Iranians celebrate Yalda festival as economic woes bite

Yalda falls on the winter solstice and is characterised by family gatherings and the eating of nuts, sweets and fruits.

"We mostly spend time with our families, our grandparents, aunts, cousins," Maral Bagherpour, a smiling 16-year-old student, told AFP in northern Tehran's Tajrish Bazaar.

"We take fal-e Hafez, we drink tea or coffee. My grandma sings for us sometimes," she said.

"Taking fal-e Hafez" is a popular tradition that entails using the works of renowned 14th century Persian poet Hafez, an all-time favourite in Iran, to try to divine the future and deal with difficult situations.

"On Yalda night the whole family gets together in my grandparents' house. We reminisce about the good old days and eat nuts and fruits that are in season," said Mary Goudarzi, 37.

However, rampant inflation and a sharp depreciation of the national currency against the dollar have diminished people's purchasing power to really push the boat out for Yalda.

In early December, the central bank announced annual inflation was running at 41 percent.

On Saturday, the US dollar was trading at around 1.32 million rials on the informal market -- almost double the rate at the same time last year.

"Unfortunately, because of recent events such as the war and the dollar price that's rising sharply, people's purchasing power has fallen a lot," said Goudarzi, an interior designer.

"That's why you can't really see many of the items we used to see in previous years on every table," she said while shopping for Yalda.

In June, Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, striking military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, killing more than 1,000 people including nuclear scientists and military commanders.

The attack triggered a 12-day conflict in which Iran responded with drones and missiles targeting Israel, and in which the United States joined Israel and hit Iranian nuclear sites.

'Trying to cope'

Some shopping centres in Tehran put up decorations for Yalda, including artificial trees adorned with hanging pomegranates or displaying huge plates of fruits linked to the festivities.

"Yalda has been around for a long time for families to get together, but with these high prices it's not like it used to be when people would invite the whole family," said Aliakbar Mohammadi, a fruit vendor at a well-stocked stall.

He said the price of pomegranates has doubled since last year, and sales are down markedly.

On Saturday, the reformist Ham Mihan daily had a cartoon entitled "Yalda Night", showing what appeared to be a poor man trying to grab at a basket of fruit hanging from the moon.

The implication was clear -- buying fruit for the festivity is out of reach for some families.

"Inflation is high, the dollar price has gone up and subsequently all prices have increased including the commodities," said 21-year-old nut and fruit shop owner Rahimi, who gave his last name only.

"It's hard for people to buy what they want. The state of the market and the economy is in turmoil. Sales are down significantly this year."

Iran has been under a biting international sanctions regime for years over its nuclear programme, with the West accusing the Islamic republic of trying to build a nuclear bomb and Tehran vehemently denying the charge.

"Conditions will be more difficult, but we're trying to cope -- we have no choice," said Rahimi.

Yalda historically marks the victory of Good over Evil, and is also marked in Persian-speaking areas of some regional countries such as Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Both Yalda and the fire festival, celebrated on the last Tuesday of the Iranian calendar year which ends on March 20, date back to Zoroastrianism, a religion dominant in Iran until the seventh century.