Tradition · Nationwide
Hospitality and the dastarkhan
‘A guest ranks above your father’: the seat of honour, a dastarkhan that is never left bare, and table manners from breaking the bread to the closing blessing.
Tradition · Nationwide
The Uzbek wedding
From matchmaking to the bride’s bow: an Uzbek wedding is not a one-day party but a chain of rites that unites two families.
A chain of rites
An Uzbek wedding unfolds as a series of ceremonies: matchmaking, betrothal, the viewing of the bride, the fotiha to‘y blessing, the sending of wedding gifts, qiz oshi (the girls’ gathering), the nikoh marriage rite, the bride’s arrival, kelin salom, and return visits between the families. Most are still observed, though every region — sometimes every village — has its own variations. After the betrothal the groom’s family regularly sends sweets to the bride’s home as a wish for a ‘sweet life’, while her family assembles the dowry of carpets, embroideries, quilts, clothes and jewellery.
The nikoh usually takes place at the bride’s parents’ home: the imam recites the khutbai nikoh prayer and explains the couple’s rights and duties. Today the imam will ask to see the civil registration first.
The day and the morning after
On the wedding day or the eve, the wedding plov is cooked and hundreds of guests gather at dawn for nahor oshi. Karnay horns, surnay pipes and the doira drum tell the whole mahalla there is a wedding — in villages, anyone who hears the music is welcome. In the evening the bride takes leave of her parents and is escorted to the groom’s home to the song ‘Yor-yor’. Next morning comes kelin salom: the veiled bride bows to her parents-in-law and then to every relative, who reward her with gifts. Today many weddings are held in banqueting halls with live music; autumn is wedding season.
Tradition · Nationwide
Tea culture and the choyxona
Green tea ‘returned’ to the pot, a bowl filled only halfway, and the choyxona at the heart of every mahalla: the Uzbek day begins and ends with tea.
Tradition · Nationwide
Beshik to‘yi (cradle feast)
The rite in which a first-born baby is laid in its cradle for the first time; the cradle and gifts arrive from the mother’s family to the sound of karnay and surnay.
Tradition · Nationwide
The mahalla
‘A little town within the town’: the neighbourhood community gathered around its guzar, teahouse, mosque and elder — the basic unit of Uzbek life.
Tradition · Nationwide
Hashar
Unpaid communal work by neighbours: once used to dig canals and raise houses, today a clean-up of the mahalla before holidays.
Tradition · Nationwide
Navruz customs
The spring-equinox festival: hashar clean-ups and new clothes, sumalak stirred all night, ko‘k somsa, the ‘Boychechak’ song, kurash and kupkari.
Tradition · Bukhara
Shashmaqom and the maqom tradition
‘Six maqoms’ — a classical suite of instrumental and vocal music that took shape in Bukhara; joint UNESCO heritage of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan since 2008.
Tradition · Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya +2
Bakhshi art
Epic poems sung from memory to the dombra, kobyz or dutar — the performers of Alpamysh and Go‘ro‘g‘li; UNESCO-listed since 2021.
Tradition · Khorezm
Lazgi
Khorezm’s fiery folk melody and dance, evoking the sounds of nature, love and joy; UNESCO-listed since 2019.
Tradition · Fergana, Andijan +3
Askiya, the art of wit
A battle of wits born in the Fergana Valley and Tashkent: two or more askiyachi duel in wordplay on a set theme.