Persian Wedding Customs

Persian & Iranian : What's The Difference?

As an American person myself this is a topic that I was very confused about when I met my husband Pedram. Sometimes Iranian people referred to themselves as “Iranian” other times they referred to themselves as “Persian.” The real kicker to me was that some people got extremely offended if you called them Iranian when they wanted to be known as “Persian.” This led to me being very quiet and careful about not identifying people until they identified themselves and then I would follow suit.

by Christen Behzadi

2 years ago

What I did not know at the time is that this is a subject of considerable and lively debate among scholars, historians and importantly Iranians themselves. There are a lot of political & religious undertones hidden in this distinction, that part I’ll leave to your new Iranian family to talk about. Our purpose here is to build an understanding of the culture behind The Persian Wedding. AS such in this section I will explain the meaning and use of the word “Persian” and how and why it differs from the word “Iranian.”

This distinction is important because it helps to explain why we call it The Persian Wedding and not the Iranian Wedding. Furthermore, the cultural context of this discussion below sets the framework for understanding The Persian Wedding. We can take you beyond being merely a spectator at these events to feeling the soul and history behind them. These Persian Wedding customs began thousands of years ago, thanks to ancient Persian dynasties. Let me explain how