The Cloth Held Over The Couple

During the wedding ceremony, a sheer fabric is held over the heads of the wedding couple. One by one the happily married female members of the bride’s family and the groom’s family come up and rub sugar loafs together over the bride and groom’s heads.  The sugar falling onto this Persian wedding cloth symbolizes a sprinkling of sweetness falling onto the couple and their future together.

But this Sofreh Aghd cloth is as much a part of the Wedding Table as it is part of the wedding ceremony itself. Before and after the sugar loaf ceremony, the fabric, the threads and the needle are given a place of honor on the Sofreh.

Christen Flack Behzadi, MD, is the author of the internationally selling book The Persian Wedding Book.   She live in Houston, Texas, with her beloved husband, Dr. Pedram Behzadi, M.D.