Yalta night celebrations 2016

When: Sat 17 December 2016 19:00-21:30
Where: Lucas Lecture Theatre

We are going to celebrate the longest night of the year with Persian music and Italian music & dance. This programme is organised by the SOAS Iranian music society. 

Performers:
John Baily [rubab]
Veronica Doubleday [voice, dayreh]
Alfredo Giani [mandola, voice, harmonica, tamburello] 
Mark Glanville [voice]
Peyman Heydarian [santur, piano, daf]
Sass Hoory darbuka]
Daniele Rogis Rizzo [tambourine]

Performed by the SOAS Iranian band and Amaraterra

DATE: Saturday 17 December 2016

Time: 7pm, doors open from 6.45pm

VENUE: SOAS – Lucas Lecture Theatre, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Tickets: £15 Regular / £10 Concs / £6 Students
Further information at www.thesantur.com. You will be redirected to SOAS online sale page, where tickets can be purchased online at no booking fee. 

Shab-e Yalda 
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Yalda has a history as long as the Mithraic religion. The Mithraists believed that Yalda is the night of the birth of Mithra, the Persian god of light and truth. At the morning of the longest night of the year the Mithra is born from a virgin mother. In Zoroastrian tradition, Yalda remained an auspicious day, and included customs intended to protect people from misfortune. On that day, people were advised to stay awake most of the night. They have small parties and gatherings and eat the last remaining fresh fruits from summer.Following the fall of the Sassanid Empire and the subsequent rise of Islam in Iran, the religious significance of the event was lost, and, like other Zoroastrian festivals, Yalda became a social occasion when family and close friends would get together. Nonetheless, the obligatory serving of fresh fruit during mid-winter is reminiscent of the ancient customs of invoking the divinities to request protection of the winter crop. The 13th century Persian poet Sa'di wrote in his Bustan: "The true morning will not come, until the Yalda Night is gone".Following the Persian calendar reform of 1925, which pegged some seasonal events to specific days of the calendar, Yalda came to be celebrated on the night before and including the first day of the tenth Persian month (Dey ), on 20-21 December. Subject to seasonal drift, this day may sometimes fall a day before or a day after the actual Winter Solstice. Yalda Night was officially added to Iran's List of National Treasures in a special ceremony in 2008.With Best Wishes,SOAS Iranian music society