Yalda Night 2026: Date, Traditions, Food and Hafez

Yalda Night 2026 falls on the evening of Monday 21 December, the night of 30 Azar 1405 in the Iranian calendar, and lasts until sunrise on Tuesday 22 December, the first day of winter. Iranian families gather at the home of an elder, eat pomegranates and watermelon, read the poetry of Hafez and stay up late to see off the longest night of the year.

Also called Shab-e Yalda or Shab-e Chelleh, the celebration is shared by Iran and Afghanistan, which together added it to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2022. This guide explains when Yalda Night falls, what goes on the table, how families celebrate and what travellers in Iran should know.

When is Yalda Night?

Yalda Night is always the night of 30 Azar, the last day of autumn in the Iranian solar calendar, which runs into 1 Dey, the first day of winter. Because the Iranian calendar follows the sun, the date usually falls on 20 or 21 December. For the next two years:

Yalda Night is not an official public holiday in Iran, so shops, museums and offices keep their usual hours that day. Expect busy fruit markets, bakeries and pastry shops in the days before, and quiet streets after dark, when families are indoors together. For the full list of holidays, see our guide to Iran’s public holidays.

What does Yalda mean?

Yalda is a word borrowed into Persian from Syriac, usually explained as meaning “birth”, a reference to the sun, whose days begin to lengthen after the winter solstice. The older Persian name, Shab-e Chelleh, means “the night of the forty”. According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica, it opens the “great chelleh”, forty days of deep winter from 1 Dey to 11 Bahman, which is followed by a “small chelleh” of twenty days until the end of Bahman.

UNESCO describes Yalda/Chella as a celebration of the sun and the warmth of life, held on the last night of autumn, and says it celebrates cultural identity, nature, friendship, hospitality and peaceful coexistence.

What is on the Yalda table?

Families sit around a table, or traditionally a korsi, a low heated table covered with a quilt, laid with symbolic objects and foods. UNESCO lists the essentials:

• A lamp or candles for light.
• Water for cleanliness.
• Red fruits for warmth: pomegranates, watermelon, beetroot, jujubes and grapes.
• Broth, sweets, dried fruits and nuts kept or made specially for the night.

Watermelon is the star. The Encyclopaedia Iranica records the belief that eating watermelon on the night of Chelleh protects you from the heat and illness of the coming summer, which is why families once stored a melon from summer for this night. Pomegranates, with their bright red seeds, are shared around the table. Read more in our story of the pomegranate in Iran.

The Iranica entry also notes that in some areas forty different foods should be served, and that in Khorasan carrots, pears, pomegranates and green olives were thought to protect against scorpion stings. For regional dishes, from Tabriz to Kerman, see our guide to Yalda Night food.

How do Iranians celebrate Yalda Night?

A family night at the elders’ home

Yalda Night is above all a family gathering. Relatives meet at the home of grandparents or the oldest member of the family, share dinner and stay up long after midnight. UNESCO notes that the night also includes games, music and gifts for new in-laws, brides and children; in many families, a young man’s family sends gifts to his fiancée, and in some areas her family sends gifts in return.

Fal-e Hafez: asking Hafez for a fortune

The best-loved custom is fal-e Hafez. Someone makes a silent wish, opens the Divan of the 14th-century poet Hafez of Shiraz at random, and the poem on the page is read aloud as an answer. Tradition says you should not ask more than three times in a night, or the poet may grow tired of you. Learn more about why Hafez matters to Iranians.

Hafez himself used the image of the longest night in one of his ghazals:

صحبت حکام ظلمت شب یلداست / نور ز خورشید جوی بو که برآید
The company of rulers is the darkness of Yalda Night; seek light from the sun, for it may yet rise.

Hafez, Divan

Stories, poetry and music

After dinner, the older generation tells stories and anecdotes, and some families read from the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi’s epic of Iran’s kings and heroes. Today, radio and television also mark the night with special programmes. For a playlist, see our selection of Yalda music and songs.

Yalda Night in Iran’s cities

In the week before Yalda Night, fruit shops pile up pyramids of pomegranates and watermelons, and bazaars stay busy into the evening. Tehran’s old neighbourhoods, the bazaars of Rasht, Isfahan and Ahvaz, and pastry shops across the country fill with people buying for the night.

For more scenes, see our photo story of Yalda preparations in Iran.

Visiting Iran at Yalda: tips for travellers

• It is a private celebration. Yalda Night happens at home, not in the streets. The best way to share it is an invitation from Iranian friends or a stay with a local family; a homestay can make that possible.
• Bring a gift. If you are invited, a box of pastries, nuts or fruit is a welcome present.
• Visit the bazaars. The days before Yalda Night are a lively time to see fruit markets and pastry shops at their busiest.
• Pack for winter. Late December is cold in Tehran, Tabriz and the mountains, and mild on the Persian Gulf coast. See our guide to Iran in winter.
• Plan the rest of your trip. Combine Yalda Night with a winter itinerary through our Iran tours or a private tour.

Happy Yalda: wishes and cards

To wish someone a happy Yalda in Persian, say Shab-e Yalda mobarak (شب یلدا مبارک). A simple English message works too: “Wishing you a warm and happy Yalda Night, and light after the longest night of the year.”

Yalda Night is one of several seasonal festivals that mark the Iranian year, from Nowruz in spring to Mehregan in autumn. Explore them in our guide to Iranian festivals and celebrations.

Frequently asked questions about Yalda Night