The Kalash Valley (also
called Kalasha Valley) is home to the famous Kalash people, a unique people
said to be dardic Indo Aryan indigenous people.based on genetic drift the
kalash may be descendtants of migrants of north euro Asian stock, who were some
of the earliest migrants from west Asia into south. The Kalash Valleys
consist of three mountain valleys in the KPK province of Pakistan.and the area
possesses a clebrated Temple of Imra renowned throughout all kafiristan.
(Robertson, 1896:379-80) Robertson picked up a fair number of ethnic features
concerning the nature and personal attributes of kafir kalash deities. such
as Sajijor, Mahandeo, Balumain, Dezalik, Ingaw, and Jestak.ch as the
primal foundation of the universe by the sovereign deity Imra: the stealing of
the sunlight and moon from demons, and their recapture by the the heroic god
moni: or the warrior exploit of the martial deity Gish (robertson, 1896:
381-8,400-1).can easily be identified by their colorful robed and
headdresses make their own wine, and have a plethora of other unique
traditions and festivals.the kalash community of chitral
is considered the most festive community of Pakistan as the
kalash dastoor rotates around the festivals, throughout the year.one type is of
purely religious festivals with rituals only, while other type is mixture of
religious and cultural ceremonies, a combination of rituals, singing and
dancing.
Below
you can find a guide to the Kalasha Valleys, including information on Kalasha
culture, which of the Kalash Valleys to visit, and much more about visiting the valley and spending time with the
Kalash people. Which
Kalash Valley to visit:
Bumburet – The most developed valley in terms of facilities, and
most popular with domestic tourists. and has most hotel to choose
from.
- Rumboor – Small villages in Rumboor is developing these
days and more popular with foreign tourists.
- Birir – The
least developed Kalasha Valley, and sees the least visitors
the culture events of kalash
Joshi:
The Spring Festival The spring starts in moorlands of
Chitral region of the Hindu Kush in May and to welcome the spring the Kalasha
community celebrates the Joshi (also called Zoshi) festival for three days. The
people start storing milk when elders of the community announce the dates for
the festivals. They start to store milk in their barns before ten days of the
festivals. Later, the collected milk is distributed among the tribe-fellows.
The first preparing phase of Joshi festival consists of ten days; the shepherds
live in goat-houses and do not visit their homes for nine days. During the said
days the shepherds clean the goat-sheds and all utensils. After the first phase
of (ten days) the festival, young boys and girls fetch yellow flowers (Sophora
Mollis) from the pastures and branches of walnut to decorate their houses,
doorways, walls and also decorate barns and the Jestak han; the temple of
Jestak. Practically, this is the first day of the festival. On the said day the
collected milk is distributed among the tribe-fellows to celebrate the
festival. The ceremony of distributing and drinking the milk is called chirik
pipi. On the first day men visit the shrine of Shingmou , they clean it,
decorate it with new branches and offer some dried mulberries and walnuts to
the shrine. During the Joshi festival the Kalasha women sing the melodic songs
and they dance on the beats of the drums. Some songs are sung in the praise of
Dramui who was a great hunter in past days while some songs represent
affections and love. Second phase of Joshi represents the religious climax of
respective festival. Many sacrifices are offered to Mahandeo deity and the
Kalasha people pray for welfare of the community. With the start of second
phase, celebrations of the festivals begin. During the second phase of the
festival a ceremony called gulprik is celebrated in which all those babies who
born after the last Joshi are brought to highlands in each village with their
mothers. They all are allowed to go even the most sacred place of the Kalasha;
goat sheds or barns and an onjesta suda throws milk on them as a ritual to
purify them. In this way in fact all the babies become the part of the Kalasha
tribe. At the end of the celebration, the Kalasha elders sing the songs and
dance. “The girls enjoy the Cha, an up-tempo dance in which groups of girls
clasp each other’s shoulders and dance in spinning circles. Joshi’s third stage
is celebrated for two days in the valleys. Different types of songs are sung
and dances are performed during these two days. The songs attributed to love,
tragedies and wars are sung by the community. The songs of Joshi festival
reflect themes ranging from Kalasha history to romance. At the last day of the
festival, elders sing Gatch: a very secret song, and all participants wave
branches of walnut and they pray for abundance of milk of goats. Kalasha
believe that fairies come to participate in this ritual and they also wave
walnut branches. the Joshi is very unique and fascinating festival which
represents the religious and social behaviours of the community.
The Uchaw and Rat Nat Festivals
The thanks giving festival Uchaw (in Khowar spelled as Uchal) is
celebrated in the month of August, each year. Before the celebration Uchaw
another festival is celebrated for two months which is called Rat Nat, Rat
denotes night while Nat the dance so, in this long festival, dance is performed
in alternative nights. The final dates of the festival are announced by the
elders of the community. The Uchaw is held to ensure good crops of wheat. The
first ceremony of the festival is performed at the sanctuary of Sajigor, in
Rumbur valley. The shepherds climb down to the sanctuary from high pasture.
They bring abundant cheese with them. Other Kalasha from the villages also
gathered at the sanctuary and after religious rituals bread and cheese is
distributed among the attendants, the food can only be eaten by males. Wheat
breads, walnut breads and cheese are not only given to family member and
married females of clan but also to neighbouring Muslim families. After this
the festival starts, and continues till late night or till the next morning.
All the Kalasha community makes marry; they sing songs and dance at the open
place, which is called Gri in Kalasha and Charsu in Kho language.
Pul Festival
Biramor Festival
The Biramor is rare and optional type of festival
of the Kalasha people which is celebrated in winter, especially in the months
of November or December. During winter, the Kalasha people have nothing to do,
so, they celebrate festivities. Only a male Kalasha member can offer the
Biramor. Biramor is, in fact, a feast of merit; it is very important feature of
the Kalasha society. Although this feast of merit is expensive and feast giver
has to spend expensive commodities: like goats, cows, wine, cheese etc., and
sometimes feast giver gives the dowry or gifts to relatives, even Biramor has
important place in the Kalasha culture. The status of the feast of merit giver
rises, the feast of merit is a symbol of the prosperity and generosity. If a
Kalasha tribe fellow wants to offer a Biramor, he has to publicize it in any
festival or at any great gathering; he shows his intentions sometimes couple of
years before and even sometime a decade before the Biramor. Usually he shows
his intentions in a Biramor organized by any Kalasha member. Before publicizing
the Biramor, the host obtains the consensus from his clan fellows for economic
and moral support for the whole festival. Loude & Lievre describes the
criteria for the host of Biramor Wealth is generally inherited….But wealth is
not all that is needed to be a giver of feasts, and a “rich man’s son” is not
necessarily a “distinguished man”; he must prove his worth. He must have the
dynamism to produce surpluses,… In addition to this talent for developing his
material heritage, he must prove his virility: engender sons,… He must also be
able to impose his authority on his family and his ascendancy over his lineage
brothers, from whom he will expect economic assistance. There are three types
of Biramor in the Kalasha society as The
small type of Biramor is such a way only male goats are sacrificed; one goat is
divided among four families, but this time only males have privilege to eat the
meat not females of the families. And in a smaller Biramor the performer does
not keep malery symbol at Sajigor temple. In the second type of Biramor, both
male and female goats are sacrificed for all the Kalasha members; males and
females, but the goats which are sacrificed at Sajigor are only for male
members while the goats sacrificed in village are for both sexes; one goat is
distributed among four families. It is a bigger Biramor and this time malery is
installed at Sajigor as ritual.The third type of Biramor is common like second
one, but in this Biramor dowry is given to jamili of the feast giver. The goats
are sacrificed and distributed among tribe fellows. During the festival, food
is distributed, the feast giver is praised by elders of the clan as Loude &
Lievre pronounced that praise giving is an art of the Kalasha community and
during the event each participant tries his level best to express himself and
praise the feast giver in a different way. In praise giving speech, the
participants recall the local history, social values of the tribe and virtues
of the feast giver. The Kalasha people seek chance to enjoy life, so, during
the Biramor they dance enthusiastically on the drum beats and they sing the
songs of different verities. The rituals of Biramor are performed at Mahandeo
and sometime during performing the rituals (i.e. to burn holy juniper,
sacrifice goats etc.) dehar enters into trance and “The god now spoke through
the mouth of the shaman and dehar predicts the future. Biramor is a
socio-religious festival having some religious rituals and social aspects.
Therefore, different games like tug of war, tambuk, salom chatik and shil are
included.
The Chawmos Festival
According to Akiko Wada the Chawmos is the longest, the most complex and
religious festival of the community as it is held in the month of December each
year. The festival lasts for fourteen days, during this period the community
makes merry while dancing and singing and many religious rituals are performed
along with the sacrifices of goats and sheep. The community believes that the
god Balumain visits the Kalashdesh during the festival from Tsyam, an unknown
place in eastern Afghanistan. This festival is a symbol of the end of the
year's fieldwork and harvest; now people have nothing to do but celebration.
People store cheese, fruits, vegetables and grains in bulk for this festival,
because there are many stages in Chawmos and it requires many offerings. It is
the last festival of the year, which is celebrated for two weeks. The festival
has a long series of ceremonies, phases and rituals.
The Inauguration of Chawmos
The Chawmos starts with the celebration of Sarazari. In this celebration the young boys and girls of Bumburet valley under the leadership of elders go to the high scared place, which are considered the dwelling of gods, where this celebration is always celebrated, there they lit fire at two places, one for women and one for men,37 but in Rumbur valley fragrant juniper branches are burnt on the roofs of the villages which is a consideration of purifying the villages. Then the ceremony formally begins with the offerings and one of the participants washes hands for rituals and sacrifices. The boys and the girls sing different types of songs Socio-Cultural Life of the Kalasha People of Chitral: A Study of their Festivals of the festival, while singing and dancing they go house to house. They are offered fruits and food by the tribe-fellows. This ceremony is celebrated for two days in some of the villages. Goats are slaughtered, while the men pray in this ceremony. Each day ends with a dance, during which dry fruit is distributed. Only songs are sung, however drum beating is forbidden in whole celebration.The Ritual Clash
“The Third day Chuwinari is characterized by a ritual clash fought with insults, often a sexual nature, between nubile girls of the two sections of the community: up-valley and down-valley. In this ceremony the Kalasha young boys and girls fetch the reeds from nearby mountains and draw pictures of sheep, goats, human etc. on the walls of Jestak Han. Meanwhile girls move towards river bank for singing competition and the Kalasha men cook beans in bulk, inside the Jestak Han for distributing among the all families in the valley. However, Cacopardo and Cacopardo claim that, to cook the bean is exercised on the fourth day which is called dau Pacek. All these activities show that they have nothing to do and they are returning to their leisure life. In fact in first four days of Chawmos, social ties are consolidated and strengthened. In these days the Kalasha society starts to turn into onjesta state from pragata stateRite of Fertility of Livestock:
The ceremony of Kutramu ensures the fertility of domestic livestock and wild game (hunting). For this ceremony the people grind the wheat and at night men make sculptures of goats and sheep with dough (of wheat), these animals are called Sharabirayak while women bake walnut bread. Next morning, the Kalasha people wake up early and perform the ceremonial ritual of driving their animals away for mock hunting. Then the models of sheep and goats are given to the cows some time and sometimes given to Muslim children to play with them. According to Cacopardo brothers, drawings and paintings on the wall of temples interpret the memory of a distant past when human beings, fairies, deities and animals were living altogether, but later on, there held a separation among them for some unknown reasons.A Ritual Tribute to Dead One’s:
The Mandaik is the sixth day of the great festival, Chawmos. Mandaik is time to recall the souls of the dead people of the community. On the day of Mandaik: the Kalasha women bake walnut bread and pumpkin. As Akiko Wada writes, the Mandaik is communicational ritual among Kalasha with their ancestors’ souls. The Kalasha believe that during the ritual the dead come back to share their meals. The celebration of this day starts at the evening when all the food is amassed along with fruit in the Jestak Han, the doors of all the houses are kept closed while an elder calls loudly to the souls of the dead saying “Come and eat” Some food is placed outside of the temple for ancestors and rest of the baskets full of food are put inside the Jestak Han for rest of the people. Akiko Wada observes that a signal of fire is lit to attract ancestors for sharing the food.A Ritual of Turn into the Purified Life
The next day, everyone from the community washes him/herself to get purification for the whole year. The rite Shishao Sutchek to purify the women performed with walnut bread, water and fire. The walnut breads are baked by men. The hands of men should be clean and men should not touch anything, even themselves. Each woman and girl receives five breads. The day of the purification is considered as the most sacred time of the year. At this point the Kalasha society has to follow some obligations and restrictions. The kitchen utensils and other articles are replaced with new ones. The milk or tea is forbidden and imported goods are also illegal and not allowed to use. The Kalasha who have converted to Islam must leave the village and further sexual intercourse is banned for a week.Purification of the Kalasha Men
Istongas is a rite of purification of the Kalasha tribe men, and this rite is performed on the tenth day of Chawmos. The men purification ceremony is held late in the evening at the goat sheds. This ritual is dedicated to Dezau: the Creator. On the terraced roofs a fire is lit and burning juniper braches are circled over the heads of the contributor. A lamb is also sacrificed and its blood drops are sprinkled on the faces of men present there. This ceremony is held on the roofs of goat shed to ensure the fertility of the herds and unbeaten hunting. The same day the Kalasha men gathered on the open air sanctuary of Sajigor (in Birir valley) and sacrificed forty goats to Balumain, but these sacrifices are presented to Pushao an assistant of Balumain as on this stage the Kalasha society is not completely purified, so Balumain is supposed to visit the valley yet. These goats are offered for prosperity and good health.Ritual of the Initiation
The most sacred element of the winter festival is goshnik. The Kalasha
community does not consider a Kalasha kid as the member of the Kalasha society
until or unless goshnik ritual is done for the specific kid. This ceremony is
done when a boy becomes seven years old and a girl becomes four years old.
Goshnik in fact is rite of initiation or rite of passage. Rite of passage, in
fact, is an important ritual which is performed when an individual (most
probably a kid or young) from specific community enters from one phase of age
to another, generally when he or she enters to adulthood.Goshnik: the rite of
passage of the Kalasha community, is held at Jestakhan, where all kids of about
four years are brought and are given dresses to become the member of the
community. Boys are given a white cap, while the little girls are given black
woven dress and head-gear: the kupas. Without their goshnik the kids are
not believed to be a part of the tribe.
Tradition of Census of the Kalasha Tribe This ceremony takes place at the shrine of Sajigor; the Kalasha deity. Sajigor is open air sanctuary, which is situated outside the village, where only men and boys can go. The Kalasha, in old days, were instructed by great Nanga Dehar to take a willow branch in hands which would help Balumain to count them, according to tradition.This ritual of counting of tribe-fellows by Balumain is called chettai adua. During the whole ceremony of chettai adua no sacrifice of sheep or goat is offered to Sajigor. However, juniper smoke and loafs of bread are offered as sacrifice while back at the village men and women sing the songs, they dance, and exchange sometimes crude sexual jokes and improvised teasing songs. The people keep dancing until dehar or the Kalasha elders start to make a pile of branches about 12 feet high for Chanja Rat and get back to home for a brief rest.
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