Kalash woman with an ornate headdress and jewellry at the Anish Brun Village Charso (dancing ground), Kalash Joshi (Spring Festival), Bumburet Valley, Chitral, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
The exuberant Kalash Spring Festival finished today after three days of celebrations in three remote valleys near Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly the North West Frontier Province). The Kalash people are a unique ethnic group in Pakistan. Non-Muslims, they practice a form of shamanic animism. They brew mulberry wine which is drunk with vigour at festivals, and Kalash women wear bright clothes and have considerably more freedom than their Muslim neighbours. If a Kalash woman doesn't like her husband, she is able to leave them and elope with another man. The Spring Festival happens in the Rumbur, Bumboret and Birir Valleys on three subsequent days, finishing on the 17th May. The festival involves drinking and dancing. Elders sing stories from the history of the Kalash, who trace their roots back to the soldiers of Alexander the Great. As the festival progresses, the drumming and dancing become more wild, until the whole village carries out a religious rite, lead by the Shaman, to bring good luck for the coming year. A specific threat from the Taliban, twenty kilometres away in Nuristan Province over the Afghanistan border lead to 800 soldiers being drafted in along with numerous police and special anti-terrorist units. Lack of official permissions and the security situation meant that only a handful of Western tourists made it to the festivals, but they passed off safely.
Size: 3801px × 5701px
Location: Kalash Valley, Chitral, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Formerly North West Frontier Province), Pakistan
Photo credit: © Steve_Davey / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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