Iranians celebrate longest night of the year

STORY: Iranians celebrate longest night of the year DATELINE: Dec. 23, 2022 LENGTH: 0:03:13 LOCATION: Tehran CATEGORY: CULTURE SHOTLIST: 1. various of food in Iran STORYLINE: Iranians celebrated Yalda Night, the longest night of the year on Wednesday this year. On this day, people in Iran usually get together with their families to enjoy fruits, nuts and sweets. Group reading of poems by great 14th-century Persian author Hafez for fortune-telling purposes is another tradition. Yalda means birth in Persian. This occasion marks an ancient Iranian festival that basically celebrates the coming of the winter solstice and the longest night of the year for centuries. Yalda Night was registered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a cultural heritage in Iran and Afghanistan this year. Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tehran. (XHTV)