North Market

The residents of Khinaliq practice a lifestyle that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Clockwise from top left: Many of the houses in Khinaliq are connected, says photographer Rena Effendi (2009); a woman does her wash using cold water from a nearby stream (2009); an interior of a typical home painted in bright colors (2009); sisters hold a plate of boiled chickpeas that will be used to make tikya bozbash, a meal of mutton, potatoes, and vegetables (2009).

Family members on the porch of their home (2006).

Left: Khinaliq resident Sadaget bakes bread in a tandoor oven at home (2006). Married women traditionally cook, clean, and watch the children while their husbands tend to grazing sheep flocks in the mountain pastures around the village. Right: Sadaget at home (2018). Says Rena: “I showed her the photograph of her I had taken when she was 31, and she giggled and said back then she was young and beautiful and it’s been a long time. She feared she did not age gracefully.”

Village postman Badal Lalayev played an essential role in getting messages into and out of the community before the arrival of cell phone technology and the internet (2006).

Clockwise from top left: At a wedding feast, men dig into mutton kebabs beneath a tent on a street of the village (2009); view of the village (2009); new building materials, such as tin roofs, have changed the look of Khinaliq (2018); village kids (2006).

Friends play a game on a smartphone (2018). When Rena first visited, Khinaliq lacked cell phone coverage. Today most young people in the village have their own Facebook and Instagram accounts and are able to surf the internet from their homes thanks to a recently installed 3G network.

Left: Ulfiya with her 6-year-old brother Behjat (2006). Right: Behjat, now 18 years old, wants to find a job in the city (2018)

Left: Bakhtiyar, shown here at 20, said, “I can’t wait to live somewhere else” (2018). Right: 8-year-old Bakhtiyar stands next to motal, traditional cheese aged in sheepskin (2006).

Family members congratulate the groom Bahman by hanging silk fabric around his neck (2009). Most wedding rituals are centered around the groom, while the bride waits inside the home to be brought out for a brief moment.

Clockwise from top left: Young bride Gunel waits in the bedroom of her home before her wedding (2009); men feast on mutton and beer (2009); wedding musicians play music (2009); at a marriage ceremony, women and men eat separately and meet once the dancing spills out onto the street (2009).

The livelihoods of many of the inhabitants of Khinaliq rely directly or indirectly on livestock. Shepherds follow age-old traditions of seasonally translocating their animals.