Kalash celebrating Chitr Mas festival
Chitral, 11 Dec 09. Kalash tribes dwelling in the three tucked
away valleys of Chitral district are celebrating their winter religious
festival the chitr Mas also known as the chow mas. The festival will
continue into the next weeks climaxing on the day of the winter
solistice (21 December). Wikipedia describes the festival as:
"The most important Kalash festival is the Chaumos (cawmōs, ghona
chawmos yat, Khowar "chitrimas" from *cāturmāsya, CDIAL 4742),
which's celebrated for two weeks at winter solstice (c. Dec. 7-22), at
the beginning of the month chawmos mastruk. It marks the end of
the year's fieldwork and harvest. It involves much music, dancing, and
the sacrifice of many goats. It's dedicated to the god Balimain who's
believed to visit from the mythical homeland of the Kalash, Tsyam
(Tsiyam, tsíam), for the duration of the feast. Food sacrifices are
offered at the clans' Jeshtak shrines, dedicated to the ancestors.
At Chaumos, impure and uninitiated persons aren't admitted; they
must be purified by a waving a fire brand over women and children and by
a special fire ritual for men, involving a shaman waving juniper brands
over the men. The 'old rules' of the gods (Devalog, dewalōk) are no
longer in force, as's typical for year-end and carnival-like rituals.
The main Chaumos ritual takes place at a Tok tree, a place called
Indra's place, "indrunkot", or "indréyin". Indrunkot's
sometimes Kalash Damsel
(net photo) believed to belong to Balumain's brother, In(dr), lord of cattle.
Ancestors, impersonated by young boys (ōnjeṣṭa 'pure') are worshipped
and offered bread; they hold on to each other and form a chain (cf. the
Vedic anvārambhaṇa) and snake through the village.
The men must be divided into two parties: the pure ones have to sing
the well-honored songs of the past, but the impure sing wild,
passionate, and obscene songs, with an altogether different rhythm.
This's accompanied by a 'sex change': men dress as women, women as men (Balumain
also's partly seen as female and can change between both forms at will).
Kalash young man Qaid e Azam told Chitral News that after 17 Dec,
outsider men will not be allowed to join the festival --(CN report)
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