Persian wedding in Spain | Ethnic weddings traditions
Persian wedding traditions are culturally unique with a distinctive fusion of ancient and modern custom, as we explore in today’s fascinating feature article.
At Sunshine Weddings Spain, we embrace all different types of cultures and religions, and on a delightful summer’s day earlier this year, we had the pleasure of organising a truly magical day, a Persian wedding in Spain.
A typical Persian wedding (aroosi), is one of the most important occasions in the Persian tradition, usually celebrated in the presence of a fairly large assembly where much feasting and merry-making takes place.
In today’s feature article we are going to cover the main elements of the celebration.
A Persian wedding ceremony typically begins with the groom seated on a bench in front of the guests. Above his head is a canopy which symbolises unity and is customarily held by four females in the family who are close to the couple.
In front of the groom is a table (sofreyé aghd) which contains several highly symbolic elements.
The sofreyé aghd is perhaps the most important element of a Persian wedding and is usually covered by an elaborate white tablecloth and contains several emblematic items which represent the symbolic and traditional union of the bride and groom.
The array of items will represent the shared journey of life and marriage the couple is about to embark on and usually includes a mirror which symbolises eternity, two candlesticks that signify light, nuts and eggs for fertility, and coins for wealth and prosperity.
There is usually a tray of seven multi-colored herbs and spices or “Sini-ye Aatel-O-Baatel” also, which serve the purpose of guarding the couple.
The seven elements in seven colors are:
- Poppy Seeds “Khash-Khash”
- Wild Rice :Berenj”
- Angelica “Sabzi Khoshk”
- Salt “Namak”
- Nigella Seeds “Razianeh”
- Black Tea “Chaay”
- Frankincense “Kondor”
And often it is the bride’s mother who spends several months before the wedding gathering these elements.
When the bride walks into the ceremony, she is preceded by someone burning a special incense called esfand, which is meant to deter the ‘evil eye’ from causing any harm, especially to someone who is about to embark on a new journey.
The bride then takes a seat to the left of the groom with the groom seated on her right hand, which designates a place of respect.
Two other customary Persian wedding rituals, which we witnessed during the celebration, involve the dipping of fingers in Honey and Flower Petal Tossing.
At Persian weddings, a bowl of honey is also placed on the sofreyé aghd and signifies sweetness for the couple. After the ceremony the bride and groom each dip their pinky finger in the cup and feed the honey to each other. This symbolises the idea that the couple will feed each other sweetness as they begin their lives as one.
The flower petal toss typically occurs at the end of the reception. The bride and groom stand in the middle of the dance floor with their guests throwing flower petals on them, creating a petal rainstorm over the newlyweds as they dance. The act signifies good wishes for the bride and groom as they begin their life together.
At this particular wedding, the groom gave out 10 different roses to different wedding guests as a gift, mainly to the women, except at one point there was a male guest who pretended to become very jealous of all the women and upset at being left out, until he was invited to join in and dance with the bridal couple and was given three red roses as well.
With over two decades of extensive wedding planning experience, Sunshine Weddings Spain has a great deal of experience in planning weddings for a diverse array of cultures from all around the world, supporting multicultural, multiethnic and cross-faith couples, ensuring that your special day is as traditional or modern as you want it to be.