CHITRAL – Annual festival of Kalash community, Joshi (Chelumjosh or Chilam Joshi) has attracted hundreds of domestic as well as foreign tourists in the scenic valley of Bumborate, Rumber and Birir.
The people of Kalash celebrate two small and two mega festivals each year. The recently concluded festival was their spring season’s religious festival.
The three-day festival concluded with much funfair and religious activities in the scenic valleys, providing visitors with tons of entertainment and knowledge.
The main feature of the festival is the selection of life partners for unmarried boys and girls and as part of the religious and cultural traditions, the locals distribute dry fruits and other gifts among the visitors and guests.
Numerous international globetrotters who visited the valley to catch a glimpse of the religious festival, lavished praise on the Kalash people for having treated them with love and care, urging others to pay a visit as well.
A French tourist, Barbara, while revealing the experience, said that we should respect the values of Kalash community and preserve this unique culture for coming generations while Mr Anglo, who hails from Germany expressed his fondness for the locals and invited tourists of the world to visit the place and enjoy the peaceful environment of Chitral.
Another social activist, Wazir Zada, said that the population of Kalash community was on the rise, however, they were facing numerous problems like lack of facilities, poor condition of roads etc.
Ms Jamela, a Lahore-based visitor hailed the generosity, characteristics and unique attire of Kalash women while Ms Hina from Karachi said that she had only heard about the Kalash festival in the past but was left enthralled after practically watching their dances and songs.
First time visitor, Sardar Willen Sing was impressed by this festival and unique culture of Kalash community, as was Kashif Minhas of Multan who specially came here to enjoy this colourful event in the picturesque valley.
Syed Gul Kalash who is the first Kalash Archeologist said that this festival has been celebrated for the past 3,000 years.
The visible increment in the arrival of tourists was also confirmed by a Chitral native, Wazirzada Kalash who said that almost all hotels in Bamburet valley had been booked well before the start of the festival, adding that some tourists stayed under the open sky due to non-availability of rooms in hotels.
Although the annual festival was praised on a mass-level, some tourists also voiced concerns about the negligible role played by local administration and government for uplifting the Kalash community. Tourists suggest that if roads to these valleys were constructed in a proper manner, it would attract scores of tourists from across the globe because the dilapidated roads are the main hurdle.
A group of motorcyclists also participated in adventure tourism activities at the festival.
The festival, which heralds the arrival of spring season in Chitral was sponsored by the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) which had also established a tent village for the tourists.
(With inputs from Gul Hamad Farooqi)
