Shors - Marriage and Family

Marriage was traditionally accompanied by a series of feasts, most of which took place in the bride's house. Following the wedding ceremony, the groom took presents from his wife's father to his own father, and then the couple lived with the groom's family. It was once the custom for a man to supply his wife's family with parsnips and a share of the meat that he got by hunting. There was a strict rule of brother-in-law avoidance, and a wife was not allowed to call her husband's elder brothers by name, be left alone with them, sit near them, shake hands with them, or even be in their presence with uncovered feet or head. The Shors are monogamous.

Until the Russian Revolution most Shors were illiterate and passed accumulated knowledge to younger generations orally. Compulsory education under the Soviet government has since made most Shors literate.