Ernazar and Guylasia's Wedding!

Ernazar and Guylasia's wedding was spread out over two days.   On the first day, we ate lunch prepared by two wives of JDA workers.

Many different lunches were held during the day, all to accommodate Ernazar's wedding guests.

The dish on the far left of the picture below is called "besh-barmark".  It?s supposed to be eaten with your fingers, since "besh" means "five" in Uzbek.  It's baiscally handmade noodles with meat and potatoes on top.  The pile of fried dough thingies are "boger sock".

Next, the ceremony.  There are two brides because Ernazar?s brother was also getting married.

These ladies stood out in the hot sun, covered, for an hour while a man read out names (man in the middle).

After each group of names, they had to bow.   The man calling out names was presented with scarves as gifts as names were read.

One of the best parts about the ceremony was seeing all the people from the community. Karkalkpaks tend to look more Asian than Uzbeks, as you can see in the pictures below.  And ALL Karakalpaks are women.

Check out the grandma in the cool glasses!!!

Then, we climbed into cars and drove around Nukus, where the couple took pictures in front of various city monuments.  The car is Ernazar and his new bride Gulyasia's ride.

The doll in the front is for good wishes?in child bearing!   As we drove around the city, we encountered at least 5 other couples who were doing the same.  Normally, the drivers and guests are all drunk, but we all stayed sober, of course!

There were many other couples that day in Nukus, doing the exact same thing!

The next night was "party time", held at a restaurant.  We ate, danced, toasted, ate, danced, and toasted some more.

And as they blasted the wedding march over the PA system, Ernazar and Gyulazar, very romantically, made their union complete by signing their marriage certificate in front of a city official.