Spring in the Hindu Kush Mountains

My Scholarship Entry - The Secret Tribe of Kalash

PAKISTAN | Monday, 24 November 2014 | Views [255] | View Larger Image

Three Kalasha matriarchs, decked in traditional finery, their faces wizened by the harsh mountain sun and long days of work in the fields, dance arm-in-arm during Joshi festivities.

A world apart from the conservative, male-dominated,predominantly Muslim society of Pakistan, the women of Kalash enjoy certain exceptional freedoms. They do not observe purdah, they mix openly with men, and they customarily choose their own husbands, whom they are allowed to divorce at will. The goddess Jestak, protector of home and hearth, holds an important place in the Kalash pantheon, and the four-day spring festival normally kicks off with sacrifices made in her honor.

Meet Zarmina, 10, lost in innocent thoughts as her village gears for the <i>Joshi</i> spring festival, held in late May each year to mark the passing of the cold season and the planting of new crops.
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Zarmina is a <i>Kalasha</i>, progeny of an ancient Indo-Iranian tribe that has fascinated travelers and mystified anthropologists for centuries. The polytheistic Kalash once thrived in the fertile valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains in present-day Pakistan; today, with their distinctive religion and cultural practices under constant threat from Muslim proselytism, the Kalash are among the most endangered peoples in the world.

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Kalash children on the balcony of their home in Bumburait Valley share a laugh with Pakistani tourists below.
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Today, tourism forms one of the mainstays of Kalash economy, along with the traditional occupations of goat-herding and farming. Every year during the three festival seasons – spring, autumn and winter – tourists from the Pakistani lowlands, as well as a steady number of brave foreigners, throng to the Kalash Valleys to witness the rituals and way of life of these people, the last truly indigenous people of Pakistan. While the Kalash are generally very friendly and hospitable, not everybody is happy about the seasonal invasions of their privacy.

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Spring in the Hindu Kush Mountains

My Scholarship Entry - The Secret Tribe of Kalash

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