Legends Of The East

Sadeh or Jashan-e Sadeh (in Persian: جشن سده) is an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated 50 days before nowrouz. Sadeh in Persian language means ‘hundred’ which refers to one hundred days and nights left to the beginning of the new Persian year celebrated at the first day of spring on March 21st each year. Sadeh is a mid winter festival that was celebrated with grandeur and magnificence in ancient Iran. It was a festivity to honor fire and to defeat the forces of darkness, frost, and cold.

History

The ancestors of ancient Persians divided the year into two sections, summer and winter. Summer started from the first day of spring, 21st of March, and lasted 7 months to the 22nd of October. Then, the winter started and lasted for five month to the end of Iranian calendar. Therefore, Jashn-e Sadeh or Sadeh Festival was one hundred days after the first day of winter or 100 days and nights to the beginning of summer.

Persian legends have it that King Hushang, grandson of Gayumarth the first king of Persia, established the Sadeh tradition long ago. It is said that once Hushang was climbing a mountain when all of a sudden he saw a snake and wanted to hit it with a stone. When he threw the stone, it fell on another stone and since they were both flint stones, fire broke out and the snake escaped. This way he discovered fire. Hushang cheered up and praised God who revealed to him the secret of fire. Then he announced: "This is a light from God. So we must admire it."

According to religious beliefs, Jashn-e Sadeh recalls the importance of light, fire and energy; light which comes from God is found in the hearts of his creatures. According to the teachings of Zoroaster, the light inside us is a sign of the existence of Ahura Mazda (the Creator in Zoroastrianism) everywhere. In the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, paradise is an eternal light. ^{[citation needed]}

During ancient times, Jashn-e Sadeh was celebrated by lighting fire. For Zoroastrians the chief preparation for Sadeh was and still in some parts is the gathering of wood the day before the festival. Teenage boys accompanied by a few adult males would go to local mountains in order to gather camel thorns, a common desert shrub in Iran. For most, this is the first time they are away from their families. The occasion resembles a ritual of passage to adulthood, a notable step for the boys on the way to manhood. The boys would take the camel thorns to the temples in their cities; and if it was their first time doing this, on their return, a celebration was held at home with the presence of friends and families.

During ancient times, the fires were always set near water and the temples (see also: Fire Temple). The fire originally meant to assist the revival of sun and bring back the warmth and light of summer. It was also meant to drive off the demons of frost and cold, which turned water to ice, and thus could kill the roots of plants. For these reasons the fire was lit near and even over water and by the Shrine of Mehr.

The fire was kept burning all night. The day after, women would go to the fire in the morning, each taking a small portion of the fire back to their homes to make new glowing fire from the "blessed fire" of the temple. This is to spread the blessing of the Sadeh fire to every household in the neighborhood. Whatever is left from the fire would be taken back to the shrine to be placed in one container and kept at the temple until the next year. This way the fire is kept burning all year round. The "eternal fire" also symbolizes the love of homeland which is always alive like a fervent fire in the people's hearts.

The festivities would normally go on for three days. The evenings are spent eating and giving out foods as donations, food that is prepared from slaughtered lambs and is distributed among the poor people.

The most elaborate report of the celebration of Sadeh after the dominations of Muslims over Iran comes from the 10th century AD during the reign of Mardavij Zeyari, the ruler of Isfahan. Zayari family did their best to keep the Persian traditions alive. Bonfires were set up on both sides of the Zayandeh-Rud River to remember the Sadeh custom. The fires were kept in specially built metal holders. Hundreds of birds were released while the fireworks were lighting the sky. There were fireworks, dancing and music with lavish feasts of roasted lamb, beef, chicken and other delicacies.

Today the ceremony is celebrated somehow like the ancient times in some Iranian cities such as Kerman and Yazd. Jashn e Sadeh is also celebrated every year in Kushk and Rajavand gardens in Karaj (a township of Tehran province) splendidly with the presence of Iranian Zoroastrians and others interested in traditional Persian ceremonies. Sometimes the fires are not lit outside and all activities take place inside the Zorostrian temples. The activities of camel thorn gathering have almost been stopped though there are efforts to preserve the tradition. However, the bulk of the Iranians are becoming more familiar with the occasion and there are gatherings and celebrations even outside the country on 30th of January each year. People will gather and pray, and then they will hold each other's hands, form a circle, and dance around the fire.

Every year, on 30th of January, thousands of Zoroastrians in Iran and other countries celebrates the religious feast of Jashn-e Sadeh by burning firewood in an open space to signify the coming of spring and as a symbolic token of the eternal fight with mischief.

There is a cave in a mountain near Yazd, called Chak-Chak Fire Temple. Every year some special ceremonies are held in this place during the Sadeh Feast. It is believed that the last Zoroastrian princess took shelter there in 640 AD when the Muslims expanded their power to the east.

Although for the majority of Iranians Sadeh has no religious significance and no specific rituals are involved other than lighting fires at sunset and having a cheerful time, Iranians of all faiths make a collective effort at this day to keep up with their ancient traditions and to celebrate the precious things God granted humanity.

Source: Wikipedia

A celebration of legends that mostly revolve around immortality and the desire to exist at least as long as the moon itself. 

 let them eat cake 

One of the stories associated with the Harvest Moon Festival takes place back when Mongolians ruled China, during the Yuan Dynasty (around A.D. 1300). According to one version of the story, the Mongols—to avoid an uprising by the Chinese—allowed each town to have only one knife. Whether from the desire for self rule or the lack of cutlery, the seeds of a rebellion grew. One of those rebels, named Zhu, created a cunning plan to signal other rebels to take up their arms—the town knives—and overthrow the Mongols. In order to avoid detection, the signal was a message placed inside of Moon Cakes, since the rebellion was planned for fall harvest time. When eventually the Mongols were overcome, Zhu became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the routing of the Mongols.
moon lady

This story takes place thousands of years before the one town/one knife era. Back then the earth had nine or ten suns circling it (depending on whom you talked to), taking turns shining down on the planet. One day all of the suns shown together and began to bake the earth, so a young archer stepped to the fore and shot down all of the suns but one. This fantastic archer Hou Yi. was, accordingly, made King. For a time he ruled justly and honorably, but that doesn’t make a very good legend, so he grew arrogant and unpleasant and old.

In one version of the story, Hou Yi was an immortal who had become mortal, making him deathly afraid of dying. He began searching for the elixir of life, driving his doctors and scientists to do the same. When at last the elixir was discovered, his wife Chang Er snatched it and drank it down to prevent him from continuing his despotic rule for all eternity. The outraged King ordered her execution, but suddenly she rose up into the sky, floating up to the moon, where she now lives with her pet Jade Rabbit. Her former subjects were so moved by her sacrifice that today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating Chang Er’s sacrifice.

moon rabbit

Fortunately Lady Chang Er does not have to live for all eternity alone in her Moon Palace. In another legend, three magical wise men decided to test the character of a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. The men turned themselves into desperate old beggars, and asked the fox, monkey, and rabbit for food. While the fox and the monkey did have food, they refused to share. But the helpful rabbit, who had nothing to give the old men, volunteered his own tasty self by leaping into a burning campfire to roast himself for dinner. The three men, who weren’t really starving, were overwhelmed by the rabbit’s self sacrifice, and gave him immortal life, sending him to live in the Moon Palace as Jade Rabbit. Today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the Jade Rabbit.

The lady on the moon

This story takes place thousands of years before the one town/one knife era. Back then the earth had nine or ten suns circling it (depending on whom you talked to), taking turns shining down on the planet. One day all of the suns shown together and began to bake the earth, so a young archer stepped to the fore and shot down all of the suns but one. This fantastic archer Hou Yi. was, accordingly, made King. For a time he ruled justly and honorably, but that doesn’t make a very good legend, so he grew arrogant and unpleasant and old.

In one version of the story, Hou Yi was an immortal who had become mortal, making him deathly afraid of dying. He began searching for the elixir of life, driving his doctors and scientists to do the same. When at last the elixir was discovered, his wife Chang Er snatched it and drank it down to prevent him from continuing his despotic rule for all eternity. The outraged King ordered her execution, but suddenly she rose up into the sky, floating up to the moon, where she now lives with her pet Jade Rabbit. Her former subjects were so moved by her sacrifice that today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating Chang Er’s sacrifice.

the moon man

Most of the Harvest Moon legends revolve around immortality and the desire to exist at least as long as the moon itself. Back when, there lived a restless fellow named Wu Kang. He got bored easily, and so moved from job to job, never following anything through before he tired of it. In the course of his flitting around, Wu Kang apprenticed himself to an immortal in hopes of learning the secrets of eternal existence. Three days later, Wu Kang’s fickleness reared its ugly head, and try as the immortal might, he couldn’t keep his apprentice interested. Unable to teach him anything, he became greatly annoyed, and sent Wu Kang into exile on the moon. The immortal declared he was not allowed back on earth until Wu Kang chopped down a giant cassia tree. What he did not declare was that moon trees grow back instantaneously when they’re chopped, which is why Wu Kang is still at his task, up on the moon. And so today, eating Moon Cakes is a way of commemorating the woodchopper.

Actually, the moral of these stories is that it doesn’t require a very good excuse to eat Moon Cakes—they’re just so tasty.

Source: taste of asia