My 2 Second Shelf Life

Stealing the Bride

Stealing the bride is now kind of a traditional game at some Serbian weddings.
No one does that caveman shit anymore, right?

Wrong!

Apparently, Chechnyans (for the globally ignorant, that's not Serbia) aren't letting go of it that quickly.


"GROZNY, Chechnya — Amina Edieva's abductor stalked her like a seasoned predator. He approached the slender, raven-haired 18-year-old student on a Grozny side street, hoisted her off the ground in a tight bear hug and dragged her into a waiting car.

She screamed, kicked and scratched at the man, but he brought three male friends, a driver and two backup abductors to ensure she couldn't escape. More young men in a second vehicle trailed, on the lookout for witnesses who might try to halt the brazen afternoon capture.

But Ms. Edieva knew that no Chechen would rescue her that September day nearly three years ago. Well versed in Chechnya's bride-abducting traditions, she understood she was caught up in a centuries-old ritual in which her captor, a suitor she had frequently rebuffed, was going to force her to marry him.

"I told him I hated him," she said, but he smiled."

I guess that's one way to keep girls at home....that's scarier than the Boogyman and Baba Roga combined.