آذر

The 30th of Azar is the longest night of the year, شب یلدا (shab-e yaldâ), the winter solstice celebration that families spend reading Hafez and eating pomegranates and watermelon. So Azar is bracketed by two pieces of pre-Islamic Iran: the Zoroastrian Yazata at the top of the month and the solstice ritual at the bottom. Iranians of any religion or none keep both. The fire-name of the month, the long final night, the family gathering: a 3,000-year continuity that the Islamic Republic could not erase even when it tried.