Enlighten me on Persians and Iranians

[LoraPiano]

Very confused while talking to a friend’s friend who is a Persian. I have googled it but not sure still. Is Persia part of Iran? Or is Iran part of Persia? Looks like Persia doesn’t exist as a country? Is it a wider region?

or is it that Iranians are muslim and Persians are Zoroastrians but live in the same region?

Are Iranian and Persian two distinct cultures or a subset, eg I have been to my local Iranian restaurant that had Persian food, like an Indian restaurant that serves Goan food?

This! Also married to an Iranian, as he himself would say. But you will come across some who purposely refer to themselves as Persian, as some his extended family do, due to their political/ cultural beliefs. But my hubby dislikes it and thinks it a bit strange!

This is really interesting.

I'm.going to ask something and if it is offensive I will ask for my comment to be deleted:

Is it similar, although not exactly the same, to say, someone from England referring to themselves as "Anglo-Saxon"?

They say Persian, because a) puts a distance between the Islamic regime and them, b) emphaises historical heritage and culture. Farsi is the language, which Iranians refer to their ethnicity and language as, which literally means Persian.. So it's actually more accurate. As an Iranian could be another ethinicity, like saying you're British vs you're Welsh . Some say zoroast is the religion that gave rise to Abrahamic religions or at least influenced them good and evil, monotheist, the god who resurrected, born from a virgin.. That's the extent of my knowledge from Persian friends

I think if you were English and referred to yourself as Anglo-Saxon it would sound as though you were nationalist and white supremacist.

The only people who call the English(+North Americans) ´anglo-saxons’ are the French.

Persian is a race. They’re found between Iran and India and a lot of Indian Hindus are descended from Persian Zohorashrian families (it’s why some dialects of Farsi / Parsi and Gujarati were similar even before the first big waves of Persian immigration into India). Most Hindu Lohanas, for example, can trace heritage back to Persia.

They often don’t class themselves as Iranian because they consider themselves a more superior / authentic race than other Iranian races like Kurds / Arabs / Turks etc who they view as interlopers.

Yes, absolutely

That's why I was worried it may come across as offensive, but I don't mean it to be.

My friend describes herself as Persian, from what she has told me it’s because she doesn’t agree with the Iranian politics or the main religion, she told me Persia was a much more gentle place. I don’t really know more than what she claims though.

I think of Iranian = nationality & Persian = culture/ethnicity.
One of my friends in primary school (b4 Shah downfall) was Persian.

Persia was such a great empire, no way people want to lose that identity.

I would say I'm American (nationality) & might say I'm White Mutt Anglo-Saxon (ethnicity). Lots of Americans aren't AngloSaxon, obvs.

It’s an exceptional true adaptation, I recommend it!

My sister spent much of her teenage years, enchanted by the Tales of the Arabian Nights, vaguely planning to visit Persia, land of magic carpets, sweetmeats, genies and so on. She was about 18 when the Iranian revolution occurred, the Shah of Persia was deposed and the kingdom became revolutionary Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini in charge. Very disappointed to realise that magical Persia was now Iran and Westerners were decidedly unwelcome.

was freddie mercury from persian descent,
oh no wiki says his parents were Parsi-Indian

Anglo saxons came from europe though didnt they?

To be fair, Turkish have the same air of superiority towards Persians, feeling a lot more progressive, especially after demise of the shah. Iranian women go to Turkey to finally be able to feel the air in their hair, as the Turks say. A flight attendant friend of mine feels delighted to serve them wine after the plane takes off from Tehran.

Yes, my husband is Iranian, but says he's is Persian, and he wants to distance himself from present day Iran

I dated a Persian guy many years ago and he always stated 'we are the Italians of the Middle East'. He meant passionate and stylish which I totally understood.

My daughter (who is British) has spent several months over the past four years studying Farsi in Tehran and loves it there. She travelled all over and was met with incredible warmth and hospitality. People were amazed when a westerner spoke (almost) fluent Farsi with them. She says the people are so cultured and wanting to share that amazing culture with anyone even vaguely interested.

We recently paid for one of her friends (average Iranian salary is very low) to meet up with us in Turkey and it was wonderful to see her go to the (mixed) beach, drink a cocktail in a nightclub with dancing and wear clothes that would not be allowed in Iran.

Joanna Lumley visited Iran on one of her programmes and loved it too - worth a watch.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dh8pc

Thanks a lot. Very informative. I get it that Persian is more of a nebulous concept. Very fascinating geography that we don’t hear much about except for islamists. My Persian acquaintance told me there has been many attempts in the past few years for move towards a more secular and westernized society, but the morality police (?) doesn’t allow it and in some ways they are just like the Taliban.

My SIL was arrested by the morality police in Tehran for immodest clothing. (She has beautiful hair and barely wears her compulsory hijab). Uncle was summoned to bail her out and she was giving them hell when he arrived apparently. She uses an app that tracks the morality police so she can cover up if necessary, but it’s not 100% reliable.

So yes, they are like the Taliban, OP. It’s not a pleasant place to be female.

An app for morality police tracking?! That's hilarious 🤣 ingenious too. @BarmyFotheringay looks like a beautiful place though going there as a brit would be so scary for me, after Nazenin (?) that bbc lady they accused of being a spy. It's so sad, this ancient culture, lost in the dark ages...

Indeed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-47032829 Gives a very stark illustration of the affect of the Islamic revolution on Iranian women

Persian is the largest ethnic group ,(about 60 percent?). But there are other ethnic groups, Azeri Kurds, Balochis, Gilakis, Turkmen, Lurs, Afro Iranians, Mazandaranis, Arabs etc etc.

Persian was renamed "Iran" in the1930s " The Land of the Aryans" with no relation to "Iraq" which strangely has a close spelling in English. Persia was the Hellenic word for " Parsa".

Persian also describes Farsi which is the main language and taught in schools. So all Iranians speak Persian in spite of the many dialects.

All my life of 44 years there had been a stigma to the name Iran. When my mum moved to London in the mid 70s, being Iranian was glamorous and cool! All changed with the Islamic Regime which hijacked the revolution of 79.

So some people prefer to call themselves Persians because it sounds more ancient and pretty with nicer connotations, exquisite carpets, Kings and Queens and beautiful designs.

To reiterate Iran is multi ethnic and only around 50/ 60 per dent are Persian ( Fars) people. My ethnicity is Mazandarani but being from a Tehrani family everyone speaks Persian aka Farsi.

Hope that clears it up! Xo

I travelled last year. I'm half Iranian and have only a British passport. Sexist laws prevent me as a child of an Iranian woman with a foreign father get a passport. Many say just as well as dual citizen people are the most at risk.

But, visiting is absolutely fine and you will be welcomed either open arms as they just LOVE foreigners. Saw Germans, Italians, Japanese, Africans and Indians and Chinese. All are adored and people will bend over backwards at airport security through taxis to cafes to welcome any foreigners.

The government is fucking shit but everyone there knows that.