toot toot

Last night we heard the familiar sound of the big horns announcing the arrival of a new bride at the home of the groom's family for the first time. We ran out to see the ruckus...

Here's the band...

And here's the party. Notice the bride and groom walking around the fire...

Although I already knew the story, I let my landlord tell me all about it... He says that before the Arabs came to Central Asia about 1200 yrs ago, the folks around here were fire worshipers (Zoroastrians). Then the Arabs came and killed anyone who was not willing to change their religion. So now everyone is a Muslim, but they still have a lot of the old traditions, and this is one of them. Before the bride and groom enter their home for the first time, they walk three times around the fire. I remember back in Uzland, couples would walk 3x around the WW2 monument, sort of like a bizarre Muslim tribute to fire worship mixed with communism.

Here is a quick video of the event...


After we returned to our courtyard, the 3 yr old son in our family (on the left in the next picture) took the opportunity, as he often does, to remind us that one day he will take Ella as his bride. Here's Ellie and her boyfriends...