Leigh in Azerbaijan

David and Karen from school had their wedding last night in the Karavansari.  A caravan saray (Turkish spelling) is a camel caravan rest point. The drivers sleep indoors around a courtyard where the camels are rested over night.  In Seki a caravan saray has been romantically converted to a hotel but in the Old City one has been converted to a classy outdoor restaurant.  Entertainment included what could be termed a circus of acts. There were a quartet with local folk instruments, strong man, a couple of soloists singing to sequenced backings, and of course a belly-dancer who had a comedy act presumably for western audiences. Seems to me that belly-dancing is more ingrained in culture here than Islam.

Invitations were for 6.30. Karen and David arrived in their splendor at 7pm and then followed a brief ceremony led by Pastor David Fortune from the Baku International Fellowship. Due to local regulations being that expats can’t get married in Azerbaijan the couple were married three weeks ago in Scotland with a small number of family.  This public sharing of vows was the big community celebration.

The strong man did the things that used to occur at the local show back in Broken Hill when I was growing up - walking and lying on sharp knives, lying on a bed of nails and fire-eating.

Vodka is very cheap in this part of the world and the custom seems to be to skull the shots preceded by sniffing bread or followed by eating gherkins or something equally sharp in taste.   It was dangerous to empty your glass as it would be filled again ready for the next communal throwing back of vodka.

With waiting staff and entertainment I think we employed half of Baku last night.

After the meal there was dancing to English, Azeri, Russian and Spanish songs from the computer. The music must have been heard throughout much of the Old City.