TCKP plans cleanliness drive in Kalash Valley after Chilam Joshi festival

K-P govt to set up tent village for tourists coming to enjoy the spring fest

CHITRAL: A cleanliness drive will be launched in the Kalash Valley at the end of the spring festival, a meeting held to discuss the arrangements for the festival decided.

Tourism Corporation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) is all set to arrange three-day Chilam Joshi festival also known as Kalash spring festival from May 13 to 16, officials said on Thursday.

At the end of the Kalash rituals, tourists, local people, students, and youth will be motivated to take part in the cleanliness drive in the valleys.

The Joshi festival will be held in three Kalash valleys of Bumburet, Birir, and Rumbur where Kalash girls and boys will dance to the tune of traditional drums for celebrating youth and vitality and choosing their partners.

“Chilam Joshi celebrations highlight the cultural richness and diversity of our country besides giving the underlying message of peace,” TCKP Managing Director Junaid Khan said chairing a meeting of the corporation.

The meeting was also attended by TCKP Property and Administration Officer Sajjad Hamid, Marketing Manager Hassina Shuakt and other officers of the cooperation.

The meeting decided that to make the Kalash festivals famous across the world, the K-P government would provide services on the four days, and foolproof security to the locals and visitors, the director added

Moreover, the government will set up a tent village to allow more tourists to enjoy the festival.

Each year thousands of visitors trek from across the country and the world to witness the surviving culture that dates back to the age of Greek conqueror Alexander.

The government makes special arrangements for local and foreign tourists and also enlightens them on indigenous culture and rituals.

The Kalash community celebrates three festivals each year, Chilam Joshi is the most important festival celebrated in May for four days, while Uchal festival is held in the autumn season and Choimos festival in mid-winter, Junaid Khan said.

The Chilam Joshi festival starts at Rumbur Valley of Chitral, moves on to other valleys of Kalash in which the Kalashi people pray for the safety of their fields and animals before going to their fields and for this purpose they used to douse milk on the idols of their deities, he said

The festival brings smiles to the faces of unmarried Kalasha boys and girls who get an opportunity to choose their life partners and announce the name on the last day of the festival.

The festival starts with women dressing up in traditional clothes of vibrant colours, adorn gold, silver jewelry and elaborate headgear, while men wear traditional shalwar kameez with a woolen waistcoat. The opening ritual is the distribution of milk among the festival participants which they called (Cheerak Pepe), TCKP MD explained the interesting festivities of the event which people come to experience from far and wide.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2019.