By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The week-long winter festival of Kalash people, Chitramas started here on Thursday in the three Kalash valleys of Bumburate, Birir and Rumbur while the major event of the opening day is the going of men and women into seclusion in the corral (cattle house) which is called autik in Kalash language meant ‘to get secluded’.
The secluded people are the volunteers to confine themselves inside the corral for a week during which they completely insulate themselves from the other people during the
week and they eat the meat of slaughtered goats, drink and pass the time in merry-making.
The final day of the weeklong festival coincides with the first day of the new year of Kalash calendar and the secluded people come out of the corrals to join other folk in the concluding ceremony of the festival.
Luke Rahmat Kalash said that that from spiritual point of view more importance is accorded to it than the other festivals during which special prayers are made for the well-being of the community during the coming year as it was the final week of the Kalash calendar year.
He said that Kotramu was of an important activity of the year in which the statues of different domestic and wild animals are made by women by dough of wheat flour which are then baked in fire which are then used to decorate the houses during the festival.
“In another function of madaik, the Kalash people piled up their preserved fruits including grapes, pears, apple and walnut which they cleaned and washed to use during the festival.
During the daytime, the Kalash people who did not go on seclusion, passed their time in merry-making by singing and dancing while during the nighttime, they danced around the bonfire in the chharsu (dancing place) for which they used the dried twigs of chalghuza pine”, he said.
He said that it was the only festival during which the entry of non-Kalash people is strictly prohibited inside the vicinity of the houses of Kalash and as per their belief even talking of Kalash with other people would pollute them spiritually and the outsider is fined who mistakenly enters the core area of the village.
Just like the Eidul Az’ha of the Muslims, the Kalash slaughtered their goats, mostly one goat per adult man or woman, on the concluding day of the festival and sprinkled its blood in certain places of their houses as a token.
An official of police station Bumburate told Dawn that a good number of foreigners are in the valleys to watch the festival which included a team of French team of tourists.
