Kalash Valley is situated in District Chitral of province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Three valleys are named Bumburet, Rumbur and Birir. These valleys are famous for Kalash people which are oldest tribe of South Asia and well known throughout the world for their unique culture, religion, language festivals and way of living. These three valleys with these indigenous people are one of the main reasons for Chitral to be very famous for tourism. The language of Kalash people is Kalasha
boxes and placed in the open air
.
In recent years, the Kalash have started burying the coffins.
Pictures taken by Raja Shabbir
kalash dancing at deadbody in bamburit chitral
Kalash sing and dance around the bodies of their loved ones for two to three days before burying them in a coffin and offer a feast with a sacrifice of 30 to 40 goats to guests who come to celebrate (not mourn) the death.A Kalash becomes poorer if anybody dies in his family because he has to throw lavish feasts and sacrifice his goats. But the tradition continues.
The Kalash are minority even in the Kalash valleys. They are less than 4,000 or less than 20 per cent of about 17,000 population. The rest of the population are Muslims including a large number of converts.
In recent years, the Kalash have started burying the coffins.
Pictures taken by Raja Shabbir
kalash dancing at deadbody in bamburit chitral
Kalash sing and dance around the bodies of their loved ones for two to three days before burying them in a coffin and offer a feast with a sacrifice of 30 to 40 goats to guests who come to celebrate (not mourn) the death.A Kalash becomes poorer if anybody dies in his family because he has to throw lavish feasts and sacrifice his goats. But the tradition continues.
The Kalash are minority even in the Kalash valleys. They are less than 4,000 or less than 20 per cent of about 17,000 population. The rest of the population are Muslims including a large number of converts.
The Kalash never miss a chance to dance and sing even when someone dies in the family. This is perhaps the most interesting and unique phenomenon. The duration of the rituals depends upon the socio-economic position of the dead person or his family. This is why there is proverb in local language that ‘when a Kalash is buried his wealth is dug out and when he is alive his wealth is buried.Though the close family members of the dead mourn in the house, they have to arrange for big feasts and arrange for celebrations. They put the body in the coffin and keep it for two to three days in the graveyard. Every Kalash community member from the three valleys is informed about the death. Women in the family sit around the body with their hair covering their faces while rest of the community people keep on dancing around the body. The Kalash from different villages continue to come and join the celebrations.Whenever a new group of people comes to the celebration, they fire gun shots in the air to announce their arrival. Then one of them stands near the body and starts telling stories about the life of the deceased. As soon as he finishes, the dancing resumes and the same practice continues for two to three days. Some 30 to 40 goats are sacrificed during two to three days of the celebrations.The Kalash used to leave bodies in the graveyard without burying them but now they have started burying them. They also bury personal belongings of the deceased like axe, knife and gun and also leave his pillow and charpai (his bed) at the grave. They do not bring the belongings back as they believe evil spirits come home.
No comments:
Post a Comment