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Badal Lalayev, the village postman on horseback. Khinaliq village, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Sisters in law at home in Khinaliq village, Azerbaijan. 2006
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View of the village, homes built into the mountain with traditional, locally harvested materials, wood and river stones. A roof of one home serves as a courtyard for the next building. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Postman's daughter Yegana with her sister in her family's home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Zulfiya with her little brother at home. Khinaliq village. Azerbaijan. 2006
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Men playing dominos at the village cultural club in Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Sadaget baking bread. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Family in the hills of Khinaliq. Azerbaijan. 2006
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Gulara Malayeva in her father in law's home in Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Shepherd on the way to the village. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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A village elder. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Zulfia's family eating dinner at home in Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Family at the doorstep of their home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Yegana with her sisters in law at home in Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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Grandmother and her grandson at home. A poster of Azerbaijan's former president Heydar Aliyev on display in preparation for the president Ilham Aliyev's visit. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2006
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The bride covered in red silk waits at home for her final appearance in the wedding party. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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The groom participates in wedding festivities of the village. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Wedding musicians. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Sisters boiling chickpeas for Tikya Bozbash, a meal of mutton, potatos and vegetables cooked in a broth to be served for the wedding guests in Khinaliq village, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Women making Kelem Dolmasi for the wedding guests, a dish of minced mutton wrapped in cabbage leaves. The village diet mostly consists of mutton based meals. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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Men eating lamb kebabs inside the wedding tent. Women and men are separated during the wedding meal. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2009
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View of Khinaliq village with new tin roofs installed on homes built with traditional materials from the riverbed. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Omar Yaraliyev at 65 is a retired shepherd who spends most of his day time meeting friends at the village cultural club. 2018
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Gulnara at home in Khinaliq village. Azerbaijan. 2018
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Pensioners in Khinaliq. Azerbaijan. 2018
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Aisha at home in Khinaliq. Azerbaijan. 2018
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Brothers Samir and Izzet at home. More youth is using smart phones in Khanaliq, the village has not had a phone connection up until 2007. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Men playing dominoes at the cultural club in Khinaliq. Azerbaijan. 2018
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Elderly shepherd taking his flock back home in Khinaliq. Every family in Khinaliq keeps livestock. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Sadaget at home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Yegana and her daughter at home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Marjiya with her children Aisha, Lutfana and Yahmour at home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Izzet, Hamida, Samir and Maryam at home in Khanilq village. Azerbaijan. 2018
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Kabir at home with his hunting trophies. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
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Gulara at home. Khinaliq, Azerbaijan. 2018
Public Story
Khinaliq Village
Credits:
rena effendi
Date of Work:
06/01/06 - 02/16/18
Updated: 05/04/18
I first came to Khinaliq to document life in Azerbaijan’s highest inhabited village in 2003. Archeological evidence suggests that Khinaliq was inhabited four millennia ago and dates back to pre-Zoroastrian times. A village of nearly 1,000 shepherd families is built into the side of a mountain, each house made of river stone, one upon the other.
Khinaliq, because of its remoteness, still managed to preserve its ancient way of life. There is no running water but the streams nearby, no gas except the natural fires sprouting from the gas-pocked mountains. The people speak Khinaluq, a unique and endangered dialect attributed to the northeastern group of Caucasus languages. The only source of income is sheep breeding.
In summer of 2006, when I visited Khinaliq again, Azerbaijani authorities embarked on a new road construction which connected the village with a planned ski resort 30 km away. Builders dynamited mountains as we passed. Although the newly asphalted road alleviated hardships associated with isolation, it also threatened the unique culture of Khinaliq.
Later in 2009, I watched wedding preparations in Khinaliq where all weddings take place in the last months of summer. Women cooked in dimly lit kitchens, dozens of hands wrapping minced meat in cabbage leaves. The bride in her white dress with red ribbon around her waist waited for her final appearance. She no longer mounted a horse, in a way that brides traditionally appeared at Khinaliq weddings before, she was brought in a car.
I came back to Khinaliq in February 2018. While the women I had photographed fifteen years ago still radiated with beauty, their children have grown into young adults. Many traditional homes were razed and rebuilt with bricks and cement. Some installed tin roofs, which clashed with the unique architectural style of the village. The colorful decor inside many homes was replaced with modern materials of plastic doors, windows and floors made of compressed wooden panels. A new wedding hall was built where wedding parties were now contained in a single room, instead of the colorful celebrations taking over an entire village with dancing, feasts and street processions.