Iranian/Persian Wedding Ceremony!

Dressed in white satin or silk with gold embroidery, the bride sits facing a mirror, ayeneh-ye-bakht, or the mirror of fate. It is usually lit by two candelabra, one on either side, representing the bride and groom. According to tradition, the mirror and candlesticks, symoblizing purity and love, should be gifts from the groom. Just before sunset, when he enters the room in the bride's home where the ceremony will be held, what he sees first should be the face of his wife-to-be, reflected in the mirror.

The Sofreh-ye- aghd, a fine hand-sewn wedding cloth glittering with gold and silver threads, is spread out before the mirror. Food and objects tradtionally associated with marriage are arranged on the sofreh, including:

. A tray of atel-o-batel (multi-colored herbs and spices to guard against witchcraft and to drive the evil spirit away). This tray consists of seven elements in seven colors: poppy seeds (to break the spells and witchcraft), wild rice, angelica, salt and green leaves (to remove the evil eye), nigella seed, gunpowder and frankincense (kondor, to burn the evil spirits).

. An assortment of sweets and pastries prepared in the bride's home but paid for by the groom--among them are noghl, sugar-coated almonds; nabat, sugar crystalls; baqlava, a sweet flaky pastry; tut, mullberry-almond paste; nan-e-berenji, rice cookies; nan-e-nokhod-chi, chick-pea cookies; nan-e- badami, almond cookies; and shohan asali, honey almonds.

The rest is much better explained by Maryam in Marrakesh:

Raised in a household with a Persian mother meant that I learned the value of jewelry early on. My mother had an amazing jewelry collection, ranging from tribal pieces from Baluchistan to refined gold twists from Cartier. When I was growing up, I used to watch her, mesmerized, as she got ready for cocktail parties. After doing her hair and makeup, she would look thoughtfully through her jewelry, all stored in elaborate velvet-lined boxes, and choose one or two pieces to wear for the evening. The chosen bracelet and earrings in place, she would then slip on her high heels, dab on her perfume, and be ready to go. Never overdone, always in good taste, I thought she was quite possibly the most glamourous woman in the world.

As I grew older, my mother bestowed on me careful gifts of jewelry on appropriate occasions -- the delicate locket, the small petaled earrings, the lustrous pearls. These were to be looked after properly; if I treated something carelessly, she would store it with her own jewelry until I pleaded with her to return it to me.

Jewelry has continued to mark important events in my life as an adult. The day of my marriage -- a complex affair that included a full Persian wedding ceremony -- a case in point. A Persian wedding is filled with as much fantasy as it is with reality. At one point in the service I was asked three times whether I would accept the offer of marriage on hand. The first two times a woman in my wedding party was charged with responding, "She is off picking flowers" (even though I was sitting right there beside my husband -to-be). That was the cue for the bridegroom's family to come and shower me with jewelry -- bracelets to be slid on the wrist and necklaces to be draped around the neck. Of course I never informed my Catholic in-laws what was expected of them, embarrassed as I was by the presumptuousness of this little ritual. Accordingly, they sat placidly in their seats until I finally said yes on the third request -- adorned only with the pearls at my ears and twisted in my chignon that I had come with. Now a married woman, my parents have offered me gifts of diamonds and platinum for pregnancies and births. I, too, store these in elaborate velvet-lined boxes. My husband has also gifted me with treasured items...

Stop by her elegant and glamorous blog and find out what an incredibly fascinating woman she is. Her life reads like a novel. Enjoy.

Source: New Food of life (Persian cookbook in English)