Afghans scrutinize swanky weddings
June 20, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME brides in Afghanistan change their outfits up to 10 times. Throw in the six-hour trips to the beauty parlors and the meals for 1,000 guests - and one wedding alone could bankrupt many Afghans.
Now the Justice Ministry is proposing limits on the lavish events to cut down on the pressure poor Afghans face to match the elite's elaborate weddings. The government is specifically targeting party halls - and threatening to fine owners who flout the austerity rules.
"It is breaking the back of the groom and of the family," Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb said of the lavish nuptials. "It creates an immoral corruption."
Under the proposed wedding law, which still needs to be passed by parliament, locations would be barred from allowing more than 300 attendees for an engagement party and more than 500 people at a wedding, Ghaleb said.
Those halls caught breaking the law would be subject to serious fines or other possible penalties. However, it remains unclear what enforcement powers authorities would have, especially in a country where bribery remains common.
Other rules are aimed at protecting grooms' families from spending too much money on gifts for brides and their relatives. Brides would get only two dresses - one for an engagement party and one for the wedding. The law would restrict other gifts too, Ghaleb said without elaborating.
"We don't want to put pressure on the people," the minister said. "We want to put pressure on the wedding halls."
Afghan weddings traditionally took place in the home, with families and friends attending several events marking the groom and bride's union. Under Taliban rule, lavish ceremonies were forbidden.
But over the last decade, rich Afghans have begun renting out the country's top halls and hotels to host thousands of people for weddings and engagement parties, complete with gifts and tables heaped with food.
The frosted-glass wedding halls in Kabul appear like a neon dream of what Afghanistan could be amid the ruined roads and bullet-marred apartment buildings. And some believe the weddings that cost of tens of thousands of dollars hint at the graft strangling government and private life in Afghanistan.
"It is happiness for them, but for others, it is just fire," Ghaleb said.
Families around the world take out loans and run up credit card debt to throw lavish weddings. But in Afghanistan, the average government employee earns just US$50 to US$100 a month, according to a recent US Senate committee report.
But even a modest government paycheck won't even secure a deposit on a US$1,500 wedding dress in Kabul or expensive gold jewelry.
Most borrow money from family members and friends to hold their weddings, as formal loans remain difficult to obtain.
(AP)
Now the Justice Ministry is proposing limits on the lavish events to cut down on the pressure poor Afghans face to match the elite's elaborate weddings. The government is specifically targeting party halls - and threatening to fine owners who flout the austerity rules.
"It is breaking the back of the groom and of the family," Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb said of the lavish nuptials. "It creates an immoral corruption."
Under the proposed wedding law, which still needs to be passed by parliament, locations would be barred from allowing more than 300 attendees for an engagement party and more than 500 people at a wedding, Ghaleb said.
Those halls caught breaking the law would be subject to serious fines or other possible penalties. However, it remains unclear what enforcement powers authorities would have, especially in a country where bribery remains common.
Other rules are aimed at protecting grooms' families from spending too much money on gifts for brides and their relatives. Brides would get only two dresses - one for an engagement party and one for the wedding. The law would restrict other gifts too, Ghaleb said without elaborating.
"We don't want to put pressure on the people," the minister said. "We want to put pressure on the wedding halls."
Afghan weddings traditionally took place in the home, with families and friends attending several events marking the groom and bride's union. Under Taliban rule, lavish ceremonies were forbidden.
But over the last decade, rich Afghans have begun renting out the country's top halls and hotels to host thousands of people for weddings and engagement parties, complete with gifts and tables heaped with food.
The frosted-glass wedding halls in Kabul appear like a neon dream of what Afghanistan could be amid the ruined roads and bullet-marred apartment buildings. And some believe the weddings that cost of tens of thousands of dollars hint at the graft strangling government and private life in Afghanistan.
"It is happiness for them, but for others, it is just fire," Ghaleb said.
Families around the world take out loans and run up credit card debt to throw lavish weddings. But in Afghanistan, the average government employee earns just US$50 to US$100 a month, according to a recent US Senate committee report.
But even a modest government paycheck won't even secure a deposit on a US$1,500 wedding dress in Kabul or expensive gold jewelry.
Most borrow money from family members and friends to hold their weddings, as formal loans remain difficult to obtain.
(AP)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
