What are the customs of the Tajiks?

Tajiks are hospitable and polite. Their etiquette is simple and cordial. When men meet, they shake hands or kiss the back of each other's hands. Women meet, elders kiss the younger generation of the eyes or forehead, the younger generation kiss the elders of the palm of the hand, the younger generation kiss each other on the cheeks and lips. When men and women of the same generation meet, the woman kisses the palm of the man's hand or shakes hands. Children and parents meet, to kiss the parents palm, to show respect. The warmest courtesy in the family is the hug. Because of their religion, the Tajiks have a number of dietary taboos. It is forbidden to eat animals that have died without slaughter, the meat of pigs, horses, donkeys, bears, wolves, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits and dry otters, as well as the blood of all animals. It is forbidden to watch sheep lambing. It is forbidden to take off one's hat when conversing.

They especially cherish grain and salt, and those who tread on salt and food with their feet are considered sinners. When they see salt and foodstuffs falling on the ground, they pick them up and put them on a high place where they cannot be easily stepped on.

They were especially kind to their livestock, forbidding them to kick or beat sheep, oxen, and other livestock, not to ride through flocks or near sheepfolds, and forbidding sheep to be watched at lambing time. They do not sell their animals on Wednesdays and Sundays, and they do not pay other people's debts on these days, so they do not go to collect their debts on these two days, and other people do not come to buy their animals or pay their debts.

If you ride a horse to a Tajik home as a guest, you can't dismount at the door, and it's even more taboo to dismount at the door with a fast horse, which means that you're in mourning or have some other unlucky news. You should walk slowly around to the back of the felt house and dismount

.