 An afternoon at the chaykhona (teahouse) by mayafly | Learn the local customs of Uzbekistan. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Uzbekistan locals. Map |
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 Chaikhanas - Bukhara and Khiva by TheWanderingCamel
If the chaikhana has a dais and table arrangement, ettiquette dictates that you take your shoes (though not your socks) off before you step onto the carpeted platform to sit crosslegged.
When the tea arrives, with small china cups, the custom is to pour some into a cup and then empty it back in the pot and to do this three times -'loi, moi, choi" - mud, oil and, finally, tea. The pourer always takes the first cup - to show it's not poisoned. Not such an old necessity in this land where murder and intrigue was a reality in the not so distant past! Leave a Comment
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 Fresh-baked "non" by TheWanderingCamel
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 Mulberry trees by TheWanderingCamel
A normal stock (taken from a central supplier) weighs only about 20 grams, but so prodigious is their growth, this little bundle has grown to enormous proportions by the time they are ready to form their cocoons by spinning out the mile or so of the prized filament. By the time this happens their guardians are working night and day to keep up with the demand for leaves - up to 300kilos a day need to be cut. No wonder the trees are reduced to little more than a bare trunk!
Mulberries are capable of their own rapid growth though and it isn't long before new branches sprout green leaves and by the time spring comes around again they have their full crown of foliage, ready for the whole cycle to begin again.
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 Samarkand chaikhana by TheWanderingCamel
Unlike the Middle East, where tea is served in glasses, here it is always served in small china bowls ("pyola") from a china teapot ("choynik"). The favoured pattern on these is a stylized cotton flower -Uzbekistan's "white gold" - rendered in whilte and gold on a blue background.
Traditionally, chaikhanas are men's territory but women tourists will have no problems here.
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 Purdah by TheWanderingCamel
Public veil-burnings were staged by the Soviets as late as the 1960s and, although at the time this was fiercely resisted by menfolk with traditional attitudes, there is no sign of the veil returning across most of the country.
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 Silkworm cocoons and filament by TheWanderingCamel
After the cocoons have been steamed to kill the nascent butterfly before it can hatch and eat its way through the precious filaments, the cocoons are carefully unwound prior to spinning. Each cocoon gives about 1 kilometre of filament, several of which are spun together to form a thread strong enough to be woven into cloth.
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 Whitebeards by TheWanderingCamel
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 Kuljak and ishton by TheWanderingCamel
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 Wedding finery by TheWanderingCamel
The girl here was buying her robe in the market in Tashkent, the "groom" in this instance a tourist inveigled into dressing up for a photo.
The gold embroidery on these robes is machine-made, still expensive but nothing like as cripplingly so as the fabulous work that is produced by the master-bullion embroiderers of Bukhara. Gold and silver embroidery is men's work - it's believed that women's hands cause the precious metallic thread to tarnish!
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 Museum piece by TheWanderingCamel
The term "suzane" is often used to cover the whole range of embroidery found throughout the region although, to be correct, a suzane is a large wallhanging of a particular construction - a small wall hanging of the same type is known as a "nimsuzane" and there are many, many other names and types of wall hangings, bedsheets, prayermats and other domestic textiles.
All this is of interest really only to collectors and students of this craft - for the average tourist, it is enough to know that these are some of Uzbekistan's greatest treasures. Whether they are the magnificent specimens in the museums, part of a young bride's dowry or bought by a tourist in a Bukhara market, they are part of a long tradition that, fortunately, shows no sign of abating. Leave a Comment
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