Kalasha Peoples Call for Cultural Survival

Unique Pakistan community under threat

Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is today arguably one of the most dangerous places in the world.
But while that may be true of regions where the Taliban proliferate, there are still areas of NWFP where life goes on as normal.
The most prominent of these is the Kalash region in the northern-most district of Chitral.
It is named after the Kalash tribe which has been settled here since time immemorialThe tribe, said to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s soldiers, still practise an ancient pagan culture unlike any other in this part of the world.
For centuries, the Kalash have been a people apart.
In modern times, they have become a major tourist attraction, but in so doing have also attracted the ire of Islamic clerics.
This has led to many of them derogatively referring to the Kalash region as Kafiristan, or “land of the unbelievers.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8083048.stm

Walk against Commercial preparation of wine in Kalash Valleys

www.chitraltimes.com

The residents of Ayun village arranged a walk against the commercial preparation of wine in the Kalash valleys of Bumburate, Birir and Rumbur and then its transportation to the other parts of the district. The village is situated in the entering point of the Kalash valleys. They were carrying placard with the slogans demanding an end to the proliferation of the menace of drug in the district. The walk ended in a public meeting in which the speakers said that the Kalash community are allowed to prepare wine for their domestic consumption only but its preparation on commercial scale must be stopped.

2500 world languages to be extinct KALASHA BEING ONE OF THEM: UNESCO

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 (APP): Around 2500 including 27 Pakistani languages would be extinct with the passage of time across the world.
According to UNESCO, 4000 languages are spoken in the world and there are 199 languages whose orator have reduced to only ten or less than ten persons. While 177 languages have ten to fifty orators.

According to the report, more than 200 languages will extinct

soon from the world. Among other world languages, around 27

languages including Brahvi, Balti, Mayan, Porak, Batairi, Phalor,

Kalasha, Domaki, Jad, Kati, Khawar, Kundal Shahi, Marri, Wakhi, Chalaiso, Sapti and Rangsakari are facing serious threat to be extinct.

‘Batairi’ language is spoken in Kohistan district near eastern bank of River Indus and have 29000 orators according to the census of the year 2000, the report added.

‘Domaki’ is the language spoken by people living in Gilgit, Hunza Valley and Momanabad that has more chances to extinct as according to 1989 sensus, Domaki language have only five hundred speakers.

However, ‘Zangskari’ and ‘Sapti’ are the language that were spoken in India and Pakistan years ago have totally diminished but there is not a single orator of these languages today.

According to linguists, different social, demographic and political factors are all contributing to the rapid disappearance of languages.

The residents of Ayun oppose the use of commercial scale preparation of wine in Kalash valleys

www.chitraltimes.com

CHITRAL: The residents of Ayun village situated at the conflux of the three Kalash valleys of Bumburate, Birir and Rumboor have demanded of the government to impose ban on the distillation of wine on commercial scale in the Kalash valleys which is smuggled to the other areas of the district. In their public meeting here on Tuesday, the elites of the area Qazi Mohammad Yahya, Haji Mohammad Jaleel, Khalid Zafar and others said that the people of Kalash community are free to prepare and use the wine and no one has the right to interfere in the matter but they should not be allowed to make it a source of business. They said that taking advantage of the indemnity to the Kalash community by the law of the land, the wine is being prepared in all the three valleys on large scale and then smuggled to the other parts of the district. They said that grape trees are in abundance in the valleys and the Kalash people prepare wine of it for monetary gains which spoils the atmosphere in the whole district. They said that as the residents of Ayun know well all the elements involved in the business of wine as the route to all the valleys pass from Ayun. The speakers expressed their concern that if the business of wine is not controlled, then the new generation will go astray as the tendency of consuming the commodity is on steep rise. They said that the use of wine is becoming a fashion among the Muslim community members across the district and the commodity is supplied from the Kalash valleys. The speakers demanded that the Kalash people should be allowed to prepare wine only small scale using customary methods instead of large distillation units and boilers which give it an industrial shape. On this occasion, the residents formed an organization named Islaah-e-Muashira to organize and streamline the efforts of the residents of Ayun village to nib the menace and save the society from being perverted.

BO KIRIK DYITA KALASHASUM- HEAVY SNOW

Homa tal’ay bo kirik dyai shiaw hul’a.Phondr asta kharp thi shian hul’a.Chetraway ay thi onja telephun una asa mondr may hatya mahalum hawaw.
It has been reported there has been Heavy snow fall in the Kalasha Valleys. Road to valleys are damaged with the land-slides and Kalasha are braving one the worst winters in isolation.

I Kalash, gli ultimi pagani del Pakistan

http://www.ilvelino.it/articolo.php?Id=716520
Roma, 5 dic (Velino) – Stanziati nelle ampie valli che si estendono ai piedi dell’immenso Hindu Kush, a pochi chilometri dal confine afgano e dalle cosiddette “tribal areas” del Waziristan, una comunità di circa 4000 anime, sopravvive mantenendo in vita tradizioni antiche di millenni. Sono i Kalash, stirpe di origine indoeuropea che, oggigiorno, costituisce una delle ultime minoranze non-islamizzate del Pakistan. Tradizionalmente noti con l’appellativo di Kafiri (ovvero “pagani”) i Kalash rappresentano l’ultima propaggine di un’antica enclave linguistica e culturale che, nel passato, occupava un’ampia area geografica che si estendeva tra l’Afghanistan orientale e l’attuale Pakistan nord-occidentale. A seguito di una sistematica opera di assimilazione culturale e di conversione, messa in atto alla fine del XIX secolo da Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, emiro di Kabul, i Kafiri stanziati entro gli antichi confini dell’Afganistan, si videro costretti ad abbracciare la fede islamica. Diversa fu invece la sorte delle popolazioni kafire che risiedevano nel cosiddetto “Piccolo Kafiristan”, area che corrisponde in buona parte all’attuale regione pakistana di Chitral e che, all’epoca, si trovava sotto la diretta giurisdizione amministrativa delle Indie britanniche.

Fu questa singolare circostanza che permise ai pastori Kalash di mantenere una propria distinta identità culturale e, soprattutto, di continuare a professare la propria fede ancestrale, a dispetto della forte pressione culturale esercitata dalla circostante maggioranza islamica. Politeisti convinti, i Kalash possiedono infatti una religione incentrata nel culto di una serie di figure divine, identificate con specifici sacrari e templi presenti nei villaggi o associati a siti naturali celati nelle selvatiche e impervie regioni montane della regione di Chitral. Dei e spiriti, ricordati, venerati e placati attraverso la celebrazione periodica di rituali e feste stagionali collettive che ricalcano i momenti più importanti del ciclo agricolo e pastorale di questo popolo. Tra le celebrazioni religiose, un ruolo di spicco è riservato alla ricchissima e pan-Kalash festa di Chaumos i cui preparativi hanno inizio proprio in questi giorni e che avrà tuttavia il suo culmine in coincidenza del solstizio invernale del 21 dicembre.

Con i tratti tipici di un rituale di capodanno, Chaumos vede la partecipazione sentita di tutti i villaggi situati nelle tre valli di Bumburet, Rumbur e Birir. In un crescendo che va aumentando giorno dopo giorno, la difficile e aspra vita quotidiana dei Kalash si colora dei ritmi e delle forme tipiche del rito: frenetiche danze notturne dall’inequivocabile carattere orgiastico si alternano a canti collettivi che, come è norma, vedono lo scambio di lazzi osceni e provocatori tra gruppi di uomini e donne. Banchetti più o meno improvvisati si susseguono per ogni dove, grazie alle carni ricavate dai copiosi sacrifici di capi di bestiame. Ragazzini appena adolescenti, sotto lo sguardo vigile e responsabile dei vecchi, armeggiano lunghi e affilati coltelli. Si avvicinano alle vittime designate, recidendo loro la carotide. Eredità diretta di antichi rituali iniziatici, con questo atto tangibile i Kalash sottolineano e ratificano socialmente il passaggio simbolico dalla condizione di fanciullezza a quella adulta.

Accanto all’orgia culinaria, si trova quella bacchica. I Kalash infatti, in completo abominio delle popolazioni islamiche loro vicine, coltivano da secoli la vite. Da questa producono un vino leggero per gradazione e leggermente acidulo di sapore. Consumato in grandi quantità durante la festa, è proprio il vino stesso a costituire uno degli ingredienti principali di Chaumos, così da divenire il principale “reagente” capace di elicitare il climax dionisiaco tipico che caratterizza questo rituale collettivo. Mettendo in scena un vero e proprio temporaneo annullamento delle nomali regole sociali, Chaumos celebra il simbolico ritorno al caos dei primordi, così da rendere possibile una completa rigenerazione del tempo e propiziare il nuovo anno che si sta annunciandolo; quello che inizierà non appena il sole deciderà di farsi nuovamente più vicino agli uomini.

Hai Hai Jamal Din Sawin Jigar asta Dunia ani parao.

22 julay as batkismat adu homa khosh malgiri zhe baya Jamal Din Nabroz Khan Rukmula as putras L’undur ugani chal’aikweo ugabat thi anashao.Tasa du putr aini,se Roozi Khan a chul’as sher bakdera babas ja kai ais.

Jamal sawin khosh moc ais tasa bati homa astru s’is’irik kai asta band ne hin.

Khodai askai homa sawin bo zihat suhal ki Homa baya tan prust dura apao dihel ori.

Tasa Dadas bayas Chul’as Namir Gul asta 30 Julay adu anashao.Se canser as lahas ais.Par tasa khur chini aini magam wadi asta ek kaw Peshwar ilac karikas justuna tihk ne hawao.Saeedaman a khandanuna bo gona wakia hawan thoday tasi saphur deori zhe asiru an hatia o khayar aphihat zhal’al ori.

Phatima Purduma Chulas Akheir Al’as’ing Paraw

Krak’a ai Purduma chulas Fatima dashani imtihan dai o Al’as’ing thi Balti a putras Shai Nazir a som Marc’ waki Z’hoshuna (25th)al’asi’ng paraw
Beautiful Phatima from Kraka, eloped with Shai Nazir on Marc’waki zhoshi festival. CONGRATS TO THE COUPLE wishing them a Joyful Life and Sorry for the other guys.

Sein Bulasing Becomes New KCSS President

On 25th may KCSS meeting was held in the confrence Hall of Kalasha Dur in order to elect new President for KCSS as Wazir Zada and his cabinet completed their three years term and handed the presidency over it to new vibrant KCSS personale.

Two outstanding memebers of KCSS, Mr.Sein Bulasing and Mr.Nabek Sharakat(kalash lawyer) were the candidates for Presidency,it became difficult to elect one of them eventualy one was elected by Toss.In this way Sein Bulasing became the President of KCSS and Nabek advocate General Secretary of KCSS.

Sein Bulasing with the consent of Nabek sharakat will appoint rest of the cabinet members for KCSS.