Salaam dear young friends. Wish you a happy Winter Solstice. Definitely, as is the age-old tradition in Iran, you spent the night with your family members or friends, till the late midnight hours, to mark "Shab-e Yalda” – considered the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere.
      Of course, we know that you dedicated youngsters, blessed with the Basiji spirit to serve the country and the dynamic teachings of Islam at home and abroad, did not waste the precious hours last night, cracking senseless jokes or engaging in idle prattle.
      If such was to be the state of affairs of all the youths of the Islamic Republic, then the Syrian city of Aleppo would never have been liberated from the tentacles of the cannibalistic Takfiri terrorists – may God curse these devils and their satanic backers.
      Insha Allah (God Willing), the spirit of resistance infused into the people of Syria by Islamic Iran will certainly bring forth more victories, till the whole region, including Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula is cleared of the Zionist filth, known as Salafis. Amen          
      Now coming to "Shab-e Yalda”, which Iranians have been marking since the ancient times on the winter solstice, to bid farewell to autumn and herald the arrival of winter, do you know this event has a Syrian connection?
       For your information, the word "Yalda”' is a borrowing from the Syriac language, and was absorbed into Iranian culture during the 1st  to 3rd centuries, when Syriac-speaking Christians, fleeing persecution from the pagan Roman Empire, settled in the Persian Empire, which was ruled by the Parthians and then by the Sassanids. As a result, the Iranians, who might have been celebrating their own winter festival, came into contact with observances of the Nestorian Church, such as the Festival of Yalda, which in Syriac means "birth”, but in religious context refers to the birth of Prophet Jesus (AS), as per the solar calendar, which later came to be called Christmas and was fixed by the Christianized Roman Empire on December 25 – falling on coming Sunday this year.
      The event is also called "Shab-e Chelleh” or "Night of Forty”, which means the 40-day period when winter is at its height in the Iranian Plateau and adjoining lands. It is a time when friends and family gather together in a cordial atmosphere. Normally fruits and nuts are served to guests, along with pomegranates and watermelons.
      After the advent of Islam, like Nowrouz or the New Solar Year, which was adjusted according to the historic migration of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) from Mecca to Medina, the ancient winter festival of "Shab-e Yalda” continued to be celebrated by Iranians, though not on a religious basis. The event became a cultural festival, with families and friends getting together until after midnight to enjoy the blessings of Almighty Allah, to supplicate to Him, to read the holy Qur’an, and to recite eulogies in praise of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt.
      On this night, it is also customary to recite poems of the classical Persian poets, especially of Khwajah Shams od-Din Hafez, who is considered the master of lyrics, and whose philosophically- rich poems continue to attract Persian-speakers of all strata of society all over the world.
      To quote another famous Persian classical poet, Shaikh Mosleh od-Din Sa’di, also of Shiraz, who preceded Hafez, "The true morning will not come until the Yalda Night is gone.”
       In addition to Iran, Central Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Caucasus republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which were all, for millenniums part of the successive Iranian empires, celebrate the tradition of Yalda Night annually at this time of the year.