Despite being an individual country for well over half a century, Pakistan holds little recognition globally when it comes to its culture. Generally, when one thinks of South Asia, India immediately comes to mind with its vast diversity of people, languages, cultures, and ethnicities. This can be attributed to the fact that 74 years ago Pakistan and India existed as one singular body known as the Subcontinent. Though it is understandable that, since both the countries were once one, their practices, traditions, and cultures have mingled intensely, but upon the creation of Pakistan, it was announced that this country was ultimately an Islamic Republic and, therefore, will have laws, constitutional or otherwise, based on the religion. Non-Muslim ethnic minorities who chose to migrate over to Pakistan had the freedom to practice their religions on the condition that they obey the constitutional laws.
Due to this, even though Pakistan became a separate entity, the cultures, norms, and values were, in their essence, carried over from the Subcontinent, where the Hindu’s traditions were normal. One would think that over time people would have managed to come up with their own individual identities in accordance with the separate country that they now were a part of, however, that has not been the case. And even now, after over 7 decades have passed, these cultures and traditions are still as much of a part of our identity as they were before. This includes the society’s rules, food, wedding rituals, and, to an extent, even funeral practices, which are somewhat similar, and more.
What is A Pakistani Traditional Wedding?
From multiple competitive Dholkies (musicals), to Mehandi nights on both the bride’s side and the grooms to Brarat, all involving months-long preparations and planning have been the norm for as far as anyone can remember. Not to mention other rituals like Joota chupai (hiding the groom’s shoe), Doodh Pilai (Where Bride and Groom drink milk from the same cup), finding a ring in a bowl full of milk, Band Baja (drums, trumpets, and trombones) and many more. These rituals have always been a part of a traditional Pakistani wedding regardless of the fact that almost all of these are based on, or taken entirely from Indian wedding traditions and rituals. Not to mention that most of us are already well aware of this fact.
In the religion of Islam, a wedding consists of a Nikkah ceremony lead by an Imam (a form of contract where both bride and groom agree to marry each other) followed by Rukhsati (where the bride leaves her home and family and departs for her husband’s house) and, lastly, Valima (a gathering of both the families hosted by the groom’s side). However, this is not all we do to celebrate. Same goes for Pakistani Christians and other ethnicities who have incorporated many of these practices into their wedding ceremonies along with their own.
What we have as wedding traditions in Pakistan is a mixture of both what we seemingly inherited from the Hindu’s heritage, from our time together, and that of rituals based on the people’s respective religions. It is very rare in Pakistan to find a true religious wedding. These rituals have permanently become a part of our weddings irrespective of the fact that they, originally, did not belong to us.
What is the Difference between Indian and Pakistani Cuisines?
Almost all famous dishes that we enjoy day to day, and are proud to be known for, have some or the other source that goes back to the days of the Subcontinent. Many well-known dishes like Biryani, Tikka, Kebabs, Quorma, Pulao, Pulses, etc. that we consider to be the true essence of Pakistani cuisine are generally globally known and recognized as Indian food. Read about the royal visit in Pakistan.
Irrespective of the fact that there are multiple different ways to cook each and every different dish, not to mention the spices and condiments used vastly differ in both the countries, the reality remains that internationally there is a high chance that the said dish would still be recognized as Indian cuisine.
It is not that Pakistan does not have dishes that originated in this country, it is just they are not as widely recognized nor do they tend to be readily available outside that particular region, let alone globally. Most of these dishes are provincial creations like Balochi cuisine that is famous nationally for Sajji (skewed lamb or chicken filled with rice) and Dumphukht (meat slow-cooked in fats). KPK is known for its Chapli Kebab (flat savory and spicy meat pancakes that are deep-fried) whereas Punjabi food consists of Bong Paye (made from joints and legs of cows, sheep, goats or lambs), Nihari (generally made from cow’s bone marrow), Murgh Cholay (white chickpeas cooked together with chicken in butter) and last but not least the Sindhi cuisine that is well known for Pulao, Biryani, Karahi etc.
Pakistan is certainly not behind any when it comes to food and taste but severely lacks recognition.
Inherited Family Structure
Since as far as anyone can remember, majority of the families in Pakistan live together in the Traditional family system. In a traditional family, the entirety of the immediate family, which includes sons’ daughters, daughter-in-law, kids, grandfather and grandmother, all live under one roof. In this system, that is predominantly patriarchal, the eldest (the grandfather or the eldest son) generally has a hold over the entire family including all major household decisions and those regarding each and every member.
When it comes to South Asian countries, the system of traditional families was brought over from the subcontinent, dating back to the Roman times.
However, speaking in terms of Islam, traditional families are non-existent in the religion as it encourages individuals to have nuclear families. And yet many of Pakistani people have no choice but to stay in a traditional family system or they would be cut off from their relations and/inheritance.
This practice is now slowly coming to an end as the new generation is starting to not consider family ties more important that their own happiness. It will not be entirely baseless to say that many of the Pakistan’s youth are now opting for nuclear families after marriage to avoid toxicity that sometimes arises within a traditional family system and be an independent body not working under the ways and orders of the elders.
Pakistan’s Identity
Although it is true that, globally, Pakistan’s identity is vague and ambiguous to say the least, it is also true that it was once a part of the subcontinent not too long ago, before becoming a whole new country. Our norms and traditions might be the same but there is a little change with every new generation, like the practice of not interacting with a widow that has been removed from our society and is rarely seen any more in Pakistan, whereas it still exists in other South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh.
For an entire country, Pakistan is still considered to be a young one when compared to the rest of the world and, therefore, it is understandable that emergence of a completely new identity is close to impossible. Even so, Pakistan has the potential to have a completely different identity based on the diversity of unique cultures only found in its respective provinces.
The only thing lacking now is global recognition of Pakistan being sui generis.
