#i want to know everything about their wedding asdfhnghjg

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After hearing bad news about my device (gotta buy a new keyboard for it bc without the keyboard I can't charge the damn stylus what is this stupid design choice— and I can't even find the keyboard being sold anywhere despite looking for basically half the day) and coming home extremely cranky, I'm going to dump my brain vomit on you 😭

Forgive me if these are incoherent because I also got my booster shot today and my head is hella cloudy.

Where I'm from, in our traditional wedding ceremonies, there's a part of it where the bride and groom link hands, and placed over a gold/silver/glass basin half-filled with water, and then a white cloth is wrapped around the joined hands and perfumed water is poured over it. I really like this idea so maybe it could be part of clan wedding traditions?

And heck, since the clan wedding involves planting a tree together, why not have them hold a seed in their joined and wrapped hands, and as they say their vows they'd have to channel magical energy into it, to mirror the way Araya's healer had unintentionally brought forth the Moon Tree.

Somewhere during the ceremony the couple fastens the bracelets on each other's wrists. This would have to take place before the whole wrapping situation, I'm realizing 🤣

The couple would be facing the Heart Tree, also probably facing north? That would be the clan's favored direction. But they could be facing towards each other before the time comes that they must say their vows.

And maybe there could be a part where all the wedding guests would take turns blessing the couple, maybe with a specific spell, maybe some would even come up with their own poem for the occasion.

I envisioned the couple sharing the same... what's the word— veil? blanket? I don't even know— on their heads and shoulders? I'm supposed to be a writer and I can't describe it 😭 I think that part would probably come after the vows are said. The ones to place that cloth over their heads would be their family members, maybe preferably older family members or mentors or such. (In Kazai and Shapur's wedding, that should've been Ayunnen and Kashi, had they lived) Sharing that shawl or veil or whatever could symbolize the couple sharing their burdens and comfort with each other as they face the adversities of life.

The couple walks together, their hands still linked with the cloth around it, in search of a place to plant the seed. The guests would sing as they follow and look for a good place too.

The clan head would be the one officiating the ceremony. The placing of the seed in the couple's hands, the wrapping, those would be done by the clan head and they could also initiate the process of vows, maybe asking questions kinda situation?

Weddings wouldn't be set on winter solstice and the week (or ten days) surrounding it.

Not sure what time of day weddings should take place: I've already placed both the solstice celebration and the coming-of-age ceremonies at night but hmm... Dusk? Dawn?

In any case though, magic would be involved.

The planting of the seedling would be the closing act of the ceremony. I can't figure out what comes after. Oh oh oh the couple can decide beforehand what species of tree they want to plant.

And then there's the little things about Zoroastrian wedding customs that I found:

“During the service married female relatives hold a fine scarf (nowadays usually white) over the couple's heads. At the same time two crystallized sugar cones are rubbed together, to sweeten the couple's life.

Then two parts of the scarf are sewn together with needle and thread to symbolize the uniting of the couple for the rest of their lives.

Traditionally, both bride and the bridegroom dress in white. The colour white is a symbol of purity in Zoroastrianism.”

×

“During the service female relatives of the couple (mainly the bride) hold over the couple’s head a fine scarf or other delicate fabrics like silk. Till 19th century this was green, Zoroastrians favorite color, now other colors particularly white are used as well.”

“During the ceremony rice is often used as a good luck symbol, with the bride and groom sprinkling each other with cupfuls of rice. So as to remove any evil destined for the groom an egg is passed round his head three times then thrown to the ground and broken, destroying the evil with it. A similar ritual is then performed with a coconut, and then with a small tray of water which is thrown to the ground.”

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“Two different actions take place at the same time. Two pieces of crystallized sugar (shaped like cones) are rubbed together, a symbolic act to sweeten the couple’s life together. In the second act two parts of the same fabric are symbolically sewn together with needle and thread. The ceremony is suggestive of the ancient traditions when the bride and groom’s ceremonial belts (koshti) were tied and sewn together. Zoroastrians today hold over the grooms head a tray on which two pieces of cloth are united together, with needle, thread, scissors, a raw egg, a pomegranate or apple, dried marjoram, and white sweetmeats, all covered by a green kerchief. Koshti are ceremonial belts that are given to all Zoroastrians to mark the passage from childhood to adulthood. This is a rite of passage and is a very significant ritual in their lives. The symbolic act of sewing the bride and groom’s koshti together is uniting the couple for the rest of their lives, a knot is tied that should not be broken or separated.”

×

“At a point during the evening the groom will dip his hand into a water-pot (var-behendoo) which was part of the dowry. Into this pot he drops a silver coin, as a mark of appreciation for the gift.”

I forgot to copy the texts but the groom is placed on the right-hand-side of the bride because the right side is considered a direction/position of respect. I read once that Zoroastrian weddings take place at dusk? I might be remembering wrong. Oh and also they face east.

So for Shapur and Kazai's wedding... I have a few rough ideas on mish-mashing certain aspects of both traditions. For example the cloth being held above the couple's head, could later on be the same cloth the couple has to share as they search to plant a tree. The thing with the silver coin, but instead of a pot it goes into the basin in which they'll have to place their joined hands in. And of course sugar is involved.

I feel like it still needs a whole lot more fleshing out and polishing, but right now my head is really foggy and I'm just gonna go take a nap 😭

Ooh there are so many good ideas in here (I only really skimmed the articles on Zoroastrian marriage customs before). The integration of the the joined/wrapped hands sounds great, especially linking it to the clan's own mythology/origin! And the tree seed, and that they get to choose themselves which type of tree they're going to plant! That's a lovely addition, the growing of something new to mark the start of their life together.

I kind of feel like, if you're aiming to pick a specific time of day for clan weddings to take place, dawn seems a good option? Both because you already have other events taking place at night, and because dawn signifies beginnings, as in the start of their joined lives after the wedding ceremony, I guess? Perhaps some kind of pre-wedding tradition could happen at dusk before the day of the wedding itself, if you like that idea.

Are you going to have Shapur and Kazai dress in white? Is that the norm for clan weddings? It's funny that the article mentioned green as a previously-favoured colour (for the scarf) because I always thought Shapur would look good in dark green. (In yet another fic that I never actually wrote, I was going to have him dress in it for a formal occasion.)

I'm sorry there was more bad news about your device, that really sucks. I hope you've managed to find the right keyboard for it by now!