Azar

Azar is named for fire itself — the sacred element at the heart of Zoroastrian worship. As winter approaches and nights lengthen, fire takes on its deepest meaning. The month closes autumn with Yalda on the eve of Dey — the longest night of the year, when fire and pomegranates and poetry drive back the darkness.

Atar — the Zoroastrian sacred fire — is the son of Ahura Mazda, not a symbol of him. The Avestan texts describe Atar fighting the great dragon Azhi Dahaka through sea and mountain to recover the royal glory stolen from the kings of Persia. The fires in Zoroastrian fire temples are understood to be this same fire — the same entity, dwelling in the flame. Some of these fires have been burning continuously for over 1,500 years, fed only with dried fruit and sandalwood so that no impurity enters the air around them. Azar governs the month when that fire's meaning becomes undeniable.

On Shab-e Yalda, the gathering is specific in its elements because each element carries an argument. The pomegranate: abundance present at the darkest point. The watermelon, preserved from summer: warmth kept alive deliberately into cold. Hafez opened at random: because the ghazal speaks to the particular, and the particular is what endures through the night. These customs were not assembled over time by accident. They are a coherent response to the longest night — made with whatever was at hand in the ancient world, and still made with the same things now.