Kyrgyzstan is a small landlocked country bordering China where traditions run deep. Vice News presents one of this country’s oldest and most disturbing traditions in “Bride Kidnapping In Kyrgyzstan.” Thomas Morton introduces this ancient custom, which has had a resurgence since the fall of Communism.
Although the practice is technically illegal, almost half the rural marriages in Kyrgyzstan are a result of bride kidnapping. For their film, Vice traveled to the Kyrgyz countryside to “follow/aid and abet a young groom named Kubanti as he surprised his teenage girlfriend Nazgul with the gift of marriage/kidnapping.”
Part 2 of the film demonstrates the brutality and lasting damage caused by this revolting tradition; kidnap marriages result in higher rates of divorce, spousal abuse, and suicide. A woman mourning her daughter’s suicide, a result of her kidnapping, shows this phenomenon explicitly. The video ends with Kubanti and his groomsmen successfully kidnapping his bride-to-be, while she’s kicking and screaming for her mother.
We think it’s disturbing that such a barbaric tradition is still being practiced. Watch the video on Vice’s website, and tell us what you think:
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yehDFF4z9Jo 425×344]Photo: Verzio
