As blue skies struggle against the greyest, dampest of weather, I fondly think back to seasonal festivities in late December. Last year I celebrated Yalda, the Persian (and Zoroastrian) festival of the Winter Solstice. An early, thickly fogged morning travelling to Stonehenge with Sheherazad, Tom and Doug was rewarded with one of the most atmospheric experiences of my life. The fog ensured we wouldn’t see the sun rise over the horizon but instead we were treated to walking among the clouds, rubbing shoulders with the giants that are the bluestones and sarsens. You can get a taste of what it was like by looking at our Stonehenge Winter Solstice photos. The new sun did emerge from the clouds fleetingly and I was content to say hello before it went off to show itself to others. In the evening, we celebrated Yalda with the Southampton Persian Society at Yalda Persian Restaurant. Scents of saffron, fluffy, buttery rice, flat breads pleasingly blistered in the cloam oven sprinkled with toasted caraway and sesame seeds, aromatic lamb and hot mint tea permeated all around as we divined the poems of Hafiz, ate, drank and laughed.
You can read my Zoroastrian celebration of Yalda article if you like?
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