New Years Eve and a Fabulous Wedding

New Year’s Eve saw a double celebration for Melanie and Ali as they celebrated their wedding and the arrival  of  2012 at their home.  In the late afternoon of the 31st December,  I conducted an intimate civil wedding ceremony with close family in attendance and a short time later other guests arrived for the Persian cultural wedding ceremony which was to follow. 

I felt priviledged  in having been invited to attend the second ceremony and it was a truly wonderful experience!  Family members set up the ceremonial area with a mirror, candles, bread, nuts, apples, biscuits, wheat, pomegranates, sugar, honey, gold coins,  and other symbolic items on a Termeh on the floor.  The Termeh is a persian silk or gold embroidered heirloom cloth.   The entire display or spread is called a “Sofreh Aghd” and holds a deeply significant  and dignified place in a Persian wedding ceremony. 

 The groom’s father conducted the ceremony in the Persian language, whilst a square of cloth fabric called a “Ghand” was held over the heads of the bride and groom for the duration of the ceremony.  The women of the bride and groom’s family gathered around the “Ghand” and each in turn, simulated sewing the cloth canopy with a needle.  This light-hearted ritual symbolizes the “Closing of the mother-in-law’s lips” .

 

  

The mirror brings light and bright future, candles symbolize fire and energy, bread for prosperity, walnuts and almonds fertility, apples and pomegranates symbolize joy, apples the divine creation, sugar represents the sweetness of life, gold coins wealth and prosperity, whilst burning of wild Rue for good health and keeps away the evil eye .