If you ever find yourself at a wedding in the Persian-speaking world,
prepare for a treat, not a witty best man speech, but a poetry recital.
It's a tradition for people to use poems during their speeches.
Whether it's an official ceremony or wedding or any kind of gathering, they try to recite the poem.
Everywhere you look in Iran, there's a bit of celebration of Persian poetry.
It's incredibly ubiquitous in the culture in general, woven into any major life events.
This one of the beauty of Persian language because of the philosophical meanings,
or wisdom that are included in this poetry.
Poetry sits on the pedestal of Persian identity.
Politicians too lean on to it as a means of connecting with their tribe.
The lyricism of it is really important
for signaling that you're educated and you're from the elite and that is how a lot of Iranian politicians signal that they have the correct credentials.
But as a container of national identity,
poetry can sometimes be at odds with the dominant ideology of the day.
There's always this kind of contradiction at the heart of the Islamic Republic and also the Iranian population in general
because there are parts of Islam and parts of Persian identity that sometimes clash.
In this episode,
we talk Persian language and poetry to understand the tensions between different facets of Persian identity.
We explore how politicians in today's Persian-speaking world toggle between them
as they try to build legitimacy,