The Khatam University Family Welcomed the Longest Night of the Year

According to Khatam University’s Public Relations Department, in the final hours of autumn, while eyes awaited a white winter, and on the eve of the arrival of Shab-e Chelleh, members of the Khatam University family gathered in a friendly get-together to welcome the longest night of the year and held the Yalda celebration.

This ceremony, which was held on Saturday, December 17, 2025 with the accompaniment of university deputies, managers, professors, faculty members, and the enthusiastic presence of students in the amphitheater hall, included a variety of artistic and literary programs which, through the cooperation of different university departments, created joyful moments for those present; from theatrical and musical performances to a Hafez poetry recitation program, as well as the closing ceremony of the first Yalda Night Festival of the university and the honoring of the selected participants of this event.

The Yalda Night programs at Khatam University began with the performance of the play “An Untimely Meeting,” which was an adaptation of the plays “Appointment” by Luigi Iannuzzi and “Death Knocks” by Woody Allen. In the performance of this student theater, the Scientific–Student Association of the English Language Department and the Cultural Affairs Management of the university worked in close cooperation.

Subsequently, Dr. Zeinab Amiri, a faculty member of the English Language Department, delivered remarks on the roots and origins of Yalda Night. Referring to the fact that Yalda is one of the oldest Indo-Iranian festivals and among the rituals inherited from ancient Iran, she stated that in most historical sources, Yalda Night is introduced as the longest night of the year as well as the night of the birth and rebirth of the sun, and that the word Yalda itself has a Syriac origin and refers to the birth of Christ. She also described the most important message of Yalda Night as separating oneself from sorrows, griefs, and darknesses, even if only for one night.

Following this, a video clip featuring remarks by the deputies of Khatam University on the occasion of Shab-e Chelleh was played. Then, a Hafez poetry recitation program was performed with the participation of Dr. Saeed Rahimi, Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature at the Center for Languages and Linguistics of Sharif University of Technology, accompanied by Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Haj-Malek, Head of the English Language Department at Khatam University. In this section, Dr. Rahimi, while presenting points about the status of Hafez and his poetry among Iranians, especially on calendar occasions such as Yalda Night, referred to the historical transformations that have occurred in the rituals related to this night, such as fortune-telling from the Divan of Hafez.

He stated: “Although today we all celebrate Yalda Night in the form of a festival, the reality is that for our ancestors Yalda Night was more of a frightening night, and they believed that even the sun might die on Yalda Night. For this reason, Shab-e Chelleh was accompanied by night vigils and prayers for the endurance of the sun.”

Dr. Rahimi, while citing verses from the Divan of Hafez to confirm that Khajeh of Shiraz himself also practiced fortune-telling, added: “Nevertheless, fortune-telling from the Divan of Hafez, in the manner for which we have established specific rituals today—such as the rule that when you open the Divan, you can only select poems from the right-hand page for fortune-telling—does not have a long history and perhaps dates back no more than the past one hundred years.”

The Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature at the Center for Languages and Linguistics of Sharif University of Technology then recited two ghazals from the Divan of Hafez for the audience and, in a brief explanation, emphasized that Hafez’s poetry is oriented toward its time and its issues, and that he is truly a poet whose poetry serves life and stands in opposition to violence, especially religious violence.

The screening of a video clip created with the help of artificial intelligence on the theme of Yalda Night was another attractive part of Khatam University’s Yalda celebration. This clip, which was produced by the Public Relations team of Khatam University under the management of Dr. Nasim Saeimian, was filled with a sense of vitality, joy, and student enthusiasm, and during its screening, students welcomed this artistic work with repeated applause.

In the music performance section, two skilled musicians playing the qanun, tombak, and daf instruments created delightful moments for the audience.

The concluding part of the Yalda Night celebration programs was the holding of the first student Yalda Festival of Khatam University. Dr. Fatemeh Karimi Jafari, Director of Student Affairs and Cultural Activities at Khatam University, presented a report on the activities carried out to organize this event and stated: “After the publication of the festival call and the deadline announced for receiving submissions, a total of 270 works—including literary, artistic, photographic, painting, and other works—from 67 participants, consisting of students and administrative colleagues, were submitted to the secretariat. After reviewing and evaluating the works, 15 individuals were ultimately selected.”

The names of the selected participants of the student Yalda Night Festival in various sections are as follows:

Mahsa Khajouei, Shadi Asgarpour, Majid Mehrabani, Masoumeh Aalaei, Somayeh Aali, Soren Shahvardi-Pour, Sara Tohidinia, Saeedeh Ramezani, Behnaz Jafari, Zahra Rahbar, Shabnam Kheyberi, Maedeh Moradi, Fatemeh Mahdavi, Melika Nobakhtian, and Maryam Moradi.

Additionally, during this ceremony, appreciation was expressed for those involved in organizing the Yalda Night event in the Public Relations Office of Khatam University and for the creators of the Yalda clip, including Morteza Ahmadi, Alireza Rajabi, and Mohammadreza Sharifi.

Honoring Dr. Zeinab Amiri, faculty member of the English Language Department, as well as members of the theater group including Shaghayegh Sarsakhti (director and adaptor), Maliheh Khalajzadeh, Mehrad Khorshidi, Maedeh Moradi, and Farzad Lari (actors), and also the event hosts Tina Rahmati and Mohammad Hossein Jafari, was among the other sections of the Yalda Night ceremony.