Wedding dresses of Dagestan brides

Wedding traditions in different countries are very diverse.
In some countries they are distinguished by modesty, in others, on the contrary, by luxury. In the East, there is a special attitude towards the wedding ceremony; all customs and traditions are sacredly respected here. Our country is inhabited by many nationalities and they all have different approaches to marriage. For example, let's talk about Dagestan weddings, which are the personification of severity and simplicity. Initially, in accordance with traditions, in Dagestan it was customary to have two weddings: for both the bride and the groom.

This is due to the fact that the girl’s parents cannot attend the celebration at the groom’s house. Events are held one week apart.

General information

All the relatives and friends of her family come to the girl’s house; the second wedding involves the arrival of the groom and his many relatives to the bride’s house, where the ransom is held, after which, taking the girl to his house, the main celebration is celebrated.

This action is scheduled for the wedding day.
As a rule, Dagestan weddings are very numerous, based on the fact that holding an event is very expensive; nowadays, most often, they celebrate one wedding. When, according to custom, two weddings were celebrated, it was understood that the bride should have two wedding dresses. One of them is a national costume, and the second is a traditional white dress. Modern requirements have been significantly simplified - the wedding dress of a Dagestan bride is distinguished by both severity and luxury of the outfit at the same time.

Despite the fact that today's wedding fashion offers a huge selection of outfits, for brides of sunny Dagestan the requirements remain quite conservative and do not change much over time. First of all, the bride must have her shoulders and legs covered, and a deep neckline is prohibited. Therefore, the wedding dress should be extremely long, covering not only the bride’s legs, but also her shoes.

Dagestan: humiliation of the bride and other wedding scandals

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A resonant video in September 2022 from one of the Dagestan weddings outraged social network users and surprised experts. Does this behavior correspond to Dagestan traditions, what other incidents at weddings have “glorified” the republic and how Chechen and Dagestan weddings differ – in the information of the “Caucasian Knot”.

They don’t behave this way at Dagestan weddings.

Both experts and social media users consider the behavior of the groom at the wedding, recorded in a video published on September 26, to be a deviation from the norm. In Dagestani traditions, such antics are interpreted as “very rare rudeness,” said the founder of the Day Care Home, Aishat Gamzaeva.

In the video, published in the public “Voice of Dagestan,” a young man in a suit and a group of men walk into a room where a bride stands motionless in a wedding dress and with her face covered with a veil. The men start dancing and shouting loudly. One of them places a banknote on the bride's head. The man in the suit then approaches the bride and roughly puts his arm around her neck. The young man keeps his other hand in his pocket until one of the men approaches him. The young man hugs him by the neck with his other hand, and then, leaning on the shoulders of the bride and man, lifts his legs up. The rest of the men stand nearby and one of the women takes a photograph of them.

Dagestan activist, editor-in-chief of the publication “Daptar” Svetlana Anokhina

believes that the behavior of the groom is “a certain tradition about which little is known.” “Local rite. This version is also supported by the fact that the relatives did not stand up for the bride. Otherwise, the women present there would have immediately stopped such behavior,” she told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

One of the traditions captured on video – “placing banknotes on the forehead of the bride or groom” – is typical for the southern regions of Dagestan, confirmed journalist Vladimir Sevrinovsky

Facebook users determined that the video captured representatives of the Dagestan subethnic group - the Andians. The Andians are a subethnic group of the Avars, the largest of the group of Andean peoples. According to the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, 21,270 Andians live in Dagestan.

President of the Center for the Study of Global Issues of Contemporary and Regional Problems “Caucasus. World. Development" by Said Sirazhutdinov

asserts in connection with this video that in general the situation of women in the republic is precarious and the situation is getting worse.

Expensive motorcades and loud shots

Most of the scandals at weddings in Dagestan that were recorded in the public space and became resonant are related to wedding processions and shootings. In February 2022, members of the wedding procession had an argument with the police, and then apologized on video. On September 14, 2022, a resident of Izberbash was detained under the article of hooliganism, who, leaning out of the Cadillac hatch while moving, fired several shots into the air, jerking the bolt of the gun.

Dagestan weddings are the most crowded and expensive in the North Caucasus. And although Dagestan communities (jamaat) are trying to regulate the costs of weddings, it is rare that all expenses are less than half a million rubles.

A year earlier, the court sentenced a resident of Kizilyurt, accused of shooting a firearm near a banquet hall, to 10 months in a penal colony. In 2014, in Karabudakhkent, a drunken guest started shooting from a hunting rifle during a wedding, as a result of which two law enforcement officers were wounded. In 2013, in the Babayurt district of Dagestan, a police officer shot and killed his colleague during a shooting while a wedding procession was passing.

The ritual of shooting at a Caucasian wedding was considered a “talisman against the evil eye,” but the ancient tradition has long turned into an element of fun and courage, experts interviewed by the Caucasian Knot believe. “Of course, many Caucasians have already forgotten the true meaning of shooting and shoot because it’s fun,” says Akhmet Yarlykapov,

Such different feelings

In January 2022, the publication of a wedding video of newlyweds from Makhachkala caused a scandal. Moreover, the scandal was raised by the Chechens, who first mistook the wedding for a Chechen one, and later, realizing that it was Dagestan, considered the video provocative. Khozh-Baudi Daaev did , publishing an edited recording where “not Chechens” was written in large red letters in the frame.

In the recording, a young man and a girl in a headscarf are walking along the seashore, holding hands and hugging each other. In the frame there is a car with the number 95 of the region (Chechnya). The video is accompanied by music that users have identified as Chechen.

The couple was condemned for publicly demonstrating their feelings, despite the fact that in the fall of the previous year, participants in at least five Chechen weddings publicly apologized to the Chechen authorities for violating national wedding traditions. In particular, one of the men repented for communicating with his daughter on his wedding day, another resident of Chechnya repented for joking communication with his bride.

Leading researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ruslan Seferbekov , is confident that Chechnya and Ingushetia have the most conservative attitude towards traditions. In Dagestan, Svetlana Anokhina , there are no strict prohibitions on the public expression of one’s feelings. “I had an interlocutor, a resident of a high-mountain village. She said that after marriage she often walked with her husband arm in arm. Her brothers didn't like it. And when the brothers presented a claim to her husband, he reassured them, saying that this was no longer their sister, but his wife,” she says.

Humiliating and expensive

Scandals at weddings in Dagestan are all the more humiliating, since these are the most expensive weddings in the North Caucasus, and possibly in all of Russia. Dagestan weddings are the most complex. The average Russian wedding is 50-60 people. In Dagestan the number of guests reaches a thousand or even more. For a typical Dagestan wedding in the style of “no worse than others” in 2014 there were about 1 million rubles, in 2022 - already more than 2 million.

The biggest expenses go to organizing the celebration: renting a banquet hall, refreshments and a festive program will cost about 1 million rubles. About half a million will have to be spent on gifts and bride price, which does not include gold jewelry for the bride - and this is another 250 thousand rubles. 300 thousand will be spent on gifts for the groom's relatives, and about 100 thousand on renting luxury cars.

Notes

My big Caucasian wedding // This is the Caucasus, January 27, 2017
From the heart. How much does a wedding cost in Dagestan // AIF, June 10, 2014
The shocking price of Dagestan happiness: how much does a Makhachkala wedding cost? // Komsomolskaya Pravda, November 28, 2022
Ibid.

Details

Dagestani brides love dresses with trains

It must be said that all wedding dresses are made of expensive fabrics.

Despite the variety of fashionable silhouettes that emphasize the beauty of the figure, Dagestan brides wear rather loose dresses. These can be outfits with corsets, crinolines, or Greek style. Girls with wide hips most often choose high-waisted dress styles. Naturally, they should have long sleeves. A mandatory attribute of a Dagestan bride is gloves and a veil.

In the world of wedding fashion, colored dresses are becoming increasingly popular, but in Dagestan they are very rare. The richest ones are most often snow-white outfits, the cost of which is not discussed. Often, an outfit is ordered individually and decorated by hand. At the same time, a possible alternative to a white dress is beige, milky or “champagne splash” color, extremely rarely pale pink or pale blue.

It must be said that the modesty of the outfit is more than compensated for by luxurious jewelry (earrings, many bracelets and necklaces). In addition, the dress itself is beautifully embroidered with beads, expensive stones, gold threads, and noble pearls. Dagestan brides must, in addition to personal beauty, demonstrate the wealth of their family.

Two-day Dagestan wedding with a Moscow accent in Makhachkala

“Alil and I told our parents that we would love to just get married, but they told us: “That’s not how it’s done,” and we had to get married loudly,” ex-Vogue producer and our good friend Karina Chistyakova tells us. Karina and her husband Alil met back in 2012, separated and got back together, but two years ago they finally realized that they couldn’t live without each other: “I’ve never seen such a relationship in my life and, honestly, I didn’t believe that this could happen at all.” ", says Karina.

The bride and groom are from Dagestan, so when it was decided to have the wedding, the question of where to do it did not even arise. According to the Dagestan tradition, first the wedding of the bride is celebrated - with her family and friends, and then the wedding of the groom - with another set of guests. Often the events are held on two different days so that the bride and her loved ones can fully enjoy “her” day. This is what our newlyweds decided to do.

Two wedding days means two wedding looks and double stress! It was at this point that we tormented Karina with questions, because we wanted to know all the details.

“In general, both dresses are “Frankenstein”; ideas for them were taken from 5-7 sources, including the Dagestan traditional costume. Looking for references for a plus-size wedding dress is incredibly difficult. There is practically no choice, and the one that is available is almost always of poor quality or irrelevant. But after a lot of searching, I chose two main points of reference: Solange Knowles in Stella McCartney and Ashley Graham in Vivienne Westwood.

Solange Knowles in Stella McCartney, 2014

Rog Walker

Ashley Graham in Vivienne Westwood, 2017

Mike Pont

Solange - simply because she is a style icon. For me, her wedding look is the best in the last hundred years. The cape, which we added with shoulder pads, became a little like a Dagestan burka; the cutout made the top lighter. I also wanted to wear silver bracelets from the very beginning and really wanted this part of our culture to get the attention it deserves.

The second dress is much less traditional. This is a classic white dress with a train - we were inspired by corset dresses from Vivienne Westwood, Atelier Versace and Mugler (but if only any of them made clothes in my size). During the process, we had many different ideas, we wanted to try to cover our arms and neck with thin lace fabric, but when the first mock-up of the dress was ready, we abandoned this idea - everything looked good anyway,” says Karina.

Both dresses were made to order at Atelier Biser in St. Petersburg: “I knew that choosing a dress would be a huge problem. I called several of the most expensive Moscow and Makhachkala salons and asked about the availability of dresses in size 52, only one of them was not afraid of the request and offered to pre-order a dress for 700,000 rubles “for such a huge size.” I thought that taking money to where I was not expected was simply stupid, and I decided to sew a dress. Then I remembered that at the beginning of the year, Danil Golovkin and I did a shoot, for which we sewed a dress in 24 hours at Atelier Biser in St. Petersburg.

I was truly surprised by how high quality it looked, so I decided to try to write to Ksenia, the owner of the atelier, about the wedding dress. We discussed everything, and I came for the first fitting.”

We can’t help but ask about the authentic ethnic decorations, at the sight of which all the wedding guests said “wow!” “The antique jewelry that I wore at the first event was partly from my personal collection, partly collected in the salons “Ethnocenter” in Makhachkala and in the silver row at the market in Manas. The authorship of one of the bracelets even seems to belong to the legendary Manaba Magomedova. We collected the wrist bracelets together with Ilyas Gadzhiomarovich on the eve of the wedding from an antique patch on a dress that my mother found at that very market,” says Karina.

With shoes, unlike the dress and jewelry, everything turned out to be simple. Realizing that the wedding days would be crazy, Karina immediately abandoned the idea of wearing high heels. “Proenza boats remained in Moscow. Instead, with the first dress I wore divinely comfortable Asos shoes with stable heels, and with the second - silk pumps from Max Mara deadstock, which I bought at Mushka during a trip to my next fitting in St. Petersburg. Each pair cost about 3,000 rubles.”

On the first day of the wedding, when the bride was honored, many guests came from Moscow, including from the fashion industry. Karina, as a professional producer, was worried that a traditional Dagestan wedding, albeit with a modern accent, would turn out to be too specific for the Moscow landing of guests, but everything went with a bang: “Judging by the responses that reached me, everyone was interested and happy, and this is for me and my mother, who organized the celebration, the most important thing.”

Karina with her mother Svetlana

Danil Golovkin

The celebration surprised guests not only with its scale, but also with a cool mix of traditions and elements of a fashionable wedding in 2022. Guests were greeted by riders on horses, and at the entrance to the hall by artisans who wove yarn and sculpted clay right on the spot. The celebration began with the traditional Lezginka (which by the end of the evening even the most modest guests from Moscow tried to dance), and it all ended with the performance of the young group “Noooo, what are you doing” (you could see them on Alexander Gudkov’s Instagram, who, it seems, filmed all of them performance) and techno sets by DJs Amir and Yusup (Mhk.records): “It was so great to see how happy our parents and guests were. I still can’t believe that so many of my friends and colleagues flew to Dagestan,” sums up Karina.

Advice to young people! We remember this day with pleasure, looking at the photographs, and invite you to join us too.

Photo: Camila Banks

Alisa Ganieva

The writer and human rights activist is Avar by nationality, which she proudly mentions in an interview. Alice's books have been translated into foreign languages and won literary prizes. Ganieva in 2015 entered the top 30 talented Muscovites under the age of 30 according to The Guardian newspaper.

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The most beautiful Dagestani women (19 photos)

18th place. Dina Mereutsa is a singer. By nationality - Darginka.

17th place. Anora Bagomedova (born May 25, 1989, Samarkand, Uzbekistan) is a singer. By nationality - Darginka.

16th place. Marina Mustafaeva is a singer. By nationality - Darginka.

15th place. Madina Manapova (born February 18, 1996) is a Dagestan singer. By nationality - Avarka. Instagram page - https://www.instagram.com/madi_manapova/

14th place: Diana Yuzbekova (born July 1, 1989, Moscow) - correspondent on the Muz-TV channel. By nationality - Lezginka. Height - 164 cm. VKontakte page - https://vk.com/diana_yuzbekova

13th place: Alina Alieva - model from Tver, winner of the “Young Beauty of Tver 2010” competition. By nationality - Lezginka. Height - 172 cm, body measurements 88-63-93.

see also The most beautiful Lezgin girls (18 photos)

12th place: Meseda Bagaudinova - singer, former member of the VIA Gra group. Born in Grozny (Chechnya) on October 30, 1983. Her father is an Avar, her mother is of Ukrainian-Belarusian origin.

11th place. Ashura Shakhrutdinova is a Dagestan singer. By nationality - Avarka.

10th place. Marina Suleymanova (born July 24, 1988) is a singer, member of the group “Misty”. Also known as Marina Angel. By nationality - Avarka. Marina's VKontakte page - https://vk.com/marinamisty

9th place: Gulnara Alimuradova (born December 5, 1989) - model, Miss Azerbaijan 2010. Lezginka by nationality. Height 171 cm, body measurements 82-59-88.

see also The most beautiful Azerbaijani women

8th place: Faina Abdullaeva - model from Moscow, worked with the Muslim clothing brand “Rezeda Suleyman”. By nationality - Lezginka.

7th place. Alisa Ganieva (born September 23, 1985, Moscow) is a Russian writer, literary critic, and journalist. In interviews, Alisa has repeatedly said that she is an Avar by nationality. Ganieva's books have been translated into many languages, and she has received several literary awards. In 2015, The Guardian newspaper included Ganieva in the top 30 most talented Muscovites under 30. Alice's VKontakte page - https://vk.com/id1788012