Afghan customs

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Pashto: م ا لThe capital is Kabul. Pashto and Persian are the official languages, while other languages include Uzbek, Baluchi, Turkman, etc. The currency is Afghani, or Ani for short.

Due to Afghanistan's unique geographical location, it has become the only way for exchanges between the East and the West. Therefore, several famous great blending of Eastern and Western civilizations in world history have mostly been carried out with Afghanistan as the center. The most famous one of them is the Eastern Expedition of Alexander the Great of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedonia in 329 AD.

Afghanistan is also the first country in the world to have Buddha statues, because this country is the earliest intersection of Buddhist culture and ancient Greek culture. Influenced by ancient Greek culture, local people began to try to create statues for the gods they believe in. Generally speaking, Afghan culture is diverse, with both ancient Greek style and Buddhist language; both grassland culture distributed in the Eurasian steppe during the Bronze Age, and the shadow of Saracen culture can also be seen (Saracen is the name that medieval Europeans called Arabs or Muslims in Spain and other places).

Islam is widely believed in Afghanistan, with Muslims accounting for about 99%, of which 80% are Sunnis and 19% are Shiites. Afghans, like people in other Islamic countries, believe that white is a pan-Arabic color, symbolizing freedom and peace, green symbolizes nature, and white and black symbolizes Islam. The center of the Afghan flag reads: "There is no Lord but Allah, and Mohammed is Allah's Messenger." They like red and green, but avoid pig and dog patterns. In Afghanistan, the negative numbers are 13 and 39.

In terms of living customs and eating habits, Afghans are greatly influenced by Islam. They are very devout about Islam and strictly abide by the five canons, also known as the "five virtues"). Every day, one has to face Mecca for worship at five hours in the morning, dusk, and night. Even the police officers on duty and children who are playing must kneel and kowtow.

On all solemn occasions, express your faith and recite the clear truth: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is Allah's messenger." On Fridays every week, they usually hold a main prayer. "Zhuma" means "gathering" in Arabic, so Friday is also called Juli Day.

Afghans strictly abide by Islamic rules and attach great importance to etiquette and politeness. There are generally three forms: when meeting strangers, they usually shake hands; when meeting people familiar with each other, they usually press their chest with their right hand, nod and say "Anji Ghaligong"(meaning "May God bless you") to show respect for each other, and then hug them twice; when meeting particularly close friends, they usually kiss or touch their forehead twice.

Afghans often use various costumes to identify themselves. Rural women often wear veils when they go out. Among the upper-class women in the city, fewer and fewer people wear veils. The average man engaged in ordinary work often wears a large headscarf wrapped with coarse cloth, a thick beard, wears large trousers with vertical stripes, and wears large shoes with thick cowhide on his chest. As for intellectuals, officials and gentlemen, or wealthy businessmen, they often wear sheep-skin boat hats, small beards, light leather shoes, and often suits. With the development of the times, the differences in dressing of people with different hierarchical identities will gradually disappear.

In Afghanistan, a Muslim country, according to custom, women are generally not allowed to appear in public and must wear a veil for life. Moreover, this veil is extremely long, stretching from head to heel, wrapping the entire body tightly. Two small holes are made in the front of the veil to see the outside world. When meeting others on the way out, I always use black gauze to cover my face to show courtesy to others. However, some rural women do not wear veils when doing housework or field work.

Kuqi (i.e. nomadic tribe) women like to decorate, and the most common decoration is gemstone jewelry. The first is to wear "Cole", a luxurious jewelry with five or six layers around your neck. The second is wearing "band", a thick, heavy bracelet. The young girls in Kuqi still wear veils called "Chadli." Young men from nomadic peoples often apply blue paint around their eyes. Sometimes this eye shadow is applied from around the eyes to the temples.

is deeply influenced by Islam in terms of eating habits. Its staple food is naan and pilaf. naan is ground into flour and baked. There are two types with and without stuffing. Pilaf is to pour the oil into a pan and heat it, add shredded carrots and chopped green onions and stir-fry it, add water, sheep oil, salt, etc., boil it, add rice, and place it on a plate after cooking, and mix with lemon juice, pepper or other seasonings. When eating, I usually use my right hand to grab rice.

They love sour, spicy, fragrant and fragrant taste, but for religious reasons, they do not drink alcohol. Milk and beef and mutton are important foods on the table. They also eat chicken, duck, etc., do not eat pork, and rarely eat fish. They also often eat roasted leg of mutton, and barbecue the whole sheep on major festive days or when entertaining distinguished guests. Afghans also eat "horse meat intestines"."Horse meat intestines" are made by stuffing horse meat and salt into horse intestines, boiling them, and drying them in the sun.

They love drinking tea very much. In their daily lives, especially in the hot summer, they cannot do without tea almost every day. Even poor people cannot go without drinking tea every day. In summer, they also like to drink a yogurt soup boiled with a moderate amount of yogurt, salt and cucumber slices in water.

Afghans are very hospitable, with sincere and enthusiastic hospitality, regardless of whether they are Muslims or not. It is a very high etiquette for the whole sheep to entertain distinguished guests. But note: Men and women have different seats and cannot eat in the same room. Be sure to wash your hands before meals. Guests wash first, and hosts wash later. When eating, use the tray in your left hand and grab the food in your right hand. The order of meal is to serve the food first, grab the rice in the middle, and finally serve the food and fruit. Guests must wash their hands after eating.

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are two important religious festivals of the year for Afghans. In particular, the Gur Adha Festival is very grand, similar to the Spring Festival of the Han people in my country. "Gurbang" means "sacrifice of animals", so the Gurbang Festival is also called "Eid Adha Festival". On this festival, Muslims bathe and worship, and slaughter sheep, camels, and cattle to entertain guests or as gifts to commemorate them. During Ramadan, restaurants, teahouses, and shops in urban and rural areas in various places will close down. During the day, people sincerely do not eat, and at night, people hold lanterns high high to celebrate.