Becoming perfect bride

A special school for young women has opened in the Southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz. All the students there are going to learn how to become the perfect bride.

The Caucus region is home to many different nationalities and ethnicities. And people there are used to cross-cultural relations but they also value their own traditions. So finding both Feng-Shui and traditional Ossetian cooking and dancing in the school curriculum for these perfect brides is no great surprise.

Zareta Datieva, lecturer on North Osetian culture and history, explains: “When we get married and are welcomed into a new family, we should accept the traditions of this family.”

But the main part of the course is focused on psychology. Young women learn to deal with the conflicts of family life, which may be more complicated in this part of the world, as traditional families can be large and there is often a certain influence exerted by the husband’s parents.

“The knowledge that we will be giving to the girls will help in preserving the harmony of family relations,” says Zhanna Slanova, an organizer of the course.

Young women meet their trainers twice a week for two months. Each lesson lasts 4 hours. The course has already proved to be popular with even teenagers wanting to participate. It shows young women are taking marriage and family life seriously and don’t want to take any chances.