Wedding traditions of mountainous Dagestan

Ivan Dementievsky writes: “At the end of our trip to Dagestan, we managed to take a walk at the coolest wedding I have ever seen.”

Source: Zhzhurnal / dementievskiy

1. Locals say that traditions are dying out and now it is customary to celebrate a wedding in the city. They invite several hundred guests and walk to the fullest. And even if the wedding is celebrated in the village, they no longer try to follow all the rules the way they used to, even before cars and electricity appeared. But somewhere the stars converged, so much so that during my trip through the mountains, a wedding was played here exactly as it was before. Therefore, instead of a well-deserved rest in Makhachkala, I spent the last two days in the mountain village of Balkhar.

2. I liked everything, but I would add the number of torches, while I followed the procession through the narrow streets between the houses, I almost broke my legs on the stones, which they probably threw there on purpose, so that people like me would not go.

3. Weddings used to go on for three days, somewhere they still celebrate in full, starting to taste cognac in the morning, and someone reduces it to two. Not the point. I came to the most interesting events that begin just in the late afternoon. The village has a gorgeous meadow at the very top of the village. You can’t think of a better place to celebrate, there are gorgeous views of the meadows, the mountains and the sky around. I would also celebrate my wedding here.

4. Next door to us.

5. A string of women carries a dowry for the bride (to the groom's house). Now often the dowry is transported by car, but it does not look so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.

6. They carry all sorts of carpets, blankets, jugs, chests, in short, everything that can be useful in the household. Of course, there are jewelry and money.

7. Everything brought is put in the room of the newlyweds. And now everyone is waiting for the most important thing to begin. And most importantly, this is a procession through the night village with torches (not because it is necessary to light the road, but because they used to do this) from the groom's house to the bride.

8. We had to wait two hours. In order to somehow kill time, everyone gathered in the backyard, and dancing began to the music of the musicians who had arrived.

9. But the torchbearers began to fuss, so the parade will take place soon. Several torches were taken out of the house. A torch is a tin can, inside which is dung (does everyone know what dung is?) abundantly poured with kerosene. All this is set on fire and voila, you can start!

10. Trying not to fall, I tagged along behind a crowd of joyful men who accompanied the groom with shouts and whistles. Looking at the ceremony, the feeling that I found myself in the Middle Ages did not leave me. To anyone who wants to experience this, I recommend visiting these lands while such traditions are still alive.

11. Here the house of the bride appeared. Thank God, it didn't take long to walk through the dark streets.

12. We were greeted as heroes. Near the entrance to the house, probably the whole village gathered, not crowded.

13. Then everything is simple, boys to the right, girls to the left. The girls gather in the room where the bride is sitting, and the guys at the table. Every now and then exclamations rolled out from the table and toasts were made, but the most interesting thing happened with the girls. Dressed up the bride.

14. As a result, the bride is covered with her head and now she will move only with the help of two friends who are always with her.

15. A special lamp was brought into the room, this is for the bridesmaids to light the way.

16. That's it, the bride is ready to go.

17. And below, in the courtyard of the house, the smoke is like a rocker.

18. Everyone is waiting for the procession to begin. And as usual, the wait is long. I don’t know, maybe it’s necessary, but in general, the bride is in no hurry.

19.

20. We waited, the girls finally came out. Behind someone began to throw candy and downstairs the procession had another crush, now from the boys collecting candy. At that moment, I saw strong reflections from the side of the street, at first I thought that the neighbors had a fire, but no. They started making fires.

21. Bonfires are made by the inhabitants of the houses, past which the bride passes. And they breed if they have a good relationship with the house of the groom and daughter-in-law, and the fire means a wish for well-being. This is what I am describing in a nutshell. If the fire is not lit, it means that there are serious disagreements between the houses / families.

22. A huge crowd formed behind the bride. The crush was such that I didn't dare to be in the thick of it, the guys were pushing each other, and this is probably also part of the ritual.

23. The procession reached the groom's house, where they brought the bride. There she must pass another test, roll bread into the room. I did not make my way there and film this process.

24. The next day, after a long and stormy night, the inhabitants gather again. Two o'clock, not earlier. People are slowly flocking to the clearing, and a string of relatives with food and drink flows from the house of the bride and groom.

25. Grandmas come forward again and one with a tambourine. They sing and lead the bride to people. She's in a new outfit, but she still has her best friends with her.

26. Probably the whole village gathers in the clearing. For all the time, while the people are having fun, dancing and making toasts, the bride dances three dances.

27.

28. The rest of the time, non-stop music plays and someone in the center of the circle.

29. And now the most difficult. It is to sit down at the table and be able to get out. If you do not treat yourself to a wedding, it will offend the hosts. If you sit down at the table, then the hospitable neighbors will impose and pour so much that it is unrealistic to cope with so much food alone.

30. In fact, for such holidays you have to arrive in advance and leave when they end, but the next day I had a plane early in the morning and whatever one may say, I have to politely but refuse the treat and leave. On the way we stopped at the pass to take a couple of shots. Beautiful nature here!