Kalash Valley Pakistan | A Tribe with Unique Culture in Chitral
When we go abroad, we appreciate the culture of the people there Outsiders should come here and appreciate our culture People should come here but don't be rude and don't take pictures of us without asking They can explore the village and should ask us before taking our pictures First of all, I want to address Youtubers that they make videos about us and they make videos and spread wrong things about Kalash and put it on YouTube And they spread bad things about Kalash First of all, tell me how come people here in Kalash are so beautiful There is no secret to it, What you people eat, we also eat We take a natural and healthy diet, this is the main difference Men also work with us, fetching firewood and cutting grass They also work in the fields and many other types of work [Music] Assalam-o-Alaikum, welcome to the new episode of Grip on Trip My Chitral series is going on, today we are going in that area of Chitral As soon as you hear the name of Chitral, the place that comes to your mind, I am going there now Yes, you are right, Today I am going to Kalash Valley You can see the power of culture from the fact that there are 22-23 million people in Pakistan among which only five thousand are Kalashi people and their culture, their lifestyle, their customs are famous in the whole world Not only Prince William but every year thousands of people come from abroad to see them It would be best to stay connected with your culture because your survival depends on it. Whatever your culture is, Sindhi culture or Punjabi culture, you should love your culture THIS IS THE THING I LEARNED MORE FROM THEM WE WILL LEAVE FROM CHITRAL CITY AND OUR JOURNEY WILL BE 17 to 18 KM BACK TO THE DIR The way to Kalash starts from a village Ayun Let's start our journey towards Kalash by looking at the beautiful route We will try to find any Kalash resident So that he/she will tell us about their cultural history Initially, I was imagining Kalash as a small city or town But you can see it is like a big city [Music] Government and private hospitals, marts, banks, and all necessities of life are available here All the facilities that a big city should have are here To visit Kalash from Chitral you have to travel back towards Dir on N45 Motorway [Music] Right now I am travelling on N45, which is a Dir Chitral road Yesterday I came to Chitral through the Lowari Tunnel Overall the road is good, only a few KM patches after the Lowari tunnel were bad They were too bad The total distance of the trip is about 50 km But after N45 the road is rough I think after Ayun village, the Kalash Valley road is a jeep track The beautiful valley right in front is Ayun Village If you guys are coming from the Dir side, then 16-17 KM before Chitral this turn comes where this board of Kalash Valley is installed Hotel names and numbers are mentioned here Chitral, Bumburet and Kalash Hotel numbers and all details are mentioned here This road is going down the hill and Bamburet distance is mentioned here is 18 KM 18 Km Bamburet and Bareer. These are three valleys, not villages. There are small villages in these valleys, like Karakel etc Let's see them I think this road is rough, it is not that much perfect Because we are coming from Chitral, we travelled for 17-18 KM Now we will travel deep inside the valley, Let's see the way and start travelling again This valley turning at my back is so beautiful, we stopped here for a while This is the turn which leads to Kalash Valley If you are coming from the Dir side then this turn will be on your left side And if you are coming from the Chitral side then it will come on your right side Chitral is 17 km away from here, we came here from Chitral The road N45 main highway is excellent Now we are travelling inside the valley Going down the road you will cross the Chitral River Because of the hot weather, the flow of the river is high I think after Ayun Valley, the Kalash Valley road is a jeep track District Ayun is also very big, it comes 2 KM after crossing the river's bridge [Music] You can see hotels, mobile towers, petrol pumps, banks etc here If you do not want to go to Chitral, you can stay at Ayun for a night There are so many hotels easily available here Basically, there are many Valleys in Kalash, including Bamburet, Bareer, Rambore etc As soon as the settlement ended, the uphill started and the road is in bad condition My friend told me that after Ayun the road patches are bad, and now I have to travel 20 KM more This road is not only bad but also very dangerous See for yourself how much of a problem it will be if a car comes from the front I'm thinking people from all over the world come to the Kalash festival here This route should be fixed immediately because this is not a good impression Somewhere on the road, the settlement ends completely and somewhere fields started There is no shortage of water in this entire route, instead, there are water springs running Power plants have been built by stopping these water springs somewhere They fulfil the electric needs of nearby villages After N45, the entire 23 KM road is terrible A regular traveller person like me is also feeling tired [Music] The concerned bodies here should repair this road immediately because I never recommend coming here with family This whole region is called Kalash, and there are many Valleys And there are small villages in these Valleys I am going towards Bamburet, which has Baroon and Kalakar villages I will make a stop at Kalakar and then will see Baroon from there wow, what a beautiful place, we entered in Bamburet Now we will discover different Kalash areas We will take a first stop at Barun and then will go towards Kalakar There are different fresh juices and Salajeet is available This is a beautiful place, I will show you let's drink cold water and then leave Hello Prince, what is your name? Sam Bring me one straw Who makes Apricot juice here? Do you? How do you make it? Don't you know Urdu? Which language do you speak? Khuwar How much is the distance of Barun from here? 5 minutes distance from here And Karakal? Where is the museum? In Barun? Yes, in Barun Sam was doing wrong calculations, he was taking money only for juices and forgot to take water bottle money In this way, you will suffer a lot The plan had previously included that we would stop at Brunn But now I have decided to visit Karkal first and then on our way back we will visit Barun This is the enclosure where these people perform their rituals This is a lunch break time, So the shops are also close Such premises are common in these villages Amreena joined us here, her name is a very famous She also sang a song Pareek in Coke studio, it was a hit How many festivals are celebrated in this valley? There are 3 festivals celebrated in this valley One is Joshu, the second is Uchal, and the third is Chaumas In December we slaughter the goats and pray All festivals are special but this is the most special one Jushu is celebrated to welcome the spring season Are you educated? Yes, I completed my second year Have you decided to study further? I haven't decided yet Your religion name is Kalash, Your language name is also Kalash, right? Yes, we speak the Kalashi language here How many people live in this village? 60-100 people are living in this village In which village do most people live? Most people live in this village Bamburet is a Valley, right? Yes, like Kansar and Shehnanday at the top Like Islamabad and other cities have different names Tell me, how the people of this region are so beautiful? I observed that even the gents in this region have blue-coloured eyes Tell me, what you people do to look beautiful Nothing, actually the air and water is clean here Everything is clean and there is no pollution Girls do not use make-up, there is a natural beauty There is no secret in it Whatever you people eat, we eat the same We take natural diet, I think you people do not take natural diet People who are from Chitral and Gilgit are not so beautiful They are different from us Do the women of this village also work? Yes, ladies work in the fields And what do your men do? They bring wood and cut the grass, they also work in the fields How long does your wedding ceremony last? We celebrate the weddings for three days in the village Villagers come to congratulate then the family of the bride come to meet her and ask her if she is happy or not Then she say yes I am happy What people say in Pakistan, here boys and girls get married and run away Even in the city, boys and girls run away and get married But there is nothing like this I am a photographer, and I have heard that ladies here are very annoyed by photographers When we go out we appreciate other cultures. So, outsiders should also appreciate our culture then we will talk to them and feel comfortable to tell them about our culture Tourists can come here but shouldn't disrespect us, do not take pictures without permission They can explore the village by obtaining permission from us Has any boy or girl ever married outside the tribe here in Kalash? No, never Suppose if a boy from Kalash likes a girl from another religion, what does he do? Right, Maybe he will marry the one he likes Do people from here go out of this area to work Yes, they do Are there women in this area who go out of here and live in Punjab or Sindh? So, How does she dress when she goes there? Here, we wear similar clothes, but when we go out, we wear different clothes Because even if they go out and wear such clothes, all the people will keep looking at them No, they dress differently there Earlier the graves in your graveyards were different with wooden boards Now you people have changed it, right? It used to happen a hundred years ago, like in our great-grandfather's time Now we bury the dead bodies with his bed What is the meaning of burying a bed with a dead body We also put all the things used by the dead person there We don't keep anything of him/her at home We put all his belongings near his grave If he has more clothes or more things, we share them with the people of the village First of all, I want to address the Youtubers, they come here and make wrong videos about us and upload it on YouTube, this is very bad False things about Kalash They do not research They do not ask anyone They spread bad rumours about us People should come here and spread positive things about our culture on Youtube What are your further plans for your singing career? Yes, sure. Why not I want to continue my singing career along with my studies InshaAllah As Amreena told us, they are very much annoyed by Youtubers Although, she is sitting here with a Youtuber She is saying, people do not take care of their privacy People go inside their houses with cameras, without proper research People spread rumours about these people without verification I have come here many times but I have never felt anything like what is on YouTube We should verify things before posting on Youtube We shouldn't spread bad statements about them just to get views There should be no question about the honour and dignity of these people Thank you so much, people, here are very nice There are so many facilities. Only the Telenor network works here U-fone doesnt work here Do your village people have their own hotels? Yes, my uncle owns a hotel here in Kalash Most of the people here are our relatives It is not necessary to stay in Chitral if you are coming from Dir, you can stay here This is a great experience, also the weather is good You can eat fruits from this region so that your complexion improves I think the reason for the water also makes a lot of difference The water you gave me was very delicious Yes, this water is from the water spring Ok, give one glass more Thank you so much Welcome After a long talk with Amreena, I came to see Kalashi Graveyard It is known as Ashpata, This cemetery is centuries old and old graves can still be seen here.
The graveyard is open to tourists In the old part of this cemetery, there are many hundreds of years old graves According to the customs of earlier times, all the belongings of the person who died were also placed with his grave. The singing and dancing by these people at funerals means that they happily allow the dead person to go to another world All the belongings of the dead person were also kept with him means that you also take them with you But then it used to happen that people of other religions used to pick up these things Also, different kinds of animals started coming here Because of this, they changed their customs and found a solution to this problem that now these people bury their dead. Previously, they kept the graves open from one side And all the stuff was placed with graves Now, as you can see, they bury their dead bodies in new graves But these people put the bed of the deceased upside down on the grave There is a pathway in this graveyard for the tourists Instructions are written here for the tourists that stay inside this pathway and do not go in right/left direction It's made for your convenience, great for those interested in history This is a totally different culture As this graveyard is full now, they kept a space there for a new graveyard Let's see that, the way goes from here This place has been allocated by these people for a new cemetery In the old cemetery, half of the graves are old and half are new The old graves are several hundred years old Here every village has their own graveyard, in Karakal everything is managed there are pathways in graveyards for tourists This is a famous place for tourists, so everything is managed Now we are going back to see the museum Let's see if the museum is open or not It was supposed to be opened at 2:30, we reached there a bit earlier Museum timings are mentioned here, you can notice the timings before coming here This is a Museum I think it's a flour mill I don't know how these people used it But this stone looks like a part of the mill This Museum is built to preserve the Kalashi culture Its building is also inspired by the Kalashi culture This museum was built by a tourist from Italy by collecting funds There are things related to Kalashi culture, daily items The rituals and objects of their worship, weddings and traditional things are placed here How many years ago was this museum built? This place is known as Kandurik, death ceremonies are performed here Dead bodies are placed here and here these people perform the rituals and then the goats are slaughtered A statue is then made in memory of the deceased First, they go to the forest to select a tree, According to these people, the tree itself tells them to use it for this work All these things are done by rich people of Kalashi culture After today's experience and listening to the people of this area There were so many things, that were off the record It is also sad to hear their words, we should consider our behaviour Specially, I am talking to photographers Ladies were saying, During our festival days we cannot even perform our rituals because of photographers, we cannot go out of our homes they annoyed them so much with the cameras It would be best if you think about this This is liberalism to take care of other cultures and traditions During the football World Cup in Qatar, alcohol was prohibited by the Qatari government All the people of Europe protested against this decision Qatar's stand on this protest was that when we come to your place, we care about your values and rules You people should do the same when you come to our country There are instructional boards installed at different places for photographers and tourists One should get permission before taking photos and not offend them Another important thing is if you want to come here to study the culture Or if you want to observe the Kalashi cultural practices or if you want to look at their graveyard Then you can come here, otherwise, there is no such beautiful valleys, views, lakes or waterfalls Many people talk among themselves Why did we come here? Come here, if you are interested in their history, culture and religion Then you can come here otherwise there is no need to come here The journey here is very long and the road is very bad Specially I want to talk about the roads, their festival Joshu is the identity of Pakistan People come here from all over the world. There is a helipad behind me, but not everyone comes by helicopter, most people come by road. The road is too bad and dangerous Do something about the roads Give me reviews about today's episode, Do you want to come to Kalash? Remember me in your prayers, Follow me on Instagram Comment, Like and Share, do 3-4 works for me See you soon in the next episode, InshaAllah Allah Hafiz
2024-05-27 13:02
