About 6000 people live in the Hindu Kush Mountains in Pakistan,
who are completely different from the rest of the Pakistani people in their genetic features and way of life. They resemble Europeans in the color of their skin and blue eyes in a way that differs completely from the Pakistani people. Some believe that they are descendants of the army of Alexander the Great, but their true origins are still mysterious.[1]
They also have a different view of life compared to other Pakistanis, and they are famous for having different folkloric dances similar to ancient Greek folklore, but DNA tests proved that they did not descend from Greece, nor even from Asian countries, neither eastern nor southern. Given the genetic predisposition of the Kalash people, scholars have thought that they may descend from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or the Caucasus. However, once again tests disappointed their assumptions, while further tests conducted in the area suggested that the Kalash people may in fact be indigenous to the area.
Areas:
The Kalash people are distributed among three valleys located between the Hindukush glacier range in northern Pakistan, which remain cut off from the world for nearly half the year. They have some features of the ancient Greek civilization. This gave the impression of the existence of an ethnic relationship between the Kalash and Alexander the Great or his army in terms of descent. However, their current civilization is a mixture of Islamic, Hindu and Persian culture and some of its aspects are mixed with the culture of the inhabitants of the Central Asian republics because the region is geographically located in the middle of the mentioned civilizations. With the presence of clear features of the culture of ancient Greece in the region of the three valleys of Kalash, some studies conducted by European scientists of some archaeological monuments represented in rock and wood carvings and some words integrated in their language “Khawar” indicated a relationship between them and Alexander the Macedonian, but genetic studies did not prove their relationship so far to Greece.[2]
Language:
Kailash speaks „Khawar“ or „Durtak“, a language that includes a group of Indian and Persian words with a large vocabulary that goes back to the ancient European languages.
The language of this ethnicity is also known as the Kalash language due to their ethnicity.
It is an endangered language because of the impact of the local Urdu and Pashto languages as well as English as these languages intermingled into the local language very quickly. Statistics also indicate that the number of speakers of the mentioned language does not exceed at present 5000 people, especially after the spread of education in the Kalash region.
Religion:
The three valleys of Kalash are also known as Kafiristan, which means in the local language (the land of the infidels), in relation to their religion, which experts in Pakistan classify as a pagan religion, although it is not similar to the group of religions known in the region of the Indian continent.
The Kalash people believe in gods who cannot be seen but who are present among them at the beginning or end of each season. Livestock and food sacrifices are offered to the deities, also special dances are offered to gods according to the seasons, in addition to folk dances.[3]
The Kalash do not worship idols, trees, fire, or anything visible or anthropomorphic.
However, this religion is also on its way to extinction. The Kalash people were influenced by the surrounding cultures, and a number of them converted to Islam and other surrounding religions. Large numbers of Kalash have accepted Islam in recent years, due to their mixing with other local ethnicities and cultures surrounding them, with the renewal of transportation means and the opening of a land route to their areas and with the spread of mobile phones and audio, print and visual media.
Women:
Although a large number of tribe members recently embraced the religion of Islam, they differ in their customs from the Muslims around them, especially with regard to women. The Kalashi woman retains the full right to choose her husband or replace him with another husband whenever she wants during her life and for indefinite times. The new husband pays twice the dowry that the first husband paid to the woman’s father, so that the father keeps half of the amount and returns half of it to the first husband to settle his accounts with him. While the first husband does not have the right to protest or object as long as the wife does not want him, and this is one of the forms of divorce in the tribe.
The Kalash people do not hold a special occasion for the wedding, and the marriage takes place as soon as the woman flees to the husband’s house whom she chose, so that the next day the husband negotiates with her father to determine the amount of money that can be described as the dowry to be paid to the father of the fleeing bride to her husband’s house.[4]
The Kalash do not live like the rest of the conservative ethnicities surrounding them, as the Kalash people do not prevent mixing between men and women, but they live according to social boundaries that prevent sexual freedom. They marry and spend a life with their partners as others, although the woman always reserves the right to replace her husband. Despite the fact that women have this option, most Kalash women, influenced by the surrounding cultures, do not replace their husbands after childbirth.
Customs:
The members of the Kalash tribe depend on drinking alcohol locally extracted from the fruits to cope with the harsh cold and the icy environment. In addition, their diet depends on dried fruits, nuts, honey, ghee and meat, as well as wheat, corn and millet. They do not have a variety of meals.
They also have a completely different outlook on life compared to the rest of the population of Pakistan, and are famous for their dances reminiscent of ancient Greek folklore.
In general, the Kalash people are a poor, and depend mainly on agriculture and livestock, in addition to tourism factor, which is not considered the basis of their economy, given that the region remains cut off from the world for nearly half the year due to the blockage of roads leading to it due to the accumulation of ice.[5]
In terms of fashion, the men’s dress is not different from the well-known Pakistani dress, the trousers and the shirt, with a hat fitted with a feather from the top, while the dress of the Kalash women is completely different from the dress known in the entire region, as they are more liberal in their clothes than the majority surrounding them.
[1] https://www.zewanderingfrogs.com/kalash-valley/exploring-the-unique-culture-of-the-kalash-valley-pakistan
[2] https://indigenouspeople.org/united-nations/the-kalash-khow-tribes/
[3][3] https://www.kuriositas.com/2012/07/the-kalash-white-tribe-of-pakistan.html
[4] https://gnosticwarrior.com/the-kalash-people.html
[5] https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/70475/have-you-heard-about-the-kalash-tribe-of-pakistan
