Wow I am so incredibly fascinated by the richness of culture and tradition here in Kazakhstan. Today during my English Club we started to talk about having daughters and the roles as Mothers in general in our children’s lives. These beautiful ladies shared with me how you raise the girls not just as immediate family, but the extended family imparts and instills in them honor to be passed on to her husband and his family when she marries. So everything that family is doing when raising daughters is to train them to honor their family where they come from and honor the family where they are going. As nomadic people, that is why they have two weddings (Bride’s side and Groom’s side). Because very historically a long time ago, the tribes would move around visiting other tribes and their daughters would wed to the outside tribes and not within as there has to be 7 generations removed to marry within. So first you do the Bride’s wedding as basically a farewell to your family (as you may never see them again because as Nomads you continue to move on and may never return) then you do the Groom’s wedding to welcome in the New Bride. One of the ladies even taught me this saying speaking of the woman “The bones are of your family, but your meat is of your husband’s family”. So interesting! The above picture is a Kazakh wedding we had the privilege of attending within our first 3 months of moving here. This was the Groom’s Wedding we attended. I love learning about this fascinating country and it’s people! ❤️