The wedding in native Kazakh language is Uilenu toyi, the marriage is Ui bolu. The religious part of the Kazakh wedding ceremony is called Neke Qïyu ( kz, Неке қию, from Arabic

Nikah In Islam, nikah is a contract between two people. Both the groom and the bride are to consent to the marriage of their own free wills. A formal, binding contract – verbal or on paper – is considered integral to a religiously valid Islam ...

). The wedding process may take many weeks and even months to complete. This is because a Kazakh marriage, like marriages in most Muslim societies, involves a contract between families which requires negotiation. The ''Neke Qïyu'' is a small portion of the whole, and usually takes about a half an hour to complete. The ''Neke Qïyu'' usually takes place on the evening of the day the bride is revealed to her groom's family. This festive ceremony is called ''betashar'' ( kz, Беташар) or "revealing of the face." After she shows respect to her groom's family, the veil is lifted and the bride receives a kiss from her

mother-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person is a child-in-la ...

. The mother-in-law then puts a white scarf on her head to symbolize her marital status and then welcomes her into the groom's family. After several hours a feasting, a mullah arrives. A mullah is a teacher of Islam who knows how to recite the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. He performs the ''Neke Qïyu''. Even though the ''betashar'' is performed outside in the garden in the presence of many relatives and friends, the ''Neke Qïyu'' is performed inside with close relatives only. The mullah and the couple sit facing one another. He briefly recites some verses from the Quran and asks the couple to confess the faith of Islam. When this ceremony is done, the couple must go and register their marriage at the state registry office, a practice introduced in the Soviet period. The brief ceremony occurs at the

civil registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differ ...

office, which is called ''AKHAZH'' ( kz, Азаматтық Халық Актілерін Жазу (АХАЖ), russian: ЗАГС). The wedding also features a procession of cars decorated in ribbons, which stops to take pictures along the way.

See also