Uzbek wedding
While choosing printed cotton, look at the length,
While choosing a bride, look at her mother
(Uzbek proverb)
Very often tourists are interested in Uzbek wedding ceremonies and customs. This article will makes it possible to learn much about the Uzbek wedding.
Oriental people have always been famous for its ability to celebrate the wedding lavishly. Even in fairy tales the Uzbek wedding lasts for forty days and forty nights. In real life the Uzbek wedding is exactly celebrated two or three days. Another key feature of wedding ceremonies in Uzbekistan is this abundance of festive rituals. The Uzbek people honors the very strictly observes wedding traditions.
Uzbekistan wedding customs
The Uzbeks themselves call the wedding ceremony "nikokh tui." Uzbek wedding party is a very crowded and a magnificent event. For this family holiday the Uzbeks invite not only family members and close friends, but neighbors, work colleagues, distant acquaintances. They seek to share their joy with many.
Uzbek marriage traditions imply a certain sequence of events, where the very first thing is searching for a suitable bride.
Thanks to friends and acquaintances groom's parents make inquiries about their future daughter-in-law. Commonly, they take an interest in a social status of a girl, a level of upbringing and education, an ability to run the household. Beauty is welcomed, but it is not a significant criterion. As the Uzbek proverb says: "Beautiful girl remains beautiful in ugly clothes".
Panders traditionally by an alert eye notice the level of cleanliness in the house, and they watch the ability of the selected girl to pay her addresses to the guests.
When go-betweens get a positive answer, matchmakers determine a day of fotikha tui that is the engagement. This day women, neighbors, elders and family members are invited in the house of the bride.
This day a ritual "non sindirar" is hold. “Non sindirar” is literally translated as "breaking the cake." This Uzbek marriage custom means that the girl's parents are agree to give their daughter in marriage. Thus, all are announced that she is engaged. This is done in order other matchmakers know that the girl has already taken by others.
Sometimes in Uzbekistan the date of the Uzbek marriage is appointed during the engagement. Sometimes the wedding date is determined separately.
According to traditions, costs for the wedding in Uzbekistan the groom's party assumes, but up-to-date Uzbeks often plan costs by mutual arrangement. The charges are considerable, because the traditional wedding in Uzbekistan is celebrated with a particular splendor. The key point of the Uzbek wedding ceremony is going across to the man's house.
Morning pilaf
One of the principal wedding traditions in Uzbekistan is treating guests with morning pilaf. And the quantity of guests come to this ceremony can reach sometimes several hundred.
The groom's family prepares pilaf for men. This pilaf is cooked in the groom's family and then also sent with congratulations to the bride's house. It's a festive breakfast, symbolizing the fact that the engagement of young people has taken place and two families are planning to intermarry.
Nikokh-Tui – Uzbek wedding ritual
According to the custom, after the festive meal the groom, accompanied by close people goes to the bride's house. Meanwhile, the bride is in a special room, the access to which only imam (Uzbek cleric) has. Imam performs the sacrament, which is called "nikokh-tui". After it the newlyweds make promises to be friends and cleave to each other.
The ritual of bride's farewell with her parents
The farewell is also a traditional Uzbek wedding ceremony. After the ordinance "nikokh-tui" the young go to the State registry office. Before the trip to the registry office, friends of a groom dress him in sarpo that was donated by girl's parents. Sarpo are the clothes, shoes, intended for a bridegroom.
After the registry office a younger set arrives at bride's house for a farewell ceremony. Thus, she says goodbye to her parents and siblings. A girl is escorted with songs and all go to a restaurant for a wedding.
Parents traditionally, but symbolically deplore the girl, thus wishing her a happy family life. Seeing a girl, her family sends along with her a dowry.
Uzbek traditional weddings are held noisy and merrily. The number of invited guests often exceeds 300-400 people. The feast is accompanied by national songs and dances. Tables are crammed with traditional Uzbek treats.
The other tradition of the wedding ceremony in Uzbekistan is a honey treat between newlyweds. In order the family life is sweet, a groom tastes honey and gives it to his bride. Thereafter, a pair should look in the mirror and see each other in it.
Also during the marriage in Uzbekistan a newly-fledged husband presents gifts to his wife. Most often, the Uzbeks give sweethearts watches and bracelets.
After the ending of the Uzbek marriage, newlyweds go to the groom’s house. They are met at the bridegroom's house with karnays and surnays (musical instruments). After the bride’s aunt changes the girl's dress, a bride prepares to meet the bridegroom.
Kelin salom
“Kelin salom” is the finishing touch of the wedding customs in Uzbekistan. The literal translation of the name means "greetings of the bride". On the third day after the marriage the relatives of the girl visit her new house; and the bride in the national costume welcomes them and makes low bows.
There are many rites after the Uzbek wedding. They are not mentioned in this article. To know everything in details about the Uzbek wedding, Uzbek wedding ceremonies, we recommend you to visit Uzbekistan with Peopletravel and be a guest on the Uzbek wedding party.
Uzbek wedding dress
Costumes, which the young don at their wedding ceremony, look beautifully and unusually.
The Uzbek wedding costumes today are more like European outfits for such cases. Very often a bride wears a modern wedding dress, but in some areas of Uzbekistan there is still a tradition to wear national costumes.
Features of wedding Uzbek costumes are that the bride’s parents buy them. Its traditional name is sarpo. It looks brightly and expensively. A full packaging arrangement of each Uzbek region is different.
To create a traditional Uzbek bride's wedding dress khan-atlas is used. Over it a sleeveless jacket, a silk robe or velvet doublet are put on. They are all hand-made, and embroidered with gold and silver threads.
The head-dress of the bride plays a special role. During the wedding a head of a young girl is adorned with Tiplya-Kosh - a special kokoshnik decorated with openwork embroidery and lots of hangers. The bridal covers the bride’s face.
These are the main peculiarities of the wedding in Uzbekistan. The rituals and ceremonies of the festival all held to provide a pair a long and happy family life.
