Kalasha community is under the pressure of modernisation
ISLAMABAD: The Kalasha or Kalash, also called Waigali or Wai, are residing in Chitral District of K-P province of Pakistan. The Kalash are considered quite a unique group of people. They also happen to be Pakistan’s smallest community practising a religion. There are two types of religious events in the Kalasha society. The first kind may be considered more like festivities while the other is only religious in nature. The Kalasha observe many festivals in a year. Their major festivals are Joshi, celebrated in May to welcome the spring; Uchaw, observed in late August to ensure good crops of wheat; Poh, observed in September, only in the Birir Valley; and Chaumos, observed in December for more than two weeks. Chaumos is the grand festival of the Kalasha tribe and it is celebrated to welcome New Year. In an article from 2016, it was estimated that the Kalash community consists of about 3,000 people.
The Kalash never miss a chance to dance and sing. This is perhaps the most interesting and unique thing about them. They put the body in the coffin and keep it for two to three days in the graveyard. 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. Whenever a new group of people come to the celebrations, they fire gunshots into the air to announce their arrival. They also bury personal belongings of the deceased like axe, knife and guns while also leaving their charpai (bed) at the grave. They do not bring the belongings back as they believe evil spirits come home.
Today, the Kalasha community is in transition. Under the pressure of modernisation, it seems this beautiful culture will vanish, if it is not preserved by international and national agencies and governments.
Zia Ul Haq
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2019.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
