Spring Break
Iranian Student Association celebrates the winter solstice with poetry, music
Allison Lex
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: News
About 140 were in attendance in the Rome Commons Ballroom on Saturday to celebrate the coming of winter, Iranian style. The Yalda-Winter Party is an annual event held by the student organization to recognize one of Iran's most important festivals.
"It's a celebration of the winter solstice and the coming of winter that dates back thousands and thousands of years," said Arman Azimi, a 6th-semester history and political science major who is president of the Iranian Association. "It's pre-Islamic and it's one of the two big Iranian cultural events each year."
UConn's Yalda-Winter Party is tradition for members of the Iranian Student Association as well as for both the student body and the surrounding communities. The party began with a brief introduction in Persian by Azimi. Sean Ghassemzadeh, vice president of the Iranian Student Association, offered an English translation.
The introduction was followed by the first of two poetry readings. The first poem, about friendship, was read in Persian by Vahid Farroki, an Iranian student. The second poem, by a highly popular ancient poet Hafez, was read in Persian by Zahra Shahbazi and in English by Temür Zaidi. According to Azimi, it is tradition to read the poetry of Hafez during the Yalda celebration.
Two musical performances followed the poetry readings. Students in the Iranian Association sang the popular Persian song, "Ey Iran," and the crowd was encouraged to sing along.
"We have two goals, to create a strong bond among members of the club…[and] to get out there and expose ourselves to the UConn community," Azimi said. "We are representatives of Persian culture and we think it's important for the UConn student body to see some of that."
The Iranian Association is trying to make their events more open to the general community. At this year's Yalda celebration, they offered a translation of a Persian poem so non-Iranians would be able to better understand the importance of the event.
"It's a celebration of the winter solstice and the coming of winter that dates back thousands and thousands of years," said Arman Azimi, a 6th-semester history and political science major who is president of the Iranian Association. "It's pre-Islamic and it's one of the two big Iranian cultural events each year."
UConn's Yalda-Winter Party is tradition for members of the Iranian Student Association as well as for both the student body and the surrounding communities. The party began with a brief introduction in Persian by Azimi. Sean Ghassemzadeh, vice president of the Iranian Student Association, offered an English translation.
The introduction was followed by the first of two poetry readings. The first poem, about friendship, was read in Persian by Vahid Farroki, an Iranian student. The second poem, by a highly popular ancient poet Hafez, was read in Persian by Zahra Shahbazi and in English by Temür Zaidi. According to Azimi, it is tradition to read the poetry of Hafez during the Yalda celebration.
Two musical performances followed the poetry readings. Students in the Iranian Association sang the popular Persian song, "Ey Iran," and the crowd was encouraged to sing along.
"We have two goals, to create a strong bond among members of the club…[and] to get out there and expose ourselves to the UConn community," Azimi said. "We are representatives of Persian culture and we think it's important for the UConn student body to see some of that."
The Iranian Association is trying to make their events more open to the general community. At this year's Yalda celebration, they offered a translation of a Persian poem so non-Iranians would be able to better understand the importance of the event.
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