As the story of the French liberation goes, a group of resistance fighters broke into a municipality building in the Paris suburbs to find its collaborationist mayor performing a wedding ceremony. He was interrupted to be told that he was no longer mayor. Wearing the three-color sash over his working clothes, the new mayor then turned to the guests and the couple waiting to be married. "The ceremony," he said with a smile, "continues." He wished the newly wed a long and happy life on behalf of the Republic of France.

Tehran may not resemble Paris in culture or architecture or many other things, but in terms of vitality, it holds its own. Last week, Monday July 6, many Iranians forgot their political arguments for a while to celebrate the birth of their first Imam, Imam Ali, the prophet's son in law, and according to Shiites, his rightful successor. (Sunnis also revere him as the prophet's close confidant and the 4th Caliph.)

Also known as Father's Day, this happy occasion marks the beginning of wedding season before the holy month of Ramadan. And if you think the recent turmoil may have dampened spirits, think again.

The streets of Tehran were filled with cars decorated with flowers and ribbons carrying brides and grooms. In front of any florist shop, a line of cars could be seen waiting to be decorated. Hair dressers made a killing and wedding planners were running from event to event to see to the cameramen, the music bands, the traditional dressings, the decorations.

Strange? Well, not if it's viewed from a historical perspective. Many who were married last week were born to parents who had met and married during the days of the Revolution or the subsequent eight-year war with Iraq. Some of them learned to read and to write from television programs that substituted for classrooms after schools were shut down during the war, especially during the period Iraq was targeting Iranian cities with Russian missiles. For them life is full of such anxieties, and yet it continues.

Copyright (c) 2009 Tehran Bureau

Photo caption: An Iranian bride awaits her groom during a mass wedding ceremony at the country's grand hall in Iran's Interior ministry building in central Tehran, August 19, 2007. More than 800 Iranian students were getting married at the same time. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl