Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Recently, Valentine’s Day has emerged in Iranian urban cultural areas as an imported western ritual that cherishes and celebrates love. This ritual appears in urban areas and big cities such as Tehran and belongs to young people as a modern sign of youth culture. On this date, as an informal ritual time, young couples give each other presents and urban and public shops sell related goods such as red dolls, etc., and they also change their decorations to reflect the date. Young couples meet each other in cafes and restaurants on dates and show their love and feelings for each other. A question arises here: why and how did this ritual appear in urban Iranian society and among youth in particular in recent years? In order to answer the above-mentioned questions and provide anthropological insight into this enquiry, this article first uses data obtained during field work in Tehran to give an ethnographic account of this ritual through methods such as direct observation and interviews with young couples who participate in this ritual in Tehran. Then, this article tries to show what representatives of the anti-discourse from those who are displeased with the emergence of this ritual have in mind. Using an anthropological framework, the paper concludes that there are different dimensions at play here, all of which are important for answering the question as to why and how this ritual has emerged in Iran in recent years.