FarewellFire
IMG_9137
Girl in traditional wedding dress, Nokhur Mountain Village, Turkmenistan.
On the porch one of the daughters of the family hung out and when I tried to take a picture of her she ran inside only come out seconds later wearing a beatiful dress. I later learned that this dress is a traditional wedding dress that the woman will wear for weeks and weeks after the day of the actual wedding. During the dinner later on that night our guide told us about the ceremony itself and the events leading to the wedding. Not getting into details, let me just sum things up briefly by stating that equality between the sexes isn´t really up to speed yet in Turkmenistan.
The parents of both the girl basically sell the girl for a number of sheep, goats or camels (and maybe even some additional funds) and on the night of the wedding the boy will go to bed with his new wife. After the, uhm, making love part, he then will sneak out the bedroom window (apparently he can´t be seen leaving the premises) and in the morning someone will visit the girl, asking to see if she´s been bleading or not.
If she haven´t she´s "obviously" not a virgin and if the husband complains about it, the wedding is off. Even worse, the bride can´t re-marry unless it´s with a divorcee or a widower. And since the number of marriages ending with a divorce account for half a percent in Turkmenistan, let´s just say that the odds of getting re-married are slim to none.
I have to say that this discussion ended whatever slight illusion that previously had existed about Turkmenistan being a somewhat modern country.
IMG_9137
Girl in traditional wedding dress, Nokhur Mountain Village, Turkmenistan.
On the porch one of the daughters of the family hung out and when I tried to take a picture of her she ran inside only come out seconds later wearing a beatiful dress. I later learned that this dress is a traditional wedding dress that the woman will wear for weeks and weeks after the day of the actual wedding. During the dinner later on that night our guide told us about the ceremony itself and the events leading to the wedding. Not getting into details, let me just sum things up briefly by stating that equality between the sexes isn´t really up to speed yet in Turkmenistan.
The parents of both the girl basically sell the girl for a number of sheep, goats or camels (and maybe even some additional funds) and on the night of the wedding the boy will go to bed with his new wife. After the, uhm, making love part, he then will sneak out the bedroom window (apparently he can´t be seen leaving the premises) and in the morning someone will visit the girl, asking to see if she´s been bleading or not.
If she haven´t she´s "obviously" not a virgin and if the husband complains about it, the wedding is off. Even worse, the bride can´t re-marry unless it´s with a divorcee or a widower. And since the number of marriages ending with a divorce account for half a percent in Turkmenistan, let´s just say that the odds of getting re-married are slim to none.
I have to say that this discussion ended whatever slight illusion that previously had existed about Turkmenistan being a somewhat modern country.