KABUL (AFP) – Fifty couples married yesterday in a joint ceremony in the Afghan capital – a growing practice to reduce the astronomical cost of traditional weddings in the impoverished country.
The couples were joined in matrimony in one of the dozens of glitzy wedding halls that punctuate Kabul, but the ceremony itself was somewhat austere.
Since the return of the Taliban in August 2021 weddings have become low-key affairs, with dancing and music effectively banned after authorities deemed such activities un-Islamic.
In front of the City Star wedding hall near the airport, around a hundred turbaned men dressed in traditional shalwar kameez chatted in groups – not a single woman present.
They decorated cars with green ribbons and red plastic roses forming hearts to carry the newlyweds away.
Roohullah Rezayi, 18, due to leave with his wife in a few hours, told AFP he could not afford a solo wedding. “A traditional wedding would have cost us at least AFN200,000 to AFN250,000 (USD2,800 to USD3,600), but this time it will be between AFN10,000 and AFN15,000,” he said.
The young man, a member of the Hazara Shiite minority and from Ghor province, earns barely AFN350 per day doing odd jobs.
“We invited 35 people from our two families, otherwise it would have been 300 to 400,” said the groom, a plastic flower in the breast pocket of his waistcoat worn over a white tunic.
Donations to each couple from the Selab Foundation, who organised the event, are equivalent to USD1,600 – a huge amount in one of the poorest countries in the world.
They will also leave with a cake, a kit containing toothpaste, shampoo and moisturiser, and a carpet, blanket and a few household appliances to start married life.
Hundreds of male guests wrapped in traditional patu shawls attended the ceremony in a large, chilly hall, festooned with garlands.
The brides-to-be were kept out of sight in a separate wing, however, and journalists were prohibited from approaching them.
It was only after lunch that the women appeared, fully veiled.
Larger, more pricey weddings in Afghanistan can bring together more than 1,000 guests and cost over USD20,000.
