Written by: Mahnaz Shujrah
Posted on: April 22, 2019 | 
| 中文
Kalash women making traditional crafts
The journey to the depths of the Hindu Kush mountain range, located between Pakistan and Afghanistan, is not an easy one. After driving along majestic mountains and crossing rushing rivers, one takes a small road beyond the city of Chitral. After a few hours, you will find yourself amongst one of the most distinct cultures in the entire world: the Kalasha.
In the realm of traveling and cultural diversity, the Kalash Valleys are a gem to behold. Kalasha people have been native to this area for thousands of years, and have unique religious and cultural practices. There was a lot of curiosity about the people of Kalash and until recent times, many people had not visited the valleys. Over the years, there have been efforts to understand and work for this endangered culture, and now many international and national tourists visit the region. In order to inform the tourists about certain sensitive aspects of their culture and encourage responsible tourism, "Kalasha Traveling Exhibit" was held in Lahore at Alhamra Arts Council, on April 18th and 19th.
The Kalasha Traveling Exhibit was organized by Foundation of Arts, Culture and Education (FACE), an organization which aims to educate and empower communities through interaction of music, arts and culture. UNESCO also played an important role behind the event, with the aim of highlighting the importance of sustainable and responsible tourism in the region. After Lahore, the exhibit is headed to Karachi, and then to Islamabad, Peshawar and Chitral.
The event consisted of multiple interactive activities spread out over two days. There was an exhibition of arts and crafts, traditional live cooking and musical and dance performances. There was also a panel discussion, which included people from Kalash and travelers and researchers from THAAP. Before that three documentaries screened, two of them of which were created by filmmakers from Kalash. These documentaries did a brilliant job in exhibiting the beautiful culture, and also highlighted the issues that are present. The overall "feel" of the event was very informal and close knit, which made the environment more interactive and comfortable.
Many natives from Kalash were present, wearing their traditional dresses and speaking their own language. They were very happy and open to answering questions and shared their ideas on the issues that the community faces today. We tasted their food as it was being made, observed the ways they knitted, and danced along to their songs. Some Kalash practices are also part of UNESCO's list of Intangible Heritage. The Kalasha used to consist of many valleys and were thousands in population, but now their community only consists of about 3,500 people, spread over three valleys in Rumbur, Bumbureit and Birir.
As someone who visited the Kalash Valley several years ago, I can attest to the fact that it is one of most diverse and open-minded communities that you will ever come across, anywhere in the world. The Kalasha lead a simple life and remain close to things that truly matter in life, however we as tourists often cause problems for them. Tourism in the region definitely fuels economic prosperity, but sometimes it causes more cultural damage in comparison to the benefit it brings. As one of the natives said in the documentary, national tourists cause more problems for them as they are unaware of the practices and have no prior knowledge. One of the young Kalash girls, Ariana Aram, who was part of the panel discussion, talked about how tourists come and constantly take photos, being insensitive to the fact that it is makes the people very uncomfortable to be on camera throughout the day. They talked about how they place freedom and respect very high in their values, and do not like telling tourists not to do something because it seems rude. However, she said that there are certain basic human values that the tourists should keep in mind before visiting the valley. To bring forward some of their societal norms for the society, UNESCO representatives also distributed brochures of what to do and what not to do when visiting.
All of us need to be open to new ideas, diverse people and different cultures. In the debate of what is right and wrong, sometimes we don't realize that we are going against basic human values of being kind considerate. The Kalash community is a treasure of this world and all of us have a role to play in preserving it.
All pictures provided by the organizers
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