Persian Winter Solstice

Who took part?

Residents of Fountain Court assisted living home in Bensham, and members of the Young and Proud young mums group based at Teams Children’s Centre.

Why?

  • To challenge feelings of social isolation experienced by both older and young people within society.
  • To provide cultural opportunities and access to professional arts venues.
  • To provide creative opportunities for different generations to share experiences together; promoting meaningful interaction.
  • To raise the aspirations of the younger generation involved via participation in positive activities.
  • To increase meaningful interaction between people from different backgrounds and cultures.

What took place?

The groups worked with Persian theatre company, ZENDEH, in a series of drama and movement based workshops exploring wisdom passed through generations of families. The workshops helped ZENDEH’s development of their production at Dance City, of Silk, the story of a little girl on her journey along the Silk Road, supported by the wisdom of her parents and grandparents.  Everyone involved was invited to watch the performance with their families, seeing the work they helped to inspire performed on stage.

As part of the project, the groups had a guided history tour of Gateshead Heritage at St. Mary’s. This was especially poignant to the older members, married there over 60 years ago, who were able to share their original marriage certificates with the young mums.

Jill Weatherburn, a home economist, worked with the Young and Proud mums to create traditional Persian soups Aash-e Sholeh Qalamkar and Aash-e Gandom. The spicy lentil and pulse based soups were served with Barbari bread, a traditional Persian flatbread dusted with poppy seeds. 

Soul Soup Café Event

The final event was held at Gateshead Heritage at St. Mary’s on the longest night of the year. The Winter Solstice, which is celebrated as Shabe Yalda in Persian culture, is traditionally a night of storytelling of generations gone by, feasting and reading of poetry.  The groups and their families enjoyed an evening hosted by ZENDEH, and feasted on the soups, flatbreads and traditional Persian sweets. Held in the Hall of the Snow Queen (a seasonal installation at Gateshead Heritage at St. Mary’s at the time of the café event) the evening provided a very special end to the project.

Find Out More:

Teams Children’s Centre

www.gateshead.gov.uk, under Education and Learning, Sure and Start

Fountain Court

www.housingcare.org

Link to main Soul Soup page