Tajiks celebrate National Unity Day by wedding 60 couples

Day marks anniversary of end of civil war

By Nazim Kalandarov

2012-06-27

DUSHANBE – The Dushanbe mayor’s office helped organise a massive wedding in the great hall of the Dushanbe Plaza business centre for 60 couples from poor families June 27 to help Tajikistan mark the 15th anniversary of National Unity Day.

Sixty low-income couples wait to be married in the Dushanbe Plaza business centre as a registry office employee carries documents and rings June 27, National Unity Day. [Nazim Kalandarov]
Tajik newlyweds watch a fashion show at the Dushanbe Plaza after their June 27 mass wedding. [Nazim Kalandarov]

The couples, grooms in modern suits and brides in traditional wedding dresses, were proclaimed married one after another by Dushanbe registry officials and later watched a fashion show organised for them. The mass wedding was held at the business centre because the registry office could not accommodate all of the couples.

“I feel very happy today, not only for myself, but for all of us, citizens of Tajikistan, that we have a chance to live peacefully,” one of the brides, Mekhrabon, said, wiping tears off her cheek. She said the ceremony made her feel a part of something very important.

The couples had to apply and meet financial parameters to participate in the state-sponsored wedding.

The mayor’s office paid for the ceremony, the clothing, wedding rings and celebrations with families later.

In previous years, Tajik officials have organised similar charity actions, such as a birthday party for children born on June 27, to mark National Unity Day.

In 1997, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and United Tajik Opposition head Abdullo Nuri signed an agreement in Moscow to end the five-year-long civil war that claimed more than 100,000 lives, created millions of refugees and cost the country US $7 billion (TJS 334 billion).