November, 2016 the Traditional Tajik ethnic wedding ceremony held in XiaoTong Village, Tashkurgan. The village where this wedding was held located at the upper reaches of the Yarkand River. In China, the Tajik people are the only Chinese ethnic minority group of European descent.
Tajik wedding is different from that of other nationalities in the world. In 2006, it was included by the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of China. Tajiks never marry people from other ethnic groups. They take family relatives as the preferred marriage partners. Before the wedding, every new couple will choose a man to be the father of their marriage who plays the role of Godfather who will coordinate all the possible contradictions that might occur between this couple after marriage. This ensures the stability of family among the Tajiks. The traditional wedding of the Tajiks takes three days. The festive wedding is a huge ceremony, and it also looks like a grand collective ball.
The eagle is the totem of the Tajiks. They call themselves the Eagle Ethnic Group. Some Tajiks have never walked out of there village in their lifetime. Thus, their dreams that are blocked by the mountains can only be realized by the wings of imagination and their minds and hearts are as free as eagles. The most distinctive musical instrument of Tajiks is the Eagle flute, which is made from of the bone of eagles’ wings.