Culture

Manners & Customs of Iran

The traditions, courtesies and old rituals that still shape everyday life in Iran — from the Nowruz table to the art of taarof.

11 entries

Ta'arof (Cultural Etiquette) — The complex system of politeness, hospitality, and respect that governs social interactions in Iranian daily life.

Nowruz (Persian New Year) — The traditional celebration of the vernal equinox, marking the beginning of spring.

Shab-e Yalda (Night of Yalda) — Families stay up through the longest night of the year with pomegranates, watermelon and the poems of Hafez.

Chaharshanbe Suri (Festival of Fire) — On the last Tuesday night of the year, people leap over bonfires, giving their sickness to the fire.

Sizdah Bedar (Nature Day) — On the thirteenth day of the new year the whole country goes outdoors to picnic in nature.

Mehregan (Festival of Mihr) — An autumn festival of friendship, gratitude and the harvest, dedicated to Mihr, guardian of covenants.

Tea & Persian Hospitality — A glass of tea is the first word of welcome; a guest, the saying goes, is a gift from God.

The Persian Table (Sofreh) — Rice, stews and herbs shared on a sofreh: a cuisine built on balance, fragrance and generosity.

The Wedding Spread (Sofreh Aghd) — Bride and groom sit before a mirror and a spread of symbolic gifts as the marriage is sealed.

Golabgiri: Rosewater of Qamsar — In May the villages near Kashan pick the Damask rose at dawn and distil it into rosewater.

Qalishuyan (The Carpet-Washing Rite) — A carpet is washed in a stream each autumn in memory of a saint, in a ritual unique to Mashhad-e Ardehal.