Ara Aghakhanian Culture

There are thousands of differing cultures throughout the world, each following basic rules and styles which make them special and unique from the others. Very often these traditions are deeply connected with cultural, ethnic, geographical, and historical backgrounds. I am an American from West Virginia where as my cousin Ara Aghakhanian is an American/Persian Armenian now living in California although born in West Virginia. When it comes to family values, it goes without saying that people united by national consciousness and culture try to live their lives reverently worshiping the ways and customs of their ancestors. Whether you believe in traditional family roles and ideals or lean more towards the progressive, the one thing that both

This part of the wedding is similar to other Christian ceremonies. The groom will be at the altar, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen will walk hand in hand down the aisle then will separate, the bride will be walked down by her father (or a an older male relative if the bride’s father is deceased). The priest will bless the couple (all of the blessing will be done in Armenian) and then the couple will exchange rings. After the wedding ceremony the now married couple will go off accompanied by the groomsmen and bridesmaids for pictures. After the pictures are done it’s off to the

Here there will be music (live, dj, or both), a large dance floor, many tables with all kinds of Mediterranean food, and there will be lots of gifts for the couple. The receptions are huge, there can be anywhere from 200-500 people (sometimes, but not often, there will be less people). The couple, groomsmen, and bridesmaid are the last to arrive at the reception hall. The groomsmen and bridesmaids will enter into the hall in the same order in which they walked down the church aisle back at the church, then the couple will enter and everyone will cheer for them. Now the wedding celebration officially begins: everyone eats drinks, dances, socializes, speeches are made. The party at the reception hall will on well through the night, I remember coming home from some weddings around midnight and others around or even after 2:00am. Then of course the married couple will head off to their home.

As we know there are some of the same traditions with American weddings. When I had my wedding, I woke that morning and headed to my venue to finalize the decorations for the festivities. Later that day my bridesmaids arrived and that is when we started to get ready for the wedding. Hair and makeup was completed before getting dressed then a few photos were taken. The ceremony started at six and by ten that night we were all on the way