The beshik – a 2,000-year-old tradition

How Uzbekistan’s traditional cradles and accompanying ceremony have been a key component of family life for centuries

Specialist travel agency Doca Tours has launched a series of videos devoted to key traditions in Uzbekistan and the wider area, and Fergana has decided to share some of these with its readers.

Appropriately, our first stop is the object that has also been the first stop for Uzbeks for countless generations – the beshik (cradle). Specially conceived to protect small infants from Central Asia’s extremes of hot and cold, the traditional Uzbek beshik is made by skilled craftsmen according to an established design. It is also the centrepiece of a key rite of passage, the beshik to’y. Let Doca Tours tell you more.