Tajikistan is one of those strange post soviet states in the middle of the Asian Muslim area defined as the stans - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan etc ....
Eighty years of communism almost, but not quite, eradicated Islam and so the drift back into the Muslim world has been sporadic, with many of the citizens still hankering for some of the Soviet years, while others are looking towards a Sharia future.
The rulers therefore, can perhaps be excused for exhibiting behaviours that reflect both the old style Soviet methods, whilst also having one eye on the strict Islamic trends buffeting the region, and that they fear will threaten their stay in power.
For instance in Tajikistan men are 'unofficially' forbidden from wearing beards (even Imams - beards are deemed "alien and inconsistent with Tajikistan culture" - Afghanistan is the next door neighbour), and this meant that in 2017, two stage actors had to be granted temporary permits, enabling them to sport facial hair in public for their roles in a play called "The Death of the Usurer". The police permit granted them permission to go out in public wearing facial hair, unlike the nearly 13,000 men forcibly shaved by police in one Tajikistan region alone.
So perhaps this best explains article 8 of Tajikistan's regulations on traditions, celebrations and customs. This is a law, introduced in 2007, that tries to define what it is to be a Tajikistani, via the observation of national traditions. It was expanded (presumably being deemed either successful or needing bolstering), in 2017, to include rules for conducting weddings, funerals and celebrations of children being born.
Article 8 specifically deals with the banning of birthday celebrations outside the family home. This was added in the best interest of the Tajik citizenry, so that they can spend their money on family needs, rather than on unnecessarily lavish celebrations. Specifically it laid down strict limits on the number of guests, food dishes, and duration of any festivities. The law also bans the slaughtering of livestock for funeral ceremonies .... the aim was to cap excessive spending on these family occasions and to ease the excessive debts many incur to pay for such events, in a land where families are large and showing hospitality is considered important.
It also has the additional impact of stopping the newly rich being ostentatious in an essentially very poor country, by preventing them from exhibiting their wealth too publicly .... that's how revolutions happen!
So whilst the corrupt politicians, civil servants and others who have made money since the end of the communist era, have had the sense to keep their banquets, feasts and parties out of the public eye line, the less politically astute have fallen foul of the amended law.
Indeed the first to do so was a Tajikistan man who shared pictures on Facebook in 2015 of his visit to a cafe with a birthday cake. Recently this law has garnered much publicity, when Firusa Khafizova, Tajikistan's most popular female singer was fined 5,000 Somoni (US $530), by a court in the capital Dushanbe ....
.... after she posted videos of her birthday party on her Instagram account, featuring her and her guests performing on stage.
Mind you she was also not wearing the prescribed women's clothing suggested in the "Book of Recommendations" which was published by the Tajikistan Ministry of Culture in 2018. The tome has chapters advising women on what to wear at work, on national and state holidays, for weddings, and even at weekends.
This also advises against women wearing black dresses, head scarves and the hijab, as part of the country's campaign against Islamic dress and which are 'non traditional' as the Tajikistan regime tries to assert a more secular but 'traditional' rather than Islamic culture. The ban on black clothes was started when in 2015 the mayor of Tajikistan's capital city Dushanbe ordered shops to stop selling black clothing for women - he wanted colourful dresses and head scarves (no Hijabs).
More than 90% of the Tajikistan population is Muslim, and so frankly I have some sympathy with its governments efforts, no matter how strange or seemingly draconian they are to our eyes, to try and prevent Tajikistan going the way of Syria, and Iraq, or even Iran and Turkey .... looking at Syria and Iraq in particular, the ordinary men and women of Tajikistan should perhaps think themselves not so hard done by.
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| The Cockpit Of 'Stans' .... |
Eighty years of communism almost, but not quite, eradicated Islam and so the drift back into the Muslim world has been sporadic, with many of the citizens still hankering for some of the Soviet years, while others are looking towards a Sharia future.
The rulers therefore, can perhaps be excused for exhibiting behaviours that reflect both the old style Soviet methods, whilst also having one eye on the strict Islamic trends buffeting the region, and that they fear will threaten their stay in power.
 |
| Beard Permitted ..... |
For instance in Tajikistan men are 'unofficially' forbidden from wearing beards (even Imams - beards are deemed "alien and inconsistent with Tajikistan culture" - Afghanistan is the next door neighbour), and this meant that in 2017, two stage actors had to be granted temporary permits, enabling them to sport facial hair in public for their roles in a play called "The Death of the Usurer". The police permit granted them permission to go out in public wearing facial hair, unlike the nearly 13,000 men forcibly shaved by police in one Tajikistan region alone.
So perhaps this best explains article 8 of Tajikistan's regulations on traditions, celebrations and customs. This is a law, introduced in 2007, that tries to define what it is to be a Tajikistani, via the observation of national traditions. It was expanded (presumably being deemed either successful or needing bolstering), in 2017, to include rules for conducting weddings, funerals and celebrations of children being born.
Article 8 specifically deals with the banning of birthday celebrations outside the family home. This was added in the best interest of the Tajik citizenry, so that they can spend their money on family needs, rather than on unnecessarily lavish celebrations. Specifically it laid down strict limits on the number of guests, food dishes, and duration of any festivities. The law also bans the slaughtering of livestock for funeral ceremonies .... the aim was to cap excessive spending on these family occasions and to ease the excessive debts many incur to pay for such events, in a land where families are large and showing hospitality is considered important.
It also has the additional impact of stopping the newly rich being ostentatious in an essentially very poor country, by preventing them from exhibiting their wealth too publicly .... that's how revolutions happen!
So whilst the corrupt politicians, civil servants and others who have made money since the end of the communist era, have had the sense to keep their banquets, feasts and parties out of the public eye line, the less politically astute have fallen foul of the amended law.
 |
| Firusa Khafizova - Tajik Superstar And Party Girl |
Indeed the first to do so was a Tajikistan man who shared pictures on Facebook in 2015 of his visit to a cafe with a birthday cake. Recently this law has garnered much publicity, when Firusa Khafizova, Tajikistan's most popular female singer was fined 5,000 Somoni (US $530), by a court in the capital Dushanbe ....
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| Party Girl - Tajik Style |
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| The 'Book of Recommendations' - Tajik Ministry of Culture. |
Mind you she was also not wearing the prescribed women's clothing suggested in the "Book of Recommendations" which was published by the Tajikistan Ministry of Culture in 2018. The tome has chapters advising women on what to wear at work, on national and state holidays, for weddings, and even at weekends.
This also advises against women wearing black dresses, head scarves and the hijab, as part of the country's campaign against Islamic dress and which are 'non traditional' as the Tajikistan regime tries to assert a more secular but 'traditional' rather than Islamic culture. The ban on black clothes was started when in 2015 the mayor of Tajikistan's capital city Dushanbe ordered shops to stop selling black clothing for women - he wanted colourful dresses and head scarves (no Hijabs).
More than 90% of the Tajikistan population is Muslim, and so frankly I have some sympathy with its governments efforts, no matter how strange or seemingly draconian they are to our eyes, to try and prevent Tajikistan going the way of Syria, and Iraq, or even Iran and Turkey .... looking at Syria and Iraq in particular, the ordinary men and women of Tajikistan should perhaps think themselves not so hard done by.
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