CHITRAL: The three-day Uchhal festival in the Kalash valleys of Bumburate, Birir and Rumbur will commence from August 20, marking the harvest and threshing of wheat crop in the valleys.

As a ritual of the festival, the finest quality cheese and a few grains of wheat were put at the altar of a deity in each valley and special songs were sung, eulogising the deities, and seeking their pleasure.

Shaira, a former councillor, told Dawn to please the deities, cheese and other milk products were lavishly distributed to mark the occasion, while festivities continued in the form of singing and dancing.

She said after the festival, the Kalash men and women, who went to the high-altitude pastures to graze their cattle about three months ago, came down to the valleys with their cattle.

Kalash Valleys Development Authority (KVDA) has also made arrangements to extend help to the Kalash people to celebrate their festival in a befitting manner.

KVDA director-general Minhasuddin told Dawn that the Kalash qazi (religious exponents) would get a stipend of Rs15,000. He said a cleanliness drive was also underway in the valleys.

He said the district administration and his organisation were streamlining the flow of tourists to the area so Kalash people were least bothered by their presence, which used to an issue in the past.

Meanwhile, Lower Chitral deputy commissioner Mohsin Iqbal on Friday banned a number of activities of tourists visiting the Kalash valleys during the Uchhal festival.

An order issued by his office said snapping of pictures of Kalash women without their consent, entry of tourists to Kalash habitat without authorised guides, camping, cooking and littering in the open spaces, entry of motorcyclists without CNIC and driving licences had been banned.

“On the occasion of Kalash festivals, some unscrupulous elements in the garb of tourists visited the area and intruded into the Kalash habitat, trying to take pictures of women without their consent and being there without professional tourist guides,” the order said.

The ban was slapped in order to preserve the Kalash culture and promote tourism in the area.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024