Kalash Religion

The Kalasha, or Kalash, are a unique Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Kalash are regarded as Pakistan's smallest ethnoreligious group. The neighboring Nuristani people once possessed the same culture and practiced a faith very similar to that of the Kalash. Nuristan was forcibly, but perhaps imperfectly, converted to Islam in the late nineteenth century. Neighboring Kalash preserved their traditional religion. The culture of the Kalash people differs in many ways from those of the many contemporary Muslim ethnic groups that surround them. Nature plays a significant spiritual role in their daily lives. As part of their religion sacrifices are offered and festivals are held to thank the gods for the abundant resources of the three river valleys the Kalash inhabit. Kalash mythology and folklore has been compared to that of ancient Greece, but is much closer to Hindu Vedic mythology. The three main festivals of the Kalash are the Chilam Joshi in middle of May, the Uchau in autumn, and the Chawmos in midwinter. The most important Kalash festival is the Chawmos, dedicated to the god Balimain, which marks the end of the year's fieldwork and harvest. There is music and dancing. Goats are slaughtered and consumed. Impure and uninitiated persons are not allowed to participate. The men are divided into two parties. Pure men sing the honored songs of the past, but the impure men sing wild, passionate, and often obscene songs. As part of this festival men dress as women, and women dress as men (honoree Balumain is regarded as part female and can change his gender at will). Chilam Joshi celebrates the arrival of spring and serves both spiritual and social purposes. Spiritually, the Kalasha pray for their wellbeing of their herds by invoking the deity Goshidai. Socially, this festival facilitates the search for potential marital partners, and announcements of successful searches are made at the conclusion of Chilam Joshi. The Uchau festival celebrates the typically successful harvest of wheat and barley, as well as the the arrival of cheese conveyed from higher pastures to the river valleys by shepherds. The traditional Kalasha religion is a form of animism and ancestor worship mixed with ancient Hinduism. Among many Hindu gods honored by the Kalash are Mahandeo (Hindu Shiva), Imra (Hindu male deity Yama and/or female deity Mara), Indr (Hindi god Indra), and Brahman (who retains his Hindu name). The Kalash pantheon also includes Munjem Malék (Lord of Middle Earth, god of crops, god of war, and intercessor between humanity and the highest deity), Jestak (goddess of domestic life, family, and marriage), and Krumei (goddess of the mountain Tirich Mir, the highest non-Himilayan mountain in the world, and who is associated with childbirth). These deities have shrines and altars scattered throughout the Kalesh river valleys. Goats are often sacrificed before these shrines and upon these altars to honor, appease, and sustain the gods.