One of the most magnificent and colorful Uzbek ceremonies is the nikokh tuyi or wedding. The biggest event that is celebrated noisily, richly and with many guests. Everyone is invited: relatives, neighbors, colleagues, friends and acquaintances.
On the wedding day, the ceremony begins early in the morning, when the bride and groom’s house is arranged a festive plov. Today, the morning pilaf is not in the house, but in a cafe or teahouse, which is much more convenient and less troublesome for the hosts.
After the morning pilaf, the groom, accompanied by friends, relatives, dancers and musicians, arrives at the bride’s house. The bride in her wedding attire waits in a special room where only the mullahs(priests) can enter. The bride’s wedding attire today is a white dress in the European style. The mullahs take the consent to the marriage from the bride and after that they recite the wedding prayer, nikoh, which concludes the marriage between the young people.
Then the next part of the wedding ritual takes place – the farewell to the parents and home. The groom’s friends load the bride’s dowry, while she says goodbye to her parents and leaves the house, accompanied by her friends and relatives.
Singing traditional wedding songs, the bride is welcomed into the groom’s home. A white path, the pajandoz, leads to the door of the house and the bride enters her new home along the path. At the door she makes a bow to her new home – “ostona salom”, and at that moment she is showered with flowers, sweets and money, thus wishing her a beautiful, rich and sweet life.
Nikokh tuy – Uzbek wedding!
This is when the wedding celebration, nikoh tui, begins, sometimes lasting several days. After the celebration, the groom takes the bride to their new room, where she is met and changed by the yanga, a relative or close friend of the bride. Then the groom enters the room and “redeems” the bride from the yanga, and only after the “redemption” the newlyweds are left alone with each other.
Early in the morning the next day comes the time of the final rite – kelin salom or greeting the bride. The young wife, bowing low at the waist, greets the groom’s parents, relatives and guests. And they present their gifts and congratulate her on her marriage.