off and on!
i was on the bus the other day standing in the aisle and noticed this written on the back of a seat:
"don't be afraid of death,
but rather the life unlived."
there was this guy sitting there with a friend as well, he also noticed this little qoute of i-don't -know-who and showed it to the woman; she, who wasn't a native English speaker, wrote it down on a little scrap paper.
as this "...life unlived!" was kinda echoing into my ears with my own voice, i was thinking... which part of my life have i unlived? and which part and when did i really live? i ended up feeling that i have taken it off and on! how do i feel about this now? don't know...!
then i thought: well, do I really know what it means? have we really thought how much a simple thing can get different interpretations by different people and can mean differently to any individual?
i was also thinking how these diverse takes can lead to anomalies and clashes! not to mention that the same diversity in understanding and interpretation, regardless of all its reasons and origins, can potentially lead to many different ideas, theroies, creativities, and even become the emergence of ideologies and the source of inventions!!!
aaahh, we are complex creatures... so much so that we can't figure it out ourselves!
----------
21st of Dec. was the winter solstice ... i wanted to post something here, but didn't feel like it... (sorry i'm not a dedicated blogger; just off and on, can't be better!)
anyhow, as of 22nd of Dec. the position of the earth with respect to the sun will change and the days start to get longer and longer.
it was a very important eve in the ancient era in Iran and perhaps in other old civilizations.
they celebrated it as the "Eve of the Sun" or the "Festive of the Sun" in Iran. they kinda believed that sun is born/reborn at this time. that's why it was called "Yalda Eve", Yalda is a Persian word with Arabic roots, which means "birth/rebirth". the Iranian calendar at the time had 7 months only, and the 22nd of Dec. was the first day of the year.
it is also said that later they celebrated it for 40 days, since they believed on the 40th day the sun would shine better and brightier, and the dark days of the winter are gone...
some other historians believe that since Christians didn't know the exact birthday of the Jesus, they took this great eve as the time Jesus was born, and celebrated it as such.
years passed, "Yalda Eve" still remained as an important day in Iran, but the Iranian calendar got 5 more months added to it gradually. and interestingly enough, they now believed that on the 40th day after 22 of Dec. a savior will be reborn to bring peace and justice into earth. seems they got this back from the christians then!
many years passed until the Iranians changed the new year's eve to 21st of March, although the Yalda Eve is still celebrated as the longest evening/night of the year!
HAPPY YALDA/ THE EVE OF THE SUN TO EVERYONE!
"don't be afraid of death,
but rather the life unlived."
there was this guy sitting there with a friend as well, he also noticed this little qoute of i-don't -know-who and showed it to the woman; she, who wasn't a native English speaker, wrote it down on a little scrap paper.
as this "...life unlived!" was kinda echoing into my ears with my own voice, i was thinking... which part of my life have i unlived? and which part and when did i really live? i ended up feeling that i have taken it off and on! how do i feel about this now? don't know...!
then i thought: well, do I really know what it means? have we really thought how much a simple thing can get different interpretations by different people and can mean differently to any individual?
i was also thinking how these diverse takes can lead to anomalies and clashes! not to mention that the same diversity in understanding and interpretation, regardless of all its reasons and origins, can potentially lead to many different ideas, theroies, creativities, and even become the emergence of ideologies and the source of inventions!!!
aaahh, we are complex creatures... so much so that we can't figure it out ourselves!
----------
21st of Dec. was the winter solstice ... i wanted to post something here, but didn't feel like it... (sorry i'm not a dedicated blogger; just off and on, can't be better!)
anyhow, as of 22nd of Dec. the position of the earth with respect to the sun will change and the days start to get longer and longer.
it was a very important eve in the ancient era in Iran and perhaps in other old civilizations.
they celebrated it as the "Eve of the Sun" or the "Festive of the Sun" in Iran. they kinda believed that sun is born/reborn at this time. that's why it was called "Yalda Eve", Yalda is a Persian word with Arabic roots, which means "birth/rebirth". the Iranian calendar at the time had 7 months only, and the 22nd of Dec. was the first day of the year.
it is also said that later they celebrated it for 40 days, since they believed on the 40th day the sun would shine better and brightier, and the dark days of the winter are gone...
some other historians believe that since Christians didn't know the exact birthday of the Jesus, they took this great eve as the time Jesus was born, and celebrated it as such.
years passed, "Yalda Eve" still remained as an important day in Iran, but the Iranian calendar got 5 more months added to it gradually. and interestingly enough, they now believed that on the 40th day after 22 of Dec. a savior will be reborn to bring peace and justice into earth. seems they got this back from the christians then!
many years passed until the Iranians changed the new year's eve to 21st of March, although the Yalda Eve is still celebrated as the longest evening/night of the year!
HAPPY YALDA/ THE EVE OF THE SUN TO EVERYONE!
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2 Comments:
Happy Yalda, a bit belatedly, to you, too, Paradox. It is interesting how significant the varous solstices are, especially the ones in winter and spring. Baha'is, of course, include Naw-Ruz as one of the nine holy days of the Baha'i Year.
As for "a life unlived," I interprete that to mean a life that hasn't been lived with a sense of purpose and direction. Our lives are greatly enriched when we align ourselves with a Larger Story, a narrative we step into the goals of which to advance. It is always useful to analyze from time to time just what are the stories that we live by. What are the larger narratives open to Iranians living abroad, I wonder?
I hope you haven't abandoned the idea of continuing to post to your other blog. It seems to me that there is some very significant self-reflection there. You are exploring there the basis for the personal stories you are living by now.
why do you thenk that we celadrate yalda? ;•)
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