In this video Vladimir talks about the Kalmyk wedding, including a custom of choosing and abducting the bride, the engagement and the wedding. This is his story:In the olden days, when a Kalmyk man saw a potential bride, he would go to her yurt and observe how she behaved there. Since nomadic families lived far apart, people travelled a long distance on horseback to propose an engagement. A gift consisted of two bottles of vodka and a sheep. In some cases, the bride was kidnapped by the groom with her consent. If the groom was not caught red-handed, he was not accused of the kidnap. His father and uncles visited the bride’s parents to inform them that their daughter was with them, proposing that a wedding should be arranged. In this situation, the bride’s parents had no option but to agree. At the engagement ceremony, both sides got to know each other better and uttered well wishes. The groom’s delegation could be headed only by a male relative on his paternal side. On the wedding day, the groom’s side brought with them two sheep. One was the carcass of a sheep, which was cooked in the bride’s house. The other was a live sheep for a fire ritual (gal tyakh). Today, by contrast, people just leave the live sheep in the bride’s house. However, according to tradition, the sheep has to be slaughtered and offered to a fire in the interval between when the bride leaves her natal house and arrives at her husband’s house. There is a belief that on her wedding day the bride dies in the eyes of her natal family and is reborn in her new family. The ritual of making offerings to a fire is performed for the well-being of the bride in her new life. After entering her husband’s house, the new wife is made to bow to her husband’s clan protectors by his male relative. She utters the following: ‘I worship my land, my water and my ancestors’ (Gazr usndan, eezh-avdan morgzhyanyav). While she is bowing and uttering these words, people toss pieces of sheep fat at her. Then some fat is thrown into a fire as an offering to the clan’s protectors (kyungshu gargkh). The next morning after the wedding, the bride makes tea for all the relatives that have gathered. During the tea the bride is also taught how to address each of her new relatives. According to the custom, the bride is forbidden to address her in-laws and her husband by their given names. For example, if her male relative’s name is Erdni-Garya, the bride can call him Kedmn-Erya or something. It is also forbidden for the bride to go barefoot or not to cover her head in the presence of her husband’s relatives.