Tajik traditions: Birth of a child. How do Tajiks live in their homeland? (32 photos) Respect for elders

As in many other cultures, the birth of a child in a Tajik family is the most joyful event and a child, as a continuation of the family, is considered the meaning of life. All family traditions associated with raising a child were aimed at his upbringing: spiritual, physical and cultural. That is why family members try in all cases and situations to protect a pregnant woman so that she gives birth to a healthy child. She must eat the best food, the man, the future father, tries to fulfill his wife’s every whim, she is protected from doing hard housework and, in general, she is instructed to always be in a good mood, not to leave the house unaccompanied. Both future parents try to do only good deeds.

Protection of the newborn and mother

Despite the emergence of new modern views and traditions, Tajiks still adhere to the traditions, customs and beliefs of their ancestors in different parts of the country. Tajiks believe that in the first year of life a child should be protected, especially at first, which is why there are special periods and ways to protect the child from everything:

forty days; The first forty days after birth, a newborn and his mother are considered vulnerable: they are not left alone, they try to let fewer people in to see them, so that they are not subject to the evil eye or simply the influence of negative energy.

amulets; amulets that, according to beliefs, protect a child can be amulets with written special duas given by the priest, a rag amulet inside of which there are 15 pieces of gray or blue needles against the evil eye, sharp objects under the pillow, pods of hot red pepper and garlic tied to a cradle so that protect the child from the influence of evil forces

using two names for the child; in order to hide the child from evil spirits, in a family where children have often been lost, at first they call the child a different name so that the “evil spirit” does not guess about the birth of the child, this can be the name of a fruit, a household item or a natural phenomenon, and upon reaching At a certain age, a child receives a normal name.

Important events for the newborn and family
Tajik families happily celebrate events that occur for the first time in a child’s life through rituals.

Putting the baby in the cradle for the first time

On a certain auspicious day, the child is placed in a cradle by the eldest woman in the family. After this, this event is celebrated together with relatives, friends and neighbors at the dastarkhan, and the ceremony is called “gakhvorabandon” - laying in the cradle.

First shirt

In many regions, the first shirt is worn only three days after the birth of a child; the shirt is taken from an old person so that the child’s life will also be long. Sometimes a knife with a wooden handle is passed through the shirt before putting it on, wishing the child to grow up strong and healthy.

First hair cut

Muisargiron is a ritual of cutting a child's hair for the first time when he or she reaches one year. The celebrations and ritual are carried out only for boys, for this purpose a clergyman or an elderly man is invited, who is the first to cut the child's hair so that he has a long life.

Families in Tajikistan, unlike European families, are traditionally very large. Several generations of relatives live under one roof, observing a strict hierarchy among themselves. Relationships are built primarily on unquestioning submission to the owner of the house and respect for elders.

A woman in a Tajik family has a special role. On the one hand, the mother is the mistress of the house and the wife of the head of the family, but on the other hand, she unquestioningly fulfills any will of her husband and his parents. Despite this unacceptable attitude for European women, it still cannot be called discrimination.

After all, such relationships have developed over centuries. And having gone through many tests, sometimes in difficult local conditions, the understanding of the correctness of such relations has only strengthened. The age for girls to marry is considered to be 13-14 years old. And, despite the law according to which girls must wait until they reach adulthood, marriages still take place behind the scenes.

The marriage bond is sealed by the Imam, not the registry office. The life of Tajiks is determined by Islam. Religion is felt in everything: in everyday life, in traditions, in relationships, in art and in raising children. Rituals play a special role, especially weddings. Visits to the registry office are only optional, but the Nikah ceremony, which is performed by the local mullah, is mandatory.

Without this, the marriage will not be considered a marriage, and the children will be illegitimate. The bride wears seven scarves on her head. Mula casts a spell on the water, and the bride must drink it. For forty days after the wedding, the young wife wears national costume.

Everyone is invited to the wedding: relatives, friends, colleagues and even just acquaintances. The wedding takes place in several stages: first at the bride’s house, then at the groom’s house, then a general wedding and a party for friends and colleagues. The most modest weddings are attended by 500 people or more.

Circumcisions, the birth of a child and many other memorable events are also celebrated magnificently. For Tajiks, it is very important that the tables are full and there is not a single empty seat. And it doesn’t matter that there will be food left, it is important that there is plenty of it. The elders are in charge of everything, and the younger ones are just executing.

Traditionally there should be a bride price (bride price). There is a certain list of what newlyweds should take from their parents. Most often, the “dowry” begins to be collected from the birth of the child. In general, young people are completely dependent on their parents.

After all, getting married very early, they really still don’t understand a lot. And even if the young people suddenly don’t like something, they will remain silent. The elders are wiser and know what is right. This is how children are raised.

Polygamy is common in Tajikistan. Officially, of course, polygamy is prohibited, but in practice it is not at all uncommon. Of course, there is no registration, but still the first, and the second, and maybe the third is called the wife.

In rural areas, girls do not complete more than eight grades. After all, according to tradition, there is no need for a woman to be educated at all. Her purpose is to be a wife and mother.

For Tajik girls it is very scary and shameful to be an “overstayer”. Not getting married on time is worse than your worst nightmare. A Tajik woman should always remain silent. She has no right to go outside without the permission of her husband or mother-in-law.

Only women do housework. It is shameful for a man to do such work. According to established tradition, for the first six months a young wife cannot leave her husband’s house, and under no circumstances should she visit her parents.

She is entrusted with a lot of household chores at once. She completely submits in everything to her mother-in-law and all other older relatives, but first of all to her husband.

According to wedding tradition, the bride is supposed to cry. This is what happens at all weddings.

Tajiks themselves are very beautiful. They have beautiful dark eyes of an unusual shape. National clothing: a dress and pants to go with this dress are made of beautiful fabric.

Tajik families are filled with children. There are as many of them as God gives. From an early age, children are very active and independent. They are friends in large groups, and most importantly, they are brought up in traditions from childhood.

The older guys take care of the younger ones, the younger ones obey the older ones and go everywhere together. The big children carry the little ones, the middle ones themselves run after the older ones.

The children themselves are very sociable and active. From a very young age they are helpers to their family. They quickly and willingly carry out any instructions given by adults. They easily cope with livestock and numerous household chores.

Children do not live separately; they fully participate in the life of the family. Tajiks do not force children to sleep, do not force them to eat, and do not hide adult affairs from them. Children live the same way as adults: they obey their elders, work like adults and are responsible for their actions.

Tajiks are very hospitable people. A guest is always a great joy for them. Any host considers it his duty to treat his guest deliciously. Each house has a large room called “Mekhmonkhona”, designed specifically for receiving guests. There is always a special place of honor for the main guest.

Tajiks sit on the floor covered with beautiful carpets and mattresses stuffed with cotton wool or cotton, called kurpacha. According to their rules, you cannot sit with your legs stretched forward or to the side. Lying down is also indecent.

A tablecloth called “dostarkhan” is laid on the floor. Before and after the feast, prayer, thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty are obligatory. Tajiks have their own ritual, different from other Muslims.

Tea plays a big role in feasts. The youngest man pours it. They drink, as is customary, from a bowl, which must be taken only with the right hand, and the left hand held on the right side of the chest. Tajiks can also afford alcohol.

An interesting fact is that the person who pours the first bowl of any drink pours it not for someone else, but for himself. All this is just a custom so that others can be convinced that there is no poison in the drink. Tajiks will definitely prepare pilaf for an invited guest. In normal everyday life, the eldest of the family takes the food first, but when there is a guest in the house, this honor is given to the guest.

The women eat separately at the other end of the house. They are not allowed to enter the premises during the men's feast. Any stranger who wants to communicate with a woman must definitely ask permission from her husband or the owner of the house. Tajik men never walk around the house in night clothes or with their torso exposed.

If the owner is not at home, but a guest has arrived, the wife is obliged to invite him into the house. But a man shouldn't go there. Strange men are not allowed to communicate with a woman in the absence of her husband, father, or other male relative.

Tajiks love to give gifts. They will never come to visit without gifts. In general, Tajik men are very generous. They are breadwinners for their family and it is important for them that there is enough for everyone in the house. But what matters most to them is the opinion of their neighbors, friends and relatives. They strive to maintain excellent relationships and a good opinion of themselves.

For Tajiks, family is the basis of their life. They work for the family, they boast about the family. Everything described above is an image of a traditional Tajik family. In the modern world, many began to build their lives in the image of the West. However, there are still many families who value their traditions.

Self-name - Tojik, the main population of Tajikistan, the second largest people in Afghanistan. The population in Tajikistan is 7 million people, in Afghanistan - 8 million people. They also live in Uzbekistan (1.2 million people) and other countries of Central Asia. There are 200 thousand Tajiks living in the Russian Federation, of which 7,195 people live in the Samara region.

The total number is about 20 million people. They speak Tajik as a language of the Western Iranian group of the Indo-European family. Writing based on Arabic and Russian graphics.

Tajik believers are mostly Sunni Muslims. Pamir Tajiks profess Ismailism.

The beginning of the formation of the Tajik people dates back to the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, when Central Asia and the steppes of Eurasia were inhabited by tribes of the Indo-Iranian community, from which Iranian-speaking tribes subsequently emerged and mixed with local tribes of the Bronze Age. Eastern Iranian languages ​​spread among the main population of Central Asian oases, valleys and steppes. The direct ancestors of the Tajiks were: the Bactrians in the upper Amu Darya basin, the Sogdians in the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya basins, the Parthians in Khorasan, the Margians in the Merv oasis, the Khorezmians in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, the Parkans in the Fergana Valley and the Saka-Massaget tribes of the Pamir-Tien Shan mountains and the Aral Sea. Caspian steppes. All these peoples and tribes were engaged in agriculture in the oases and valleys based primarily on artificial irrigation, and in the mountain and steppe regions - cattle breeding and various handicraft production.

By the time of the Arab conquest (8th century), 3 main ethnic regions had emerged on the territory of Central Asia: Sogdian in the north, Fergana in the northeast and Tocharian in the south, the population of which subsequently retained some of their cultural and everyday characteristics.

With the formation of the Samanid state in the 9th-10th centuries. The process of formation of the ethnic core of the Tajiks was also completed, which was closely connected with the spread of the common Farsi-Dari-Tajik language, which became dominant in the Samanid era. The culture and science of the Iranian peoples (Tajiks and Persians) developed in this language, and their rich literature was created (the first written monuments - the 9th century). The written date of the appearance of the ethnonym “Tajiks” is the 11th century, but in fact it dates back to an earlier era. Since the 10th century, the centuries-long process of assimilation by the Tajiks of the eastern Iranian peoples in language began. Eastern Iranian elements can be traced in the dialects of the modern Tajik language (Darvaz, Karategin, Badakhshan, etc.).

The Tajik people and their culture took shape and developed in close ethnocultural connections with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, especially the Uzbeks.

Since 1991, the Republic of Tajikistan has been proclaimed.

The original occupation of the Tajiks was arable farming combined with cattle breeding. Artificial irrigation was used in lowland, mountainous and highland (Western Pamir) regions. Mainly grains (cereals and legumes), horticultural crops, cotton (on the plains) were grown; on the lands located above - millet, barley, garden and melon crops, and fruits. In agriculture, ketmen and arable tools such as ral were used, and a pair of oxen served as draft force.

Cattle breeding played a supporting role in the agriculture of the lowland regions (cattle, and in small quantities horses, donkeys, sheep and goats). For mountain Tajiks, cattle breeding was a more significant branch of the economy. It was based on vertical nomadism. In the summer, cattle were driven to mountain meadows and some of the residents moved there to graze, but the main population remained in the village. At summer camps in the mountains, unique women's partnerships for draining milk were common: women united in such an artel, one by one, received the entire milk yield of the entire herd for storing butter, cheese, etc. for future use.

Lowland Tajiks have long developed various crafts - the production of cotton, silk, wool and cloth fabrics (woven by men), jewelry, pottery, etc.; Many of the crafts had ancient traditions (wood and ganch carving, decorative embroidery, etc.). Among the mountain Tajiks, the production of woolen fabrics (men), knitting and embroidery (women) gained commercial importance.

Traditional villages are compact, closely built-up, with a labyrinth of crooked streets and dead ends, with blank walls of houses and fences opening into them. The houses are mostly adobe (in mountainous areas and stone buildings), with a flat roof, sometimes with a terrace (ivan). The home was divided into male and female halves: outsiders were not allowed into the female half - the inner part of the house. A special room for guests (mekhmonkhona) is typical: the floor in it is covered with felts, cotton and wool rugs, carpets, on which long narrow quilts for sitting (kurpacha) are laid out around the perimeter of the room, and a tablecloth (dastarkhan) in the center. The walls are decorated with embroidery (suzani) and carpets. Among the lowland Tajiks, wall niches traditionally often serve as cabinets.

Traditional clothing of Tajiks had its own characteristics in each ethnocultural region, but also had common features. For men - a tunic-shaped shirt, wide-legged trousers, a swinging robe, a scarf belt, a skullcap, a turban and leather boots with soft soles, leather galoshes with a pointed toe (they were worn separately, sometimes put on boots), in mountainous areas - shoes a type of clog with three spikes on the sole for easy walking on mountain trails.

Women wear tunic-shaped dresses, in rural areas they are made of smooth fabrics, in the mountainous southern regions they are embroidered, especially in Darval and Kulyab (examples of folk decorative art). Wide trousers had an overlap at the ankle. Headdress - scarves, skullcaps (for Gissar Tajiks). City women and lowland Tajiks wore a swinging robe and local shoes. The mountain women did not have robes.

Modern Tajik clothing combines traditional elements - an outer robe, a skullcap with urban clothing. Tajiks retain more traditional elements of clothing. Girls and young women mostly wear yoke dresses, which are widespread in Central Asia (except Turkmenistan). Bloomers are sewn even lower, for young women they are much higher than the ankle. Traditional jewelry is combined with modern ones: necklaces, pendants, earrings, rings.

The basis of nutrition in mountainous areas was bread (in the form of flatbreads) and dairy products, including ghee, dry cheese (kurut) and curd cheese (paneer), noodles, and various cereals; in the plains - flatbreads. Rice dishes, noodles, manti (large dumplings), vegetable oil (including cottonseed oil), vegetables and fruits. The flatbreads are baked in special clay ovens (tanur). The meat eaten is lamb and beef, often stewed with noodles or less often with potatoes. The traditional holiday treat for lowland Tajiks is pilaf, and for mountain Tajiks it is lamb soup (shurbo). Traditional sweets: halva, crystalline sugar (nabot), nishallo (a creamy mass of sugar, beaten egg whites and soap root), candies (parvarda), etc. They drink preferably green tea, black - usually in the cold season.

Tajik folklore is rich and varied; labor, ritual-calendar, ritual-holiday and mourning folk songs (surud), quatrains (rubai) are popular, but the most interesting are fairy tales - magical and satirical, humorous anecdotes (latifs), for example, about Khoja Nasreddin, are widespread.

Tajik music is based on a diatonic scale, and vocal music is monophonic. There are a variety of musical instruments: strings - dutor, rubab, tanbur, etc.; bowed - gidzhak, violin; wind instruments - nai, kvrnai, surnai; dulcimer - chang; percussion - tablak (clay timpani), doira (tambourine), kairok (stone castanets). Folk dances are colorful (including comic ones and those that reproduce labor processes). Favorite folk shows include performances of tightrope walkers, magicians, and puppet theater. National literature, science, and professional arts, including music and ballet, are successfully developing.

13:02 22.03.2017

Every year, Russian orphanages are filled with children abandoned by their parents. In recent years, children of migrant workers have also been added to this number. Read about how their future fate is shaping up and who is helping in solving this problem.

Just a few years ago it was believed that if a child in a Russian orphanage had a non-Slavic appearance, then his chances of adoption were not very great. However, the situation is changing, people are beginning to be more tolerant of migrants.

“I see less and less requests on the Internet for “a blond girl from a professor and a ballerina,” and more and more people want, or at least do not rule out the possibility, of adopting a child of a different nationality,” says Muscovite Elena Evina.

Almost four years ago, she herself took a girl from an orphanage who had been abandoned by her parents, migrants from Kyrgyzstan.

“I like people with oriental appearance: they are beautiful, bright, and attract attention. That's why my daughter and I found each other. Although I was not specifically looking for an oriental child, in the search criteria I indicated “eye and hair color does not matter,” she says.

© From personal archive

At first, her relatives reacted to her decision with surprise, but gradually accepted Nadine—that’s the girl’s name—as their own. According to Elena, there are no problems due to her daughter’s nationality in everyday life: “I used to be very often asked the question “Why is the girl different from you?”, but it was usually not hostility, but curiosity. And recently they stopped asking - apparently, Nadinka and I have become similar.”

“My circle of acquaintances began to expand and be replenished with other adoptive parents, and half of them also raise children of oriental appearance,” says Elena. “It seems the world is becoming more tolerant.”

"Ethnic" kids

Every year, Russian shelters are filled with children left in the country by their parents - migrants from other countries. At the same time, it is almost impossible to establish their number for certain today. Researchers and experts, officials and social activists operate with a variety of figures - from isolated cases to hundreds every year.

According to some data, in Moscow alone in 2011, more than 300 children were abandoned in maternity hospitals, more than 30% of whom were children of labor migrants. And the Moscow data bank on children left without care annually contains at least 200 orphans whose parents have citizenship of one of the CIS countries. Other sources speak not of hundreds, but of dozens of such children.

However, there are no clear statistics on this matter, and there are several reasons for this. In addition to gaps in interdepartmental cooperation, there is a problem with the status of refuseniks, because women who end up in maternity hospitals without documents do not always report their citizenship.

According to Russian laws, a child whose parents abandoned him or did not present any documents becomes a citizen of the Russian Federation by birth.

In addition, among the “ethnic” children who end up in Russian orphanages, not all are children of foreign citizens - many are abandoned by parents from regions of Russia, and separate statistics are not kept, so there is no need to talk about thousands of children abandoned by migrants. Nevertheless, the presence of a problem is indicated by the participation in its solution of official departments, public organizations, and concerned Russian citizens.

The main thing is that the child stays with his mother

The main difficulties that force migrant women to leave their children in maternity hospitals are the same as those faced by Russian women: lack of work, housing, and inability to feed the child. For foreign women who are not properly registered, this creates a problem with access to medical care - all pregnancy services are paid for them.

Among immigrants from eastern countries, mentality plays an important role - the fear of returning home without a husband, but with children. “In Central Asia, the idea of ​​unwanted children as dirty is quite common,” says Memonsho Memonshoev, director of the Find Me, Mom charity foundation, actor and stuntman. “But we convince women that there are no dirty children.”

The activities of this fund are aimed specifically at supporting mothers with children in difficult living conditions.

“Our main goal is for the child to remain with his natural mother,” he says, “and we help women who find themselves in crisis situations, regardless of their nationality, religion or registration.”

Women from Russia and foreign countries, but mainly from Central Asia - Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, turn to the fund for help. “We are better able to help them, probably because we are better familiar with their mentality,” admits Memonshoev.

The organization provides women with temporary housing, ensures that children are monitored by a pediatrician, trains young mothers to care for a newborn, and engages psychologists who take into account the Central Asian mentality and customs. The fund also helps with searching for relatives and preparing documents for the return of mother and child to their homeland.

“They already know us in Moscow, they call us from hospitals. There are other funds with which we cooperate. Lawyers from maternity hospitals call, they call from the migration service and representative offices of other countries. We cooperate with maternity hospitals, they show our films “Don’t leave me, Mom,” “Find me, Mom,” and many mothers, watching the films, give up their thoughts of parting with their child,” says Memonshoev.

According to him, the fund is also actively supported by diasporas and embassies, in particular the Embassy of Tajikistan, which assists in the return of both mothers with children and refuseniks to their homeland.

Homecoming

Repatriation of children left in Russia is also carried out in other Central Asian states, in particular in Kyrgyzstan. In 2011, the Ministry of Social Development of Kyrgyzstan launched a program for the repatriation of orphans abandoned by migrants in Russia.

The number of such cases is still in the dozens, but work is ongoing. In 2011, two children returned home, and in 2012, a little more than ten. According to employees of the Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow, 12 more children were repatriated last year, and a new visit by representatives of the ministry is planned for the near future - funding for the program for 2017 has already been opened.

At the same time, the embassy only helps with the preparation of the necessary documents - all the rest of the work is taken over by the Ministry of Social Development, which has agreements with orphanages in both Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

The same applies to issues of adoption of children who have not yet received Russian citizenship. If citizens of Kyrgyzstan leave children here, they receive documents and adoption permits only in Kyrgyzstan, from the Ministry of Social Development. “They often turn to us for help, but we do not have such powers, we can only give the necessary telephone numbers,” the embassy noted.

Let's move to distant, hot Tajikistan and see how the family of the most ordinary guest worker, Davladbek, lives, who works as a welder at a construction site in Yekaterinburg for nine months a year and sends money to his homeland to support his family.

If you forget for a moment about the images of Ravshan and Dzhamshut, firmly entrenched in the Russian mass consciousness, and think about the question “Who are they, these Tajiks?”, then most Russians will have approximately the same answer. I'll try to guess. Tajiks are immigrants from Tajikistan who work in Russia as guest workers on construction sites, traders in stalls, posters posting advertisements, car mechanics in garages, janitors and minibus drivers. Tajiks live in decrepit dorms, in basements, in cramped rented apartments for a hundred people, or even worse - in abandoned houses...

All this may be true. Today I wanted to talk about something else.

(It’s worth clarifying here that this happened in October 2014, when the ruble was already falling in price, but not so rapidly.)

1. We were completely running out of water supplies. The Pyanj River rustled and seethed nearby, but its waters were too muddy. And besides, they told us that it was better not to approach the river - after all, the border with Afghanistan.

2. In a small village, we stopped at an inconspicuous and only store in the hope of finding at least some water for sale. But the store sold all the wrong things - carpets, mattresses and kurpachas. They also sold washing powder and toothpaste, but there was no water. Behind the counter stood shyly, lowering her black eyes, a girl of about thirteen who spoke Russian very poorly.

We had a dialogue like this:

Where can you buy drinking water in your village?

Water is possible, a stream - and the girl pointed with her hand somewhere to the northeast.

Quite logical. Water is not sold because there are mountain streams. Why didn’t we guess right away?

Do you have a canteen or cafe where you can eat?

Should I eat? Can! Dad will come and eat!

3. The girl confidently led me through the gate into the yard. She walked and looked around all the time, smiled shyly and seemed to be afraid that I would stop following. We passed some vegetable gardens, a field with potatoes, a large parking lot with a ditch and an old UAZ under a tree. At the end of a large plot, which was larger in size than a standard football field, there was a white one-story house.

4. The girl entered the house and called the father of the family, Davladbek Bayrambekov. Davladbek spoke Russian well, so our conversation began traditionally:

Where are you from, Moscow, what area? I went to Red Square, I remember it was cold.

It is worth noting here that all the adult Tajik men with whom we communicated anywhere have all been to Moscow at least once and all have worked somewhere. Everything! The statistics are one hundred percent. That is, they were our guests, even though we are not famous for hospitality. But they don’t have us.

We met, began to talk about our journey, and that we were looking for water in a store in the village. Davladbek laughed, invited us into the house for tea and explained that we no longer needed to travel that day, because his wife was already preparing lunch, and after lunch the weather would turn bad and it would rain. And that sleeping in tents in the rain is a dubious pleasure.

We, of course, agreed to tea, but politely refused to stay overnight, citing the severe delay in the travel schedule.

5. After our trip, I can responsibly declare that Tajiks are very hospitable people. In Russia they are completely different from at home. In Moscow, these quiet and sometimes downtrodden guys behave as quiet as water, below the grass, but at home everything is different - a guest is always a great joy for them. Any home owner considers it his duty to welcome and treat a guest deliciously.

Each house has a large room called “Mekhmonkhona”, designed specifically for receiving guests. Family holidays and weddings are also celebrated here.

6. A tablecloth called “dostarkhan” is laid on the floor. Tea plays a big role in feasts. The youngest man pours it. They drink, as is customary, from a bowl, which must be taken only with the right hand, and the left hand held on the right side of the chest.

An interesting fact is that the person who pours the first bowl of any drink pours it not for someone else, but for himself. All this is just a custom so that others can be convinced that there is no poison in the drink. In normal everyday life, the eldest of the family takes the food first, but when there is a guest in the house, this honor is given to the guest.

7. Tajiks sit on the floor covered with beautiful carpets and mattresses stuffed with cotton wool or cotton, called kurpacha. According to their rules, you cannot sit with your legs stretched forward or to the side. Lying down is also indecent.

8. Portrait of young Davladbek during his service in the Soviet army.

9. The main unit that forms a person is the family. Tajik families are large, with an average of five to six or more people. Children are taught unquestioning obedience and respect for elders and parents.

In rural areas, girls do not complete more than eight grades. After all, according to tradition, there is no need for a woman to be educated at all. Her purpose is to be a wife and mother. For Tajik girls it is very scary and shameful to be an “overstayer”. Not getting married on time is worse than your worst nightmare.

Only women do housework. It is shameful for a man to do such work. According to established tradition, for the first six months a young wife cannot leave her husband’s house and cannot visit her parents.

Over tea we started talking. Davladbek said that Tajiks love Russians, and Russians treat them well. Then we asked about work. It turns out that in the mountain villages of Tajikistan there is no work for money at all. Well, except for doctors and teachers, although their salaries are ridiculous. Every doctor and teacher has his own garden and keeps livestock to feed his family - there is no other way. In order to somehow survive, all adult men go to work on the “mainland.”

So we smoothly moved on to the topic of the mechanism for delivering guest workers to Russia. After all, the entire male population of a sunny country cannot just go and come to work with us when they don’t even have money for a ticket...

Davladbek told us about the “companies”. Representatives of large “companies” (which we did not understand exactly) regularly come to all villages, even the most distant ones, and recruit representatives of various professions to work in Russia. Each candidate signs a contract. Then these same “companies” send Tajiks to Russia for their money and get them jobs. But at the same time, for the first month, each guest worker does not receive any money - he gives his entire salary to that same “company” for his transportation to Russia.

Tajiks spend their last month's salary on a ticket home to their family. Because of this, it turns out that it makes no sense to go for less than a year.

Davladbek is a professional welder. He officially works at a construction site in Yekaterinburg, has all the necessary documents, registration, permits and certificates. In 2014, his salary was 25,000 rubles, of which about 19,000 went for housing, food and travel. Davladbek sent about $200 monthly to his family in Tajikistan, and this was enough for his family to buy everything they needed that they couldn’t produce on their own in the village.

10. Having enjoyed tea and treats, we were about to move on, but Davladbek suggested we go to the water mill, which he built himself. We became interested, and we went somewhere up a mountain stream.

The metal structure in the photo is part of a ditch that encircles the hills and runs through the villages downstream of the Pyanj. A fragment of a huge irrigation system, built during the Soviet Union and operating to this day. Excess water from the ditch system is discharged into mountain streams using manual metal gates.

11. And here is the mill. Even if it is not as beautiful as we imagined, it is a real museum of technology. The design of the mill is the same as it was a thousand years ago!

12. Water from a mountain stream flows into the mill through a wooden channel.

13. Water transfers hydraulic energy to the water wheel and spins it. In this way, a large round stone is untwisted, into the center of which grain is fed through a mechanical separator. The grain falls under the stone and is ground, and the centrifugal force pushes the finished product - flour - to the consumer.

14. Residents from neighboring villages come to Davladbek’s mill. They bring their grain and also make flour from which they then bake bread. Davladbek does not take money for this. Residents themselves, as they see fit, leave a small amount of flour in gratitude. The door to the mill is always open.

15. Here it is, an ingenious hydraulic structure of the 21st century!

Davladbek turned out to be right. Heavy, gray clouds hung from the gorge, and soon we were driven away by the growing rain. The fog descended almost to the village itself, it became dank and chilly. The thought of spending the night in a tent triggered a chain reaction of pimply goosebumps throughout my body.

Don't wait, go through the house. “Wife, dinner is ready,” Davladbek said, “Sleep at home tonight.” Get some sleep. Tomorrow morning with sunshine, you'll go well.

16. Davladbek was right once again. We stayed overnight. I would like to say a huge thank you to Davladbek and his entire family for sheltering us! In the morning it froze thoroughly, and until the sun rose, it was completely chilly. I was able to feel this well by running in a T-shirt to the toilet, which was located in the far corner of a huge area.

18. We had breakfast. Davladbek's children said goodbye to us and ran away to school. The school was in a neighboring village.

20. Upstream the river, fifteen kilometers from Ishkoshim, there were the ruins of an old fortress from the 3rd century. Until recently, there was a border unit in the ruins of the old fortress.

21. Davladbek showed us the way to the fortress and gave us a short excursion there. Panorama of Afghanistan.

24. On the left, behind a narrow river gorge, Afghan houses and fields are visible.

25. Outwardly, the life of the Afghans is no different from the Tajik side. Except there are no paved roads. Previously, these lands belonged to one people.

28. You should not assume that all Tajiks live like the heroes of our report. We lived in a Pamiri house, a hundred meters from the border, far from large cities. In the modern world, residents of Tajikistan began to build their lives in the image of the West. However, there are still many families who value their traditions.

29. I recently called Davladbek and wished him a Happy New Year. He asked how his health and family were, when he was going to visit us again in Russia in Yekaterinburg. I thought of visiting him there, bringing photographs from the Pamirs, seeing how he lives here in Russia, and comparing. Davladbek said that now a visa to Russia has become even more expensive, and work has become cheaper, and so far he cannot say when he will come again. But he promised that he would definitely return)

30. Tajiks do not come to us because of a good life. It seems to me that no Pamiri would ever trade his mountains for dusty Moscow. When they go to work, they don’t see their relatives or their children for months and sometimes years.

Now I often pay attention to Tajiks in Moscow. I immediately remember Davladbek, his home, his family, his hospitality and his mill. I talk to my janitors and vendors in the tent. At first they look away in disbelief, because they are used to the fact that only the police pay attention to them, but then they are very happy when they find out that I visited their homeland, that I really liked it there. And then it’s my turn to ask:

Where are you from, what area?

31. Thank you for your attention!