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VICE News

Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

The groom's family meet their new in-laws and attempt to make amends for kidnapping their daughter. Back at the yurt, the happy couple take their vows and head to the bridal suite/kitchen.

In the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, tradition is king. Polo's still played with a freshly killed goat and the men still marry their women the old-fashioned way: by abducting them off the street and forcing them to be their wife. Bride kidnapping is a supposedly ancient custom that's made a major comeback since the fall of Communism and now accounts for nearly half of all marriages in some parts of the country. We traveled to the Kyrgyz countryside to follow/aid and abet a young groom named Kubanti as he surprised his teenage girlfriend Nazgul with the gift of marriage/kidnapping.

In part 4, the groom's family meet their new in-laws and attempt to make amends for kidnapping their daughter. Back at the yurt, the happy couple take their vows and head to the bridal suite/kitchen.