After kids' detention, people in Chechnya dispute on wedding traditions

Law enforcers have talked with the children who had blocked wedding corteges in Grozny claiming money. Residents of Grozny have different views on that ancient custom.

A raid against teenagers was held on April 14; they were taken to a police station and released after an explanatory talk in the presence of their parents.

"The kids were engaged in this 'business' at the busiest street intersection, which created an emergency situation on the road and posed a serious danger for themselves," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

The "catching" of wedding corteges in Chechnya is an old-established and widespread tradition. Seeing a wedding cortege, children block the way with branches, boards, car tires and other objects, claiming a "ransom".

Khasan Aliev, an ethnographer, has noted that in recent years this custom has changed for the worse. If earlier, an old man could stop the cortege by putting a staff on the road, now children, who are blocking the way with tree branches, are increasingly annoying the participants of the ceremony with their importunity.

For some residents, attempts to overcome the obstacles set up on the way of a wedding cortege resulted in car damage.

However, some believe that it will not be possible to get rid of ancient customs and traditions even under a strong desire.