Spring in the Hindu Kush Mountains

Kalash men and women make their way to the <i>charso</i>, the village dancing ground, waving walnut brunches in the air. This practice is said to please the fairies and nature spirits living in the surrounding mountains.
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The walnut branches also have another purpose – a Kalash woman may use her branch to select a prospective “husband”. This custom, translated into English as “marriage by elopement”, is one of the mischievous highlights of the Joshi festival, and may involve men and women who are already married.

PAKISTAN | Monday, 24 November 2014 | Views [310] | View Smaller Image

Kalash men and women make their way to the charso, the village dancing ground, waving walnut brunches in the air. This practice is said to please the fairies and nature spirits living in the surrounding mountains.

The walnut branches also have another purpose – a Kalash woman may use her branch to select a prospective “husband”. This custom, translated into English as “marriage by elopement”, is one of the mischievous highlights of the Joshi festival, and may involve men and women who are already married.

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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As the day's festivities draw to a close, an elderly Kalash couple surrounded by grandchildren sit on the verandah of their home for a chat. They may be reminiscing about better days, when they were younger, their numbers greater - in the 1951 census of Pakistan, the Kalash population was recorded at 10,000, which by 2012 had dropped to 3,700. They may be ruing the safety of their community, which not only faces pressure to assimilate from their Muslim neighbors, but has also been threatened by the militant Pakistani Taliban.
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They may be lamenting the gradual loss of their oral traditions. Most Kalash children today go to public schools, where they learn Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. The elders, however, only speak the native Kalasha, according to some scholars the closest modern tongue to Ancient Sanskrit.
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Although the Pakistani government has applied for UNESCO World Heritage status for the Kalash people, one wonders how long this fabled community can hold together. How much longer can they can preserve their ancient ways, their secrets, thus far protected by the forbidding Hindu Kush, dating to a time and place that only exists in legend?

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Spring in the Hindu Kush Mountains

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