Introduction to Tajik Customs and Culture

1. The diet of Tajik herders is mainly milk, meat and pasta, while that of farmers is mainly pasta. Tajiks have a fine tradition of respecting women. If they go to a house together, the host will regard the oldest woman among the visitors as the most distinguished guest, let her come in first, and others will enter in the order of ladies first, men first and children later.

2. The people are simple and the social morality is noble. Anyone who has been to Tashkurgan will be amazed at the smooth roads here, the fact that every household stays open at night, ethnic harmony and social stability. In today's society, it is really amazing!

3. There are some taboos in Tajik diet due to religious relations. Fasting animals that die before slaughter, fasting the meat of pigs, horses, donkeys, bears, wolves, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits, marmots and the blood of all animals. Avoid watching sheep produce lambs. Don't take off your hat when you talk.

They cherish food and salt, and those who step on salt and food with their feet are considered sinners. When you see salt and food falling on the ground, pick it up and put it on a high place where it is not easy to be trampled.

They cherish livestock very much. It is forbidden to kick, beat sheep, cattle and other livestock with their feet. They are not allowed to ride through the sheep or approach the sheepfold, nor are they allowed to watch them when they give birth. They don't sell livestock on Wednesday and Sunday, and they don't pay others' debts these two days, so they don't collect debts these two days, and others don't buy livestock or pay their debts.

6. If you ride a horse to visit a Tajik family, you can't get off at the door, let alone get off at the door, which means mourning or other unlucky news. You should walk slowly around the back of the yurt and get off the horse.