Women at work: Meet the tomb raider from Kalash

By Hidayat Khan / Photo: SAYED GUL KALASH / Photo: Hidayat Khan

CHITRAL:  When people who have heard of her but have not met her finally do, they are taken aback. The head of Bumboret Museum—an archaeologist no less—named Sayed Gul Kalash is not a man.

Images from the Kalash valleys portray women as a strong, confident ilk, even if the photographs are run-of-the-mill shots of festivals focusing on the colourful attire. Kalasha women come across as in control, unabashed and bold.
As does 27-year-old Gul. Working her way around obstacles both natural and manmade, Gul became the first archaeologist from the valley, and a globally recognised one at that. In 2013, National Geographic added Gul to their Emerging Explorers programme.
Digging to reach dreams
“The journey across rugged mountains to cities in the country has never been easy,” the Bumboret native tells The Express Tribune.
But that didn’t stop Gul; not even the 30-kilometre journey from her home to her college in winter. “I would just hang on tight to my bags and find my way to Chitral on foot,” around routes blocked by snow. Even on a bright summer’s day, the journey is an arduous one as worn and tattered roads greet travellers, even though Kalash is a tourist destination.
Gul started piecing together her career before she completed her Master’s degree in Archaeology Studies from Hazara University. While Gul was still in college, she worked for a Unesco project in collaboration with Abdul Wali Khan University.
As a student, her archaeology fieldwork took her to sites in Chitral and Khanpur. But Gul doesn’t like to talk about the discoveries made then as “the credit goes to the teachers who were leading the excavation.”
For her later work, in Bumboret, the explorer names at least eight sites where she made substantial discoveries in an attempt to piece together the history of the Kalasha; their journey from the town of Chitral to Bumboret and other valleys. Within the sunken village and the grave sites she discovered, Gul says she wants to be able to verify whether what oral history says is indeed true.
“They say 15,000 years ago, the Kalash ruled Chitral. In the 10th century, this ruler Rais came and drove the Kalasha to these valleys,” narrates Gul. “So we’ve only been here for 600 years if what they say is true.”
Before she joined the Bumboret Museum as a government employee (where she manages a team of nine) in the August of 2010, Gul voluntarily helped found Kalasha Dur, a museum aiming to preserve the history, culture and art of the Kalasha. Kalasha Dur, she says, has preserved the unique Kalash culture for future generations and the centuries-old artefacts are a great attraction for tourists and locals.
“Everything present there has been gathered by me and sponsored by the Greek government,” she tells The Express Tribune, dressed in her traditional Susutr (headdress) as she enthusiastically receives guests at Bumboret Museum.
As Gul is currently not involved in field work, she prefers to wear the traditional black robes and beaded headdress. However, talking to her, one gets the distinct feeling Gul would not let something as insignificant as clothing get in her way.
The intrepid woman, the explorer
Living in a wooden house in front of a PTDC motel, the archaeologist receives dozens of visitors a day and is one of the most prominent personalities of her area. “Many people think they are coming to meet a male archaeologist and are truly stumped when they come across a woman,” she jokes, making a reference to her first name. After Gul, the name Sayed will retain a more androgynous quality and might come to reflect the qualities of strength and perseverance she has used to establish herself with.
“Of course I face problems because I am a woman,” Gul replies to a question. “Is there any work in which women are not faced with problems?”
But, Gul says, for her, the problems begin and mostly end at home. “Masla sab seh ziada ghar peh hota hai.” My family is the one with the biggest issue with me working as an archaeologist, she says.
“They tell me, especially my old-fashioned paternal grandfather, ‘you dig graves while others finish their studies and join the police force.’” Gul repeats, “Masla sab seh ziada ghar peh hee hota hai.”
Gul isn’t one to let that get in her way either. “I love the challenge; they can say what they want, but I love risks.”
The role model
“Every daughter of the valley wants to become Sayed Gul and bring a positive change to their lives, but a lack of resources stops us,” says Nasira, a resident of Bumboret, as she presented dried mulberries to those visiting her home.
“I have four daughters and all of them are studying in different grades at local government schools.” Her three sons could be seen playing outside; another reminder of how the Kalasha girls or boys are not bound by as many gender roles. Nasira adds that she wants the same respect for them as Gul elicits. But the area lacks educational facilities.
In fact the population of a few thousand is still partially agrarian and partially dependent on tourism. With few opportunities to make money, many live below the poverty line. Even maintaining their culture is a burden on the Kalasha; the headdresses they like to sport can cost as much as Rs20,000, also making it a very expensive souvenir for tourists.
But after the story of Gul, many of the Kalasha are determined to overcome all obstacles the same way the first archaeologist of Kalash did.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2014.
Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/774389/women-at-work-meet-the-tomb-raider-from-kalash/


 

Religious Minorities in Pakistan Demand the Right to Choose Their Own School Curriculum

By: John Coleman 30 October, 2014 7:01 PM

A group representing the religious minorities of Pakistan organized a seminar that discussed the concerns of the educational curriculum in the region. The group demands that the government allow religious minorities to choose the curriculum they want.
The event was organized by the South Asian Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK) and Members of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly and social activists were in attendance, according to the Express Tribune.
Pakistan is known to include Islamic teachings in the school curriculum. Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Kalasha and other religious groups make up the minority of Muslim-dominated Pakistan.
"Non-Muslim students should be given the option to decide if they want to study Islamiat or Civics instead of it," Sikh elder Rabinder Singh Tony said at the event.
Members of the Kalasha religious minority have had no representation at a general assembly in Pakistan, and many of them live in poverty without proper health and educational facilities.
"The Kalasha have a unique culture and have been living in Chitral for centuries, yet their voices are not heard in the assemblies," MPA from Chitral Sardar Hussain said.
Haroon Sarbdiyal, chairman of the All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement said "education molds minds and people of all faiths should be given the right to decide what they want to study at school."
A member of the PTI MPA political party, Shaukat Yousafzai, said in a speech at the event that the government would acknowledge the requests of religious minorities, and non-Muslims deserve to have equal rights in the providence.
Source: http://www.christiandaily.com/article/religious.minorities.in.pakistan.demand.the.right.to.choose.their.own.school.curriculum/49362.htm

 

Footprints: Winter days of celebration

Maureen Lines Published Dec 23, 2014 06:18am

 

CHAOMOS, the winter festival, now ending, celebrates the solstice at this end of the year; it is the most sacred of Kalash festivals and is the time when Balamahin, believed to be a messenger of the Divine, is supposed to ride into the valleys.
I have seen all these festive seasons, Joshi in the spring, Oocho, held in Rumbur, celebrating the bringing down of the cheese in summer and the autumn festival, Pur, celebrated in Birir.
The festivals vary from valley to valley, in the same way the language varies. Bumburet and Rumbur Kalasha are virtually the same, but in Birir the accent is different (more pure, according to the Birir Kalasha!), some of the nouns are different and sometimes the conjugation of the verbs differs. Until recently, women’s attire showed variations. In Birir, the women wore long chains hanging from the waist on one side of their black robes.
In Rumbur and Bumburet, no one is allowed to enter the valley after Dec 10, and then they must go through a purification ceremony, where burning twigs and leaves are waved over the heads of the new arrivals.
In all three valleys, dancing is enjoyed. This is the only time I saw the ‘solo’ dance, usually by two people, either two women or a man and a woman; sometimes there is just one dancer. Often it can be a spontaneous event held on a rooftop or open meadow.
As with all festive occasions, the women wear kupis, the winter and ceremonial headdress decorated with cowrie shells and weighing around five pounds. Both women and men often wear ornate gowns over their regular clothes.
At a certain time in the festival, women make small figurines out of dough which they will put on a shelf or table for display.
In Rumbur, late at night a huge bonfire is lit around which the people dance. The heat from the fire keeps the audience warm. Rumbur and Bumburet are colder than Birir and for the visitor very challenging.
In Birir, which is farther south than the other two valleys, it is warmer — warm enough to grow excellent grapes which are then used for wine for which the valley is famous, whereas Rumbur is well known for its milk products.
In Birir, towards the end of the festival, the people march up the hillside of Guru village, one of the most traditional villages where the rooftop of one house serves as a terrace for the one above. Guru is in the process of being made a protected area by the government, the first in the Kalasha valleys.
The view of the people in their brightly coloured robes reflecting the bright December sunshine changes as later at night the Kalasha ascend the hill of another village with lighted flares.
The event that the Kalasha prize most, perhaps, is Boots Sambian — the rite of passage of young boys around seven and eight. Dressed in the clothes of their ancestors including turbans, they spend two or three nights in the goat houses, where they see their first goat sacrifice and imbibe their first glass of wine. When they return to their homes, they always look a tad dishevelled…
My Kalasha family are here with me in Peshawar for the winter, as winter came early and it is very cold up in the mountains. The mother remembers two years ago when her eldest son went through the ‘rite of passage’. She remembers that four goats were slaughtered, eight maunds of flour, 10 pots of cheese and 10 gowns were provided. “Many rupees go!” she exclaimed. The son in question remembers along with his peers trying to make the bread in the goat house. His younger brother remembers gleefully the drummers marching at night up the hill with the flares. The elder sister keeps her memories to herself…
Often visitors ask me if society is changing and how the Kalasha are coping with modern life. The greatest threat is climate change as seen in the onset of an early and very cold winter. This year, the Gol, which runs by our house, and the new school being built, was inundated twice by floodwaters. The first time was in early spring, an unheard-of event. At that time of year, it is usually the main river which floods its banks.
The government has now banned the cutting of timber. It has also said it will implement a reforestation programme and control the wanderings of goats where young seedlings are growing.
The Kalasha are well aware of the problems facing them and don’t need NGOs telling them they must keep their culture! The desire to retain their culture and their language is strong, as is their desire for education. It was they who decided some time back that their oral language needed a written form; they adopted the Latin script and have books in Kalasha for the schools. With encouragement from NGOs and government, the Kalasha will continue to celebrate their colourful and unique festivals.
Maureen Lines is the project director of the Hindukush Conservation Society.
Published in Dawn December 23th , 2014
Source: http://www.dawn.com/news/1152555/footprints-winter-days-of-celebration

Kalash: White survivalists in Afghanistan?

Kalash: White survivalists in Afghanistan?

February 18, 2012 - Asia, Kalash

Remember the National Geographic cover of the Afghan woman with pale skin and green eyes? It wasn’t the image that most people had of the peoples of Afghanistan. Razib Khan has been shedding some light on Afghan genes in the science magazine Discover this week. In particular Khan looks at the enigmatic.

The Kalash, a little-known, largely isolated, and religiously pagan tribe, in Afghanistan claim to be the descendants of Alexander the Great.

Numbering only a few thousand, the Kalash have been pressured by Islamic extremists in Afghanistan to convert to Islam. Female Kalash in particular are targeted for conversion, undermining the small tribal community.

Khaliq, a Kalash elder, complained the Guardian that Pakistan had also “treated us like animals, and [the] valley [home of the Kalash] like a zoo.”

But the Kalsh appear to have the type of character that has allowed them to survive in a historically extremely hostile environment. But culture isn’t the only thing that has set the Kalash apart. Peculiarly, this small tribe has pale skin and fair hair, and looks every bit European. Khan even says — half jokes, I think — that the Kalash and Burusho “are the best refutation of the ‘blondes going extinct meme‘.” But he doesn’t buy their claims to be descendants of Alexander the Great.

“The Kalash mtDNA is almost totally West Eurasian,” he says, “but looking at the “Kalash” component above you don’t see particular closeness to the Russian/European modal component in comparison to the South Asian ones. Yet looking through the images at the links above I think you’ll be struck by how European some of the Kalash and Burusho seem in visible appearance, as well as how similar to each other they look.”

The Kalash “arise from the fringes of the ancient admixture between West Eurasians and South Eurasians, but their phenotype exhibits far less of the South Eurasian imprint than the lowland peoples of the Punjab. I have no good model for why mountains would foster such a phenotypic difference[...]. ”

Source: http://peopleofshambhala.com/kalash-white-survivalists-in-afghanistan

Kalash festivities: Song and dance

Kalash festivities: Song and dance

Maureen Lines | From the Newspaper 

The Kalasha people, or ‘Kafir’ Kalash, as they are generally called, live in three remote valleys in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  province of Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. Bumburet, Rumbur and Birir lie approximately 22 miles south of Chitral. The population of Chitral district is about 378,000 people, of whom 4,500 are Kalash. These valleys are the last enclaves to withstand conversion to Islam in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area.

During the seventh century AD, much of the area was invaded by the Arab forces and converted to Islam. The Kalash, believed to have arrived in the Chitral area in the 10th century, came from the Bashgal valley, which is now in Afghanistan. They had been pushed out by the other Kafir tribes, who in turn were being pressed by invading Islamic armies from the west.

In Kalash oral histories their traditional home is called Tsiam. One theory put forward is that it is the town of Chaga Serai in eastern Afghanistan, but it is doubtful. According to the Kalash, Tsiam is reputed to be the original home of the Kalash “Messenger of God” – Balamahin who is said to return to the valleys every year during the winter solstice – the festival of Chaumos.

The Kalash oral histories also mention a place called Yarkhan. Yarkand was an ancient Buddhist centre, which is now in the Chinese western province of Xinjiang. A number of beliefs and institutions of the Kalash are thought to have originated there.

When I first visited the Kalash valleys in the beginning of the 1980s, they had just been discovered by anthropologists, much in the same way as Columbus discovered America!

During the 1980s and 90s, I was to meet many of those academics, among whom, though often gracious and friendly, very few actually liked me. The reason was only too obvious: Who was this upstart who had such a close relationship to the Kalash? I was not an academic and I had no degree. When in the 1990s, I attended a seminar in Denmark, and I suggested to the august members that we should write a friendly guide book on the Kalash for the tourists, the idea was met with horror; so I make no apologies for writing about the Kalash from the tourist’s point of view.
The Kalasha have no set calendar as we know it. Their year begins around March with the month of the spring sacrifice and all succeeding months are decided by the phases of the moon and become synonymous with natural events. Hence there is the Month of the Teats, denoting the birth of animals, the months associated with the festivals of the four seasons, and those which bring forth the various crops. When all the harvesting is over, there comes the Month of the Falling Leaves, followed by two months of winter, divided into the first 40 days called the Big Cold and the next twenty called the Little Cold. Then comes the Month of Melting Snow, followed by the Moon Month heralding the beginning of the new cycle.

The Kalash celebrate all four seasons with a festival each. Chaumos, the celebration of the winter solstice, is held in all three valleys in the middle/end of December. At all the festivals, there is dancing in the day and night.

Each festival has its own particular charm. In Birir the spring festival is held on a mountain top and the autumn festival (my favourite) was held in an open glade with a backdrop of the mountains.

Unfortunately, corruption and lack of awareness have ruined this once gorgeous spectacle. A few years ago, overzealous corrupt Kalash elders approached the Secretary of Minorities to build a cement wall around the natural dancing ground, thereby destroying the whole ambience.
Twice I observed the Chaomos festival in Rumbur and twice in Birir. Of all the festivals, the Chaomos (celebrating the winter solstice) is the one appreciated by the Kalasha the most.  It is the time for doing their spring cleaning, their young children going through the rite of passage, the drinking of wine, dancing around bonfires and enjoying the fruits, which have been dried during the summer.

Chaomos, as is the case of many cultural events, differs in a number of ways from valley to valley, except for the two most important issues. This is the festival when boys of a certain age – around eight or nine – go through a rite of passage and spend three days in a jestakhan (temple) where they see their first goat being slaughtered and where they drink their first wine. For this the young men are dressed in the clothes of the ancient elders.

The other major feature of the winter solstice is the ride of Balamahin. The Kalasha religion is a complex, convoluted subject with multi-layered and often paradoxical beliefs. Most anthropologists consider it to be polytheistic because it has many deities. In Rumbur valley, however, where people are more progressive, there is a stronger belief in the monotheistic concept of one supreme creator of the universe, called Dezau or Khodai, the  intermediary between the people and Dezau being Balamahin.

In Rumbur, be they inhabitant or visitor, they must make sure that they are within the precincts of Rumbur before December 10, when they are obliged to go through a ritual of cleansing, which generally consists of somebody waving twigs above a person’s head. In this valley there is more evidence of an attractive feature of the people carving out figures of goats and Balamahin in the dough for making bread. In Birir, besides the big bonfire, around which the people dance, the Kalasha walk up the path of Guru village, dressed in colourful chogas and carrying flares. It is traditional for everyone, whether they are residents or guests of the valleys, to go from one valley to another to celebrate the festival as the days of celebration in each valley differ.

(Published in Dawn’s All About Lifestyle)

Source: http://dawn.com/2013/02/03/kalash-festivities-song-and-dance