At one gathering, a wedding dress is paraded through a crowd of mourners, black balloons flying overhead. At another, a traditional khoncheh basket of what appears to be fragrances, deodorants, and soaps—bare essentials given by family members to brides and grooms as a wedding ritual—is lifted high above a throng of people. Elsewhere, a car is decked out in ribbons and flowers.
These ceremonies in Iran are occurring in lieu of weddings, birthday parties, and other joyous milestones that will never happen. They are desperate celebrations of young lives lost in the deadly demonstrations last month. Marking 40 days since death is important in Iranian culture. And these “40ths” are becoming a sort of revolution in themselves—and an opportunity for another wave of protests could rise out of the grief.
