page_title: Wedding tradition in Azerbaijan
section_title: Nişan (Engagement) or Adax (Betrothal)
hierarchical_section_title: Wedding tradition in Azerbaijan / Structure of the ceremony / Nişan (Engagement) or Adax (Betrothal)
caption_attribution_description: English: Throwing a red scarf round a bride's shoulders is an attribute of engagement in Azerbaijan.
context_page_description: The Azerbaijani wedding tradition is one of the most significant and solemn family traditions in the Azerbaijan Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan region, where majority of Azeris live. It is multi-stepped, and is related to various compulsory rituals and traditions. Ancient Azerbaijani weddings reflect cycles of traditions, lasting for a long period of time, and need significant material costs.
context_section_description: Matchmaking follows engagement traditions. After the father decides to give his daughter for marriage, the groom entertains his new relatives with tea and sweeties in the bride's house. In 1908, the engagement process of Shahsevens, an ethnic group of Azerbaijanis, was described as follows:
  The period after the engagement and before the wedding is the main period in the life of a young couple. Earlier the length of this stage was very significant, sometimes extending several years. It could be that the long span of the engagement was related to difficulties relating to material welfare and the necessities of preparing for the future wedding ceremonies. Later this period was significantly shortened.
caption: Throwing a red scarf round a bride's shoulders is an attribute of engagement in Azerbaijan
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D90", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:29 18:31:02", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2292", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "38540", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "38666", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5806", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:04:07 23:39:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:04:07 23:39:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "37/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4288", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "38490", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4086"}