be like a family thing…anyone can come, kids and their parents and grandparents and everything,” the senior psychology major. “It was important to keep the culture.”
Kayvan Fouladinovid, a senior computer science major who has been part of ISF since his freshman year, also emphasized family.
“It’s nice to see everyone’s family,” he said. “It’s like a strong community-building event.”
Yalda is typically celebrated with families gathering in front of a fire to tell stories and eat fruit and nuts, especially pomegranate.
“Holidays you spend at home with your family, which in and of itself is very nice and intimate, but it’s also nice to have this kind of grand way of celebrating,” Fouladinovid said.
Saturday’s Yalda event featured two dance performances, two musical performances, a skit and a game show. Once the performances were over, there was a dance floor and a DJ, and everyone was encouraged to get up and dance.
Ariana Boyd, a sophomore microbiology major, was a part of a Persian-fusion dance performance. She said she joined ISF at the beginning of the semester to connect with her Persian roots.
“When you celebrate with friends, especially through a big club setting like this, you get to meet so many people along the way as you practice to perform at it,” Boyd said. “It was more refreshing, in a way, than just celebrating with my family.”
Goshtasbi-Gowharrizi liked the chance for people to be able to get together and celebrate, especially since this is the first big event ISF has been able to have since 2019.
“It’s really cool that even though it’s a student-led thing, that many people want to come,” Goshtasbi-Gowharrizi said. “Most of them were obviously students and friends of the people performing and family members, but there were some people that weren’t really affiliated at all.”
Fouladinovid’s favorite part of the event was the atmosphere, he said.
“It’s hard to get everyone together, but this is like a specialized [event where] everyone shows up,” he said. “There’s some aura there, there’s some larger familiar feeling going there.”
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