Chilam Joshi Festival is a

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

celebrated by the

Kalash people The Kalasha (Kalasha: کالؕاشؕا, romanised: ''Kaḷaṣa)'', or Kalash, are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Kalash population in Pakistan numbers only in ...

, living in the

Chitral District Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km², before splitting into Upper Chitral District and Lower Chitral District in 2018. Part of the Malakand Divis ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

province in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It marks the commencement of spring within the Kalasha community and is celebrated from the 13th to the 16th of May each year.

Activities

The four-day festival is held in the middle of May. It serves both spiritual and social purposes. The Kalasha people pray for their

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

's wellbeing, invoking their

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

, Goshidai. The festival also facilitates the search for potential marital partners, with announcements made at its conclusion by those successful in this quest. Essential activities of the festival are song and dance, with women traditionally wearing new clothes, and community-wide dances welcoming the spring season. While the festival spans the three Kalasha Valleys,

Bumburet Valley Bumburet (Kalasha: ', ur, وادی پمپوریت) is the largest valley of Kalasha Desh in Lower Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the province of Pakistan. The Bumburet valley joins the Rumbur valley at , and then joins the Kunar Valley ...

sees the most visitors due to its greater accessibility. Over time, the festival has evolved in sync with shifts in Kalasha culture, as suggested by

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

studies. It has become a platform for the community to exhibit their culture to a wider audience, contributing to their

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

by attracting

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

References

External links

* {{Cite web, url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/117187-Chilam-Joshi-Festival-starts-on-May-13-at-Kalash-Valley, title=Chilam Joshi Festival starts on May 13 at Kalash Valley, website=www.thenews.com.pk, language=en, access-date=2017-09-18
Kalash Chilam Joshi Festival - Hunza Guides Pakistan

Festivals in Pakistan Kalash culture