A traditional wedding in the village of Adineh Qoli in North Khorasan.
Iran is an amazing land with a huge variety of ethnic subgroups, each with their own unique wedding customs. There are the Qashqai nomads, the Kurds, Azeris, Turkmen, Kazakhs and more.
Click on the thumbnails below to see the larger photos:
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Three brides from the Qashqai tribe, accompanied by Qashqai women in traditional dress.
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A traditional Qashqai wedding in the village of Rud-e Faryab in Bushehr province.
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Although Qashqai tribe members are found all over Iran, the greatest concentration is in Fars province.
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According to customs followed by the Bakhtiyari tribe, weddings take place in several stages. The Bakhtiaris are a subgroup of the Lurs and speak a variation of Lurish.
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A wedding ceremony among the Kurmandji in the north of Khorasan province. The Kumandji or Kumanji people are a subgroup of the Kurds.
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A traditional wedding in the village of Adineh Qoli in North Khorasan.
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Kurmandji weddings follow the local traditions and customs of North Khorasan.
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A wedding held by the Yarmataqlu tribe in Hamadan provinceo of Iran. The women are wearing traditional dress. Their ethnic group is Lur, a people related to the Kurds. There are about 5 million Lurs in Iran.
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A traditional wedding in the town of Kalat in the north of Khorasan province.
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A traditional wedding lasting three days in the north-eastern town of Kalat-Sabzevar. On the first evening the family and friends of the bridegroom get together, on the second evening there follows the ″henna ceremony″, during which the folk singers or ″ashiqs″ bring the henna to the bride′s house. On the third evening the actual wedding takes place.
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In some parts of East and West Azerbaijan, traditional Azeri weddings are still celebrated
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A traditional Turkmen wedding in the northern Iranian town of Gorgan
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The Turkmen wedding ceremony is divided into several stages. The Turkmen people were historically nomads. There are about 2 million of them living along Iran´s northern border.
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A Kazakh wedding in the town of Gorgan. There are about 5,000 Kazakhs in Gorgan, and 10,000 in Iran altogether.
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Qasaq-Mahaleh is located in the centre of Gorgan and is one of the town’s oldest quarters; here traditional Kazakh weddings are often celebrated. There are about 10,000 Kazakhs in Iran.
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A traditional wedding in the northern province of Gilan, Iran.
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A traditional Talysch wedding with horses and tribal costumes in the west of Gilan province. The Talysch are an Iranian ethnic group indigenous to a region shared between Azerbaijan and Iran.
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A traditional wedding on the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. The islanders, who are predominantly Arab and Sunni, suffer from persecution by the Iranian government.
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A wedding reception showing the playing of traditional instruments in Hasht Bandi district in the province of Hormozgan, Iran.
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Traditional Qashqai dance called the Halay. The Qashqai nomads live in the northern part of the Fars province high up in the mountains.