CHITRAL: The Pul (or Purh) festival, marking the start of autumn in the Kalash valleys, especially in Birir, concluded here the other day with the formal lifting of a community restriction on harvesting grapes and walnuts.

The festival also celebrated the return of cattle to the valley from high-altitude pastures after five months.

The day started with the formal inauguration of the grape and walnut harvest by an elderly man from the Kalash community in each village who plucked a bunch of grapes, ate some grains and cracked a walnut.

The next activity was the arrival of teenage girls at the dancing ground in Bihal village in the lower part of the valley.

Wearing clothes specially stitched for the occasion, they danced and sang traditional festival songs in groups and choruses.

Another feature of the festival was the distribution of special hats made from the local yellow flower known as Gulsamber (marigold) among the young girls arriving at the dancing ground, adding to the spectacle of the event.

The dancing continued until afternoon. The festival’s second phase began afterward when participants marched to the dancing ground on a hilltop in Gree village where the festivities continued until dusk.

People of all ages joined the dancing to the mellow tunes of flutes.

The festival is confined to Birir and is not held in the other two Kalash valleys of Bumburate and Rumbur where there is no ban on harvesting grapes and walnuts. The Uchhal festival is celebrated in Bumburate and Rumbur as a thanksgiving for the wheat harvest.

The one-day Pul festival is regarded as a thanksgiving event for the grape and walnut harvest and the safe return of cattle, along with milk products from the high pastures. Livestock forms a major component of the community’s pastoral economy.

Men, women and children from Bumburate and Rumbur, too, attended the festival in large numbers.

The restriction on harvesting walnuts and grapes, two important food sources for the Kalash people, is a traditional conservation practice dating back to time immemorial. It helped ensure food security when residents relied heavily on these products during the harsh winter months.

“This mode of fruit conservation is unexampled in any other place of the world,” said Luke Rahmat, a Kalash youth.

He noted that every member of the community observed the restriction with great respect and commitment.

A large number of foreign tourists also arrived to witness the festival amid tight security arrangements.

Lower Chitral district police officer Mohammad Khalid Khan told Dawn that special police deployments had been made well before the festival, with fool-proof security checks in place to avert any threat to participants.

He said police also regulated vehicular traffic on the road leading to the valley and in the parking area.

Director General of the Kalash Valleys Development Authority Fidaul Karim also showed up to oversee arrangements and distributed gifts to Kalash children.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026