CHITRAL: The spring Chilim Jusht festival of Kalash people concluded here on Friday after lasting for five days amidst jubilation and merrymaking.

The chief event of the concluding ceremony was singing and dancing in chharsu, the central dancing place, of Bumburate valley. Hundreds of Kalash girls and boys danced in groups for hours in their traditional way.

Before arriving at the chharsu in the afternoon, the Kalash people from different villages of Bumburate converged in a nearby ground, from where they marched to the dancing place.

The participants were carrying freshly plucked twigs of walnut tree, which they kept waving during their course of walk and which formed a part of their dogmatic belief.

Local, foreign tourists also throng Kalash valleys

The Kalash people from the other two valleys of Rumbur and Birir had also assembled in Bumburate valley to participate in the concluding ceremony.

Tourists, both local and foreigners, crowded the valley during the festival, and hotels in the valleys had been filled to their capacity.

The foreigners reached the valleys in hundreds, while local tourists from different cities also turned up in large numbers.

A couple from Denmark told Dawn that they chose this time to travel to Pakistan and reached here a month ago. They said they were fascinated by the ways of life of the primitive people.

They vowed to turn up on the occasion of the festival in the years to come, and would also persuade their friends to accompany them.

The tourists, however, complained about the dilapidated condition of the region’s roads, making their journeys tedious and arduous.

The participation of Kalash people in the Chilim Jusht festival is said to be obligatory as one loses his relationship with the community if they fail to participate in it for three consecutive years.

The singing and dancing in different age groups in chharsu to the drumbeats continued till daybreak, and during the last part of the dancing session, young boys and girls promised to marry.

The festival is not only an occasion to herald the spring season but it is also important from religious point of view as it contains almost all the rituals of the Kalash people’s religion.

Zahid Chanzeb, adviser to the chief minister on sports and culture, remained in the valleys during the festival and attended the concluding ceremony, while focal person of the provincial government on minorities’ affairs Wazirzada Kalash was also in attendance.

Elaborate security arrangements had been made to avert any terrorist activity throughout the festival so that the minorities could celebrate their rituals without any fear.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2025