12/21/15

Persian Celebration of Light.

Monday was shabeh yalda. On the longest day of the year Persians celebrate the triumph of light over darkness and its called yalda. The traditions include staying up all night eating (pomegranate is a must), drinking tea and reading poetry. Many love to read the poetry of the famous poet Hafez. Often people sit outside on a corsi which is like a heated bench.

An important part of yalda is tea, of course! Here's the tea I had last night with some interesting sweet. The little cubes are called ahb-nabat or rock candy. They are sweets you drink with tea often made of sugar, hard at first but dissolve as you drink your tea. The ones I had last night had bits of pistachio in them...so good! I don't think you can find the pistachio ones online but here are the ones with saffron.