The Kalash tribe is a unique community of people living in the Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The practices and customs of this tribe are in total contrast to the other communities living in the neighboring areas and in whole Pakistan. Kalashi people mostly speak Kalasha language which is said to be derived from the Dardic family of the Indo-Aryan languages. Kalash tribe forms a very tiny portion of the total population in Pakistan and is considered the smallest ethnoreligious minority in the country. The total population of Kalash tribe is approximately 3,000. The name “Kalash” is referred to the tribe because of the black clothes the women of this tribe wear.
Image Source: Google.com
Sub-tribes
Kalash is a very compact tribe and people of this community identify themselves as Kalashis instead of relating to sub-tribes. Hence, the concept of sub-division is very limited due to low population and their joint community structure.
Origin
There are two major theories regarding the origin of this unique community.
The theories are as follows:
Theory 1: Indo-Aryan Origin
Mostly, the historians believe that Kalash tribe is a descendant of the ancient Indo-Aryan communities who were the indigenous inhabitants of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and parts of Iran. The Kalash community lives mostly in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan but those at Afghan side who been converted to Islam whereas on the Pakistani side, they are still living with their unique culture and customs. Famous historian of the Indo-Aryan region, George Morgenstierene is supportive of this theory.
Theory 2: Greek Origin
Some Historians believe that the Kalash people are the descendants of the armed forces who accompanied Alexandar the great in his attack on Indo-Subcontinent. These historians are of the view that the soldiers later settled in the area and never went back to Greek. They support their theory by putting forward the facial structure as a sign of their Greek origin.
Religion
From the opinion of different scholars, it can be derived that half of the Kalashi people practice Islam whereas half of them practice their own traditional religion.
Their traditional religion is unique in a sense that it is not practiced anywhere in the world except in Chitral. They are polytheists in their belief i-e they believe in many gods like Hindus and thus historians are of the view that Kalash religion is a form of old Hinduism. Other experts consider Kalash’s traditional religion as a kind of Animism, the religion in which even non-living things are said to be possessing a soul and are worshipped.
The major deities ( gods) of the Kalashi religion are as follow:
Ingaw
Sajigor
Balumain
Mahandeo
Jestak
Dezalik
Kalash people put their dead bodies in an open place instead of burying it because they believe that the dead bodies should serve as a food for the birds and other animals.
Code of Conduct
Compact structure
Kalashi people gives extreme importance to their unique identity and culture and mostly don’t allow people belonging to other communities or religions to live in between them permanently. Anyone who converts to any other religion form Kalash religion mostly receives a very cold response from these people.
No sex segregation
In total contrast to Pakistani culture, this community doesn’t follow the rule of sex segregation. The males and females live together, dance together and take part in different activities together.
Impurity linked to Women
Though there is equality in terms of the representation of both males and females in ceremonies yet impurity is mostly related to women. The women during their menstruation period or during pregnancy are shifted to a special place where they remain there till their state of menstruation or pregnancy is over.
Paying for marriage
If a person wants to marry a woman, he would have to pay a reasonable amount in the shape of currency or animals like goat etc. In case, the woman is already married to another person, the person who wants to marry that woman would have to pay double the price the first husband paid.
Music
The Kalash music is unique and rich in its essence and can be divided into the following types on the basis of the festival and occasions when they are sung.
The songs mentioned below are categorized due to their importance on different occasions.
Dance songs
Tunes of Tsatruma
Rhythmical Songs
Monotonous Songs
Flute
The popular musical instruments of Kalash include:
Dau: A small drum
Wac: A large drum
These two instruments are played in compliment with each other.
Clothes
The Kalash people wear traditional clothes as a part of their unique culture.
Male dress
Males mostly have adopted the common Pakistani Shalwar Kameez.
Female Dress
Females wear very colorful robes with a sort of Turban with it. They also do a lot of embroidery on their clothes to make them look fancier.
Image Source: Google.com
Ceremonies
- Chilam Joshi
This festival is celebrated in May to welcome the spring. In this festival, men and women meet each other and dance together. This is like a dating season where both sexes look for their future life partners. The Kalash people also pray for their safety and for the safety of their animals and fields.
- Chilam Uchaw
This festival is observed in last days of August to pray for a good crop of wheat.
- Pul/Poh
The Pul/Poh festival is observed in the month of September to make the beginning of winter season.
- Chilam Chaumos
This festival is considered the most important and lengthy festival of the Kalash tribe spanning for more than two weeks. This festival is celebrated to congratulate each other on the arrival of the new year.
The Chaumos festival has some very unique and sort of weird events too, like:
Waving a band of fire on those who are impure according to Kalash people.
Change of dress, in which males wear female dress and female wear the male dress.
The intercourse of prepubescent boy with any woman he wants. In this tradition, prepubescent boys are sent to the mountain and allowed to drink only Goat milk. They are allowed to return on the occasion of the festival and are free to do intercourse with any woman he wants including married women.
Tribal Traits
- Hospitality
Though Kalash people live in a very close and compact society with a very cold response to outside influence yet at the same time they are very hospitable people.
Any foreign tourist visiting their area is entertained with respect and served with different kinds of foods.
- Hard work
Kalashis are very hardworking and most of the people of the tribe are related to farming. They themselves work in these fields and mark the celebrations of their festivals with the different stages of crops.
- Sharing
They live in joint families sharing their sorrows and joy.
Cuisine
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Imag Source: Google.com
- Billi
Bread of nuts and meats mixed and cooked together in a special way.
- Jau
Bread of nuts and cheese
- Karau
Bread of nuts and wine.
- Mandawarwac
Bread prepared from wheat flour.
- Sonabanic
A mixture of walnut and mulberry flour.
First of part of this series was based on Pashtun Tribe. Don’t forget to read it as well by clicking on the link given below.
https://steemit.com/life/@mmasim/tribalogy-part-1-pashtun-tribe