The wedding in native Kazakh language isUilenu toyi, the marriage isUi bolu.
The religious part of theKazakh wedding ceremony is calledNeke Qïyu (Kazakh:Неке қию, from ArabicNikah). The wedding process may take many weeks and even months to complete. This is because a Kazakh marriage, like marriages in most Muslim societies, involves a contract between families which requires negotiation. TheNeke Qïyu is a small portion of the whole, and usually takes about a half an hour to complete.
TheNeke Qïyu usually takes place on the evening of the day the bride is revealed to her groom's family. This festive ceremony is calledbetashar (Kazakh:Беташар) or "revealing of the face." After she shows respect to her groom's family, the veil is lifted and the bride receives a kiss from hermother-in-law. The mother-in-law then puts a white scarf on her head to symbolize her marital status and then welcomes her into the groom's family.
After several hours a feasting, amullah arrives. A mullah is a teacher of Islam who knows how to recite theQuran. He performs theNeke Qïyu. Even though thebetashar is performed outside in the garden in the presence of many relatives and friends, theNeke Qïyu is performed inside with close relatives only. The mullah and the couple sit facing one another. He briefly recites some verses from the Quran and asks the couple to confess the faith ofIslam. When this ceremony is done, the couple must go and register their marriage at the state registry office, a practice introduced in the Soviet period.
The brief ceremony occurs at thecivil registration office, which is calledAKHAZH (Kazakh:Азаматтық Халық Актілерін Жазу (АХАЖ),Russian:ЗАГС). The wedding also features a procession of cars decorated in ribbons, which stops to take pictures along the way.
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