Uzbek weddings
There are few events richer with Uzbek generosity and hospitality than weddings, especially in Bukhara. Vibrant colours, an abundance of food, music, dancing and food again – all this on a huge scale! Attending an Uzbek wedding is a must for expats and visitors who want to experience a real Uzbek party.
Text: Odina Ulugbekjanova
Photos: Mirshod Shomsidinov, Mukhiddin A Lee
Uzbek weddings are huge affairs distinguished by their opulence, size, and length. They are based on historical traditions and incorporate a long chain of accompanying rituals, some of which date back to the Middle Ages. Each region and even individual village has its own deeply rooted marriage customs. Many are special rituals adopted only by one community, and in a country as large and multicultural as Uzbekistan, this means the styles and traditions of weddings are nearly endless.
My family comes from the eastern part of Uzbekistan – a small town in the Namangan region called Chust. They were very surprised by how different our traditions are from my husband’s family in Bukhara.
Bukhara is known to be comparatively more modern than other cities, and here a lot of young people find their partners without traditional dates arranged by their parents (which is how my husband and I met). However, no matter how a young couple decides to get married, they never go entirely without khuskori –matchmaking rituals. A few women from the groom’s side (usually his mom and aunts) come to the bride’s house three-to-five times to get to know the bride’s family and then ask for their consent to make the two young people happy and blend two families. Once the families’ approvals are given, they decide on the date of engagement, known as shirini-khuri (literally, ‘eating sweets’). For this, both families lay a festive table covered with sweets and traditional snacks for the relatives, wishing the couple a sweet life.
The most important of all the rituals, which no family can skip, is nikah (an Islamic marriage ceremony), which is even more important than the marriage certificate. By holding a nikah in the mosque, a Muslim man and woman take responsibility for each other and for their family, as well as for the offspring that they will give birth to and raise before God. Afterwards, there are at least five other rituals before the main wedding day, which all incorporate music, dancing, food and gifts.
Finally, there is the main wedding day. This is typically organised by the parents and held in a huge restaurant, with 300–700 guests on average. It is followed by loud music, a lot of dance shows, and, of course, plenty of food is literally poured onto tables. On this day, everyone comes to see the beautiful bride in a sparkling white dress and her groom neatly clad in a wedding suit.
Sometimes people organise double weddings in our country for twin brothers or brothers of a similar age, as it was in my case. The second couple in our wedding was my husband’s younger brother and his beautiful bride.
But even after all of these, the rituals are not finished yet. After the wedding day, there are at least six more traditions that last for a few weeks, and each has its purpose.
Oh, these Uzbek weddings! You could write books about them and still never cover all of the traditions.
