Human Flower Project

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Last Minute Knots

On the eve of Ramadan, couples need to wed now or wait until next year.

Wedding car in Kandahar

Photo: Rodney Cocks, via Lonely Planet

It’s the 11th hour of wedding season in Afghanistan; actually, it’s more like 11:55. The holy month of fasting begins tomorrow. 

“Ramadan is no time for marriage. Muslims cannot eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Evenings are given over to prayer. Then it is early to bed so everyone can get up around 4:00 am for a quick bite before the sun rises.

“The holy month ends with the three-day Eid al-Fitr celebration. But in Afghanistan the period between this holiday and the Eid al-Adha festival two months later is viewed as an inauspicious one for marriage.”

Afghan marriages, traditionally arranged by the couple’s parents, involve many sorts of rituals—of dance, henna-dyed hands, and dowries. The big floral element of these affairs seems to be the decorated wedding car (these days, usually a Toyota Corolla), festooned with flowers and ribbon.

Headed for the groom’s house

Kandahar, Afghanistan

Photo: Rodney Cocks, via Lonely Planet

“A gaudy rainbow of ribbons, plastic flowers and streamers adorn the vehicles, painstakingly affixed with miles of sticky tape by the numerous wedding shops that have sprung up in the downtown area. Accidents regularly occur with wedding cars as they are so heavily decorated the drivers can barely see out of the windscreen.”

After the vows and a long reception, the couple drives to the groom’s parents’ house in this cake on wheels. Once they arrive, the bride will ceremonially refuse to leave the vehicle.

“Everyone will insist and would ask her to get off the car but she won’t listen to them until she is promised some property by the groom’s father.” Once that’s done, she’ll emerge.  “When she steps on the ground, a chicken or a sheep is sacrificed under her foot, and a little blood is rubbed on the bride’s shoe. A number of girls take the bride to her bedroom to take her wedding gown off and dress her up with her night suit.”

At Gul-e-Maryam flower shop, Kabul

Photo: ICRC

Of course, this has been the busy season for hall-owners, chauffeurs, musicians, and florists. A report featuring one of the hundreds of flower shop owners in Kabul disclosed that today most wedding flowers are artificial ones, made in China. And “the cost for decorating the bridal car can vary between 500 and 1,000 Afghanis, (10-20 US dollars). Floral decorations for the hall, tables, and bridal suite cost, on average, another 1,000 Afghanis, although orders can sometimes run as high as 100 US dollars.”

Whether your gladioli are real or silk, best be taping them to that Toyota in a hurry. All good wishes to the newlyweds in Afghanistan.