Are Kalash ancient Russians? (Photo and video). Kalash. Mysterious Nuristani people appearance

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The Kalash are a small Dardic people inhabiting two valleys of the right tributaries of the Chitral (Kunar) River in the mountains of the southern Hindu Kush in the Chitral district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (Pakistan). The native language - Kalasha - belongs to the Dardic group of Indo-Iranian languages. The uniqueness of the people, surrounded on all sides by Islamized neighbors, lies in the fact that a significant part of them still professes a pagan religion, which developed on the basis of the Indo-Iranian religion and substratum beliefs.

History and ethnonym

The Dard peoples inhabiting Chitral usually unanimously consider the Kalash to be the aborigines of the region.

The Kalash themselves have legends that their ancestors came to Chitral through Bashgal and pushed the Kho people north, to the upper reaches of the Chitral River. However, the Kalash language is closely related to the Khowar language. Perhaps this legend reflects the arrival in the 15th century. in Chitral by a militant Nuristani-speaking group that conquered the local Dardo-speaking population. This group separated from the Vaigali language speakers, who still call themselves kalašüm, passed on their self-name and many traditions to the local population, but were assimilated by them linguistically.

The idea of ​​the Kalash as aborigines is based on the fact that in earlier times the Kalash inhabited a larger area in Southern Chitral, where many place names are still of a Kalash character. With the loss of militancy, the Kalash in these places were gradually supplanted or assimilated by speakers of the leading Chitral language, Khovar.

Spiritual culture

The Kalash are the only people in the region who have partially preserved their traditional religion and have not completely converted to Islam. The religious isolation of the Kalash began in the beginning. XVIII century, when they were subjugated by the mekhtar (ruler) of Chitral and found themselves under cultural pressure from the related Kho people, who had by that time converted to Islam. In general, Chitral politics was characterized by relative tolerance, and the Islamization of the region, carried out by Sunni mullahs and Ismaili preachers, was rather spontaneous and gradual. When carried out in the 19th century. Durand's line of Kalash remained in British possession, which saved them from the mass forced conversion to Islam carried out in 1896 by the Afghan emir Abdur Rahman in neighboring Nuristan.

Nevertheless, cases of conversion of Kalash to Islam occurred throughout the modern history of the people. Their number increased after the 1970s, when roads were built into the region and schools began to be built in Kalash villages. Conversion to Islam leads to a severance of traditional ties, as one of the Kalash elders Saifullah Jan says: “If one of the Kalash converts to Islam, they can no longer live among us.” As K. Yettmar notes, Kalash Muslims look with undisguised envy at Kalash pagan dances and cheerful celebrations. Currently, the pagan religion, which attracts the attention of numerous European tourists, is under the protection of the Pakistani government, which fears the extinction of the tourism industry in the event of the final “triumph of Islam.”

Nevertheless, Islam and the Islamic culture of neighboring peoples have a great influence on the life of the pagan Kalash and their beliefs, filled with plots and motifs of Muslim mythology. The Kalash adopted men's clothing and names from their neighbors. Under the onslaught of civilization, the traditional way of life is gradually being destroyed, in particular, “holidays of merit” are disappearing into oblivion. Nevertheless, the Kalash valleys still represent a unique reserve that preserves one of the most archaic Indo-European cultures.

Religion

Traditional Kalash ideas about the world are based on the opposition of holiness and impurity. Mountains and mountain pastures have the highest holiness, where the gods live and “their livestock” - wild goats - graze. Altars and goat sheds are also holy. Muslim lands are unclean. Uncleanness is also inherent in a woman, especially during periods of menstruation and childbirth. Defilement brings everything related to death. Like the Vedic religion and Zoroastrianism, the Kalash religion provides for numerous cleansing ceremonies.

The Kalash pantheon (devalog) is generally similar to the pantheon that existed among the Nuristani neighbors, and includes many deities of the same name, although it is somewhat different from the latter. There are also ideas about numerous lower demon spirits, primarily female.

Kalash sanctuaries are altars built in the open air from juniper or oak boards and furnished with ritual carved boards and idols of deities. Special buildings are built for religious dances. Kalash rituals consist primarily of public feasts to which the gods are invited. The ritual role of young men who have not yet known a woman, that is, possessing the highest purity, is clearly expressed.

The pagan deities of the Kalash have a large number of temples and altars throughout the valley where their people live. They present them with sacrifices mainly consisting of horses, goats, cows and sheep, the breeding of which is one of the main industries of the local population. They also leave wine on the altars, thereby making a sacrifice to the god Indra, the god of grapes. Kalash rituals are combined with holidays and are generally similar to Vedic ones.

Like the bearers of Vedic culture, the Kalash consider crows to be their ancestors and feed them from their left hands. The dead are buried above the ground in special wooden coffins with ornaments, and rich representatives of the Kalash also place a wooden effigy of the deceased above the coffin.

The word gandau Kalash refers to the tombstones of the Kalash valleys and Kafiristan, which differ depending on what status the deceased achieved during his lifetime. Kundrik is the second type of anthropomorphic wooden sculptures of ancestors among the Kalash. It is a statue-amulet that is installed in the fields or in a village on a hill - a wooden pole or a pedestal made of stones.

Threat of extinction

At the moment, the culture and ethnicity of the Kalash are in danger of extinction. They live in closed communities, but the younger population is increasingly forced to assimilate by marrying into the Islamic population, this is due to the fact that it is easier for a Muslim to find work and feed his family. In addition, the Kalash receive threats from various Islamist organizations.

• Terentyev M.A. Russia and England in Central Asia. - St. Petersburg: Type. P.P. Merkulyeva, 1875. - 376 p.
• Metcalf D. Lost in the steppes of Central Asia. - Almaty: VOX POPULI, 2010. - 288 p.

They were almost completely exterminated as a result of the Muslim genocide by the beginning of the 20th century, as they profess paganism. They lead a secluded lifestyle. They speak the Kalash language of the Dardic group of Indo-European languages ​​(however, about half of the words of their language have no analogues in other Dardic languages, as well as in the languages ​​of neighboring peoples). According to the most common version, the Kalash are the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great. On the way to India, he left barrage detachments in the rear, which, in the end, did not wait for their master, and remained settled in these places. If the Kalash have their roots in the conquests of Alexander the Great, then the legend seems more plausible, according to which Alexander specially selected 400 of the healthiest Greek men and women and settled them in these inaccessible places with the aim of creating a colony on this territory.

According to another version, the Kalash are the descendants of the people who settled in the mountains of Tibet during the great migration of peoples during the Aryan invasion of Hindustan. The Kalash themselves do not have a consensus on their origin, but when talking about this issue with foreigners, they often prefer the version of Macedonian origin.

A more accurate explanation of the origin of this people could be provided by a detailed study of the Kalash language, which, unfortunately, is still poorly studied. It is believed that it belongs to the Dardic language group, but on the basis of which this assignment was made is not entirely clear, because more than half of the words from the vocabulary of the Kalash language have no analogues in the languages ​​of the Dardic group and the languages ​​of surrounding peoples. There are publications that directly say that the Kalash speak ancient Greek, but whether this is true is unknown. The fact is that the only people today who help the Kalash survive in extreme high-mountain conditions are modern Greeks, with whose money a school, a hospital, a kindergarten were built, and several wells were dug.

A study of the Kalash genes did not reveal anything concrete. Everything is very unclear and unsteady - they say that the Greek influence can be from 20 to 40%. (Why carry out research if the similarities with the ancient Greeks are already visible?)

The religion of most Kalash is paganism; their pantheon has many common features with the reconstructed ancient Aryan pantheon. Along with the Kalash, representatives of the Hunza people and some ethnic groups of the Pamiris, Persians, and others also have similar anthropological characteristics.
The faces of many Kalash are purely European. The skin is white, unlike Pakistanis and Afghans. And the light and often blue eyes are like the passport of an infidel-kafir. Kalash eyes are blue, gray, green and very rarely brown. There is one more touch that does not fit into the culture and way of life common to Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Kalash were always made for themselves and used as furniture. They eat at the table, sitting on chairs - excesses that were never inherent to the local “natives” and appeared in Afghanistan and Pakistan only with the arrival of the British in the 18th-19th centuries, but never took root. And from time immemorial, the Kalash have used tables and chairs...

Kalash horse warriors. museum in Islamabad. Pakistan.

In the 18th-19th centuries, Muslims slaughtered thousands of Kalash. Those who did not obey and even secretly practiced pagan cults were, at best, driven from the fertile lands by the authorities, driven into the mountains, and more often - destroyed.
The brutal genocide of the Kalash people continued until the middle of the 19th century, until the tiny territory that Muslims called Kafirstan (land of the infidels), where the Kalash lived, came under the jurisdiction of the British Empire. This saved them from complete extermination. But even now the Kalash are on the verge of extinction. Many are forced to assimilate (through marriage) with Pakistanis and Afghans, converting to Islam - this makes it easier to survive and get a job, education, or position.

The Kalash do not know days off, but they cheerfully and hospitably celebrate 3 holidays: Yoshi - the sowing festival, Uchao - the harvest festival, and Choimus - the winter festival of the gods of nature, when the Kalash ask the gods to send them a mild winter and a good spring and summer.
During Choymus, each family slaughters a goat as a sacrifice, the meat of which is treated to everyone who comes to visit or meets on the street.

The Kalash language, or Kalasha, is the language of the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.
The Kalash language has very well preserved the basic vocabulary of Sanskrit, for example:

Russian Kalasha Sanskrit
head shish shish
bone athi asthi
urine mutra mutra
village grom gram
loop rajuk rajju
smoke thum dhum
oil tel tel
meat mos mas
dog shua shva
ant pililak pipilika
son putr putr
long driga dirgha
eight asht ashta
broken chhina chhinna
kill nash nash

The most impressive thing, according to everyone who visited the Kalash villages, is the dances of the Kalash women, which hypnotize the audience.

And a little more video with Kalash guns. Pay attention to the eight-pointed stars on the outfits of Kalash beauties.

The feathers on the men's hats are funny - they look like medieval nobles from Europe.

High in the mountains of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan, in the Nuristan province, are several tiny plateaus scattered.

Locals call this area Chintal. A unique and mysterious people live here - the Kalash.

Their uniqueness lies in the fact that this people of Indo-European origin managed to survive almost in the very heart of the Islamic world.

Meanwhile, the Kalash do not profess the Abrahamic cult - Islam, but the primordial, folk faith... If the Kalash were a numerous people with a separate territory and statehood, then their existence would hardly surprise anyone, but no more than 6 Kalash have survived today thousand people - they are the smallest and most mysterious ethnic group in the Asian region.

Kalash (self-name: kasivo; the name “Kalash” comes from the name of the area) is a people in Pakistan living in the highlands of the Hindu Kush (Nuristan or Kafirstan). Number of people: about 6 thousand people. They were almost completely exterminated as a result of the Muslim genocide by the beginning of the 20th century, as they profess a tribal cult. Now they lead a secluded life. They speak the Kalash language of the Dardic group of Indo-European languages ​​(however, about half of the words of their language have no analogues in other Dardic languages, as well as in the languages ​​of neighboring peoples). In Pakistan, there is a widespread belief that the Kalash are the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great (due to which the Macedonian government built a center of culture in this area, see, for example, “Macedonia is a cultural center in Pakistan”). The appearance of some Kalash is characteristic of Northern European peoples; blue-eyedness and blondness are common among them. At the same time, some Kalash have an Asian appearance that is quite characteristic of the region.

The religion of most Kalash is paganism; their pantheon has many common features with the reconstructed ancient Aryan pantheon. The claims of some journalists that the Kalash worship “ancient Greek gods” are unfounded. At the same time, about 3 thousand Kalash are Muslims. Conversion to Islam is not welcomed by the Kalash, who are trying to preserve their tribal identity. The Kalash are not descendants of the warriors of Alexander the Great, and the Northern European appearance of some of them is explained by the preservation of the original Indo-European gene pool as a result of refusal to mix with the alien non-Aryan population. Along with the Kalash, representatives of the Hunza people and some ethnic groups of the Pamiris, Persians, and others also have similar anthropological characteristics.

Nordic Kalash

Scientists classify the Kalash as a white race - this is a scientific fact. The faces of many Kalash are purely European. The skin is white, unlike Pakistanis and Afghans. And the light and often blue eyes are like the passport of an infidel-kafir. Kalash eyes are blue, gray, green and very rarely brown. There is one more touch that does not fit into the culture and way of life common to Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Kalash were always made for themselves and used as furniture. They eat at the table, sitting on chairs - excesses that were never inherent to the local “natives” and appeared in Afghanistan and Pakistan only with the arrival of the British in the 18th-19th centuries, but never took root. And from time immemorial, the Kalash have used tables and chairs...

Kalash horse warriors. museum in Islamabad. Pakistan

At the end of the first millennium, Islam came to Asia, and with it the troubles of the Indo-Europeans and in particular the Kalash people, who did not want to change the faith of their ancestors to the Abrahamic “teachings.” Local Muslim communities persistently tried to force the Kalash to convert to Islam.

And many Kalash were forced to submit: either live by adopting a new religion, or die.

In the 18th-19th centuries, Muslims slaughtered thousands of Kalash. Those who did not obey and even secretly practiced pagan cults were, at best, driven from the fertile lands by the authorities, driven into the mountains, and more often - destroyed. The brutal genocide of the Kalash people continued until the middle of the 19th century, until the tiny territory that Muslims called Kafirstan (land of the infidels), where the Kalash lived, came under the jurisdiction of the British Empire. This saved them from complete extermination. But even now the Kalash are on the verge of extinction. Many are forced to assimilate (through marriage) with Pakistanis and Afghans, converting to Islam - this makes it easier to survive and get a job, education, or position.

Kalash village

The life of modern Kalash can be called Spartan. The Kalash live in communities - it’s easier to survive. They live in houses that they build from stone, wood and clay. The roof of the lower house (floor) is also the floor or veranda of another family's house. Of all the amenities in the hut: table, chairs, benches and pottery. The Kalash know only by hearsay about electricity and television. A shovel, a hoe and a pick are more understandable and familiar to them. They draw their living resources from agriculture. The Kalash manage to grow wheat and other grain crops on lands cleared of stone. But the main role in their livelihood is played by livestock, mainly goats, which provide the descendants of the ancient Aryans with milk and dairy products, wool and meat.

In everyday life, a clear and unshakable division of responsibilities is striking: men are the first in labor and hunting, women only help them in the least labor-intensive operations (weeding, milking, housekeeping). In the house, men sit at the head of the table and make all important decisions in the family (in the community). For women in each settlement, towers are built - a separate house where the women of the community give birth to children and spend time on “critical days”. A Kalashi woman is obliged to give birth to a child only in the tower, and therefore pregnant women settle in the “maternity hospital” in advance. Nobody knows where this tradition came from, but the Kalash do not observe other segregation and discriminatory tendencies towards women, which infuriates and makes Muslims laugh, who because of this treat the Kalash as people not of this world...

Some Kalash have an Asian appearance that is quite typical for the region, but at the same time they often have blue or green eyes

Marriage. This sensitive issue is decided exclusively by the parents of the young. They can consult with the newlyweds, they can talk with the parents of the bride (groom), or they can solve the problem without asking the opinion of their child.

The Kalash do not know days off, but they cheerfully and hospitably celebrate 3 holidays: Yoshi - the sowing festival, Uchao - the harvest festival, and Choimus - the winter festival of the gods of nature, when the Kalash ask the gods to send them a mild winter and a good spring and summer.
During Choymus, each family slaughters a goat as a sacrifice, the meat of which is treated to everyone who comes to visit or meets on the street.

The Kalash language, or Kalasha, is the language of the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Distributed among the Kalash in several valleys of the Hindu Kush, southwest of the city of Chitral in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Belonging to the Dardic subgroup is questionable, since slightly more than half of the words are similar in meaning to equivalent words in the Khovar language, which is also included in this subgroup. In terms of phonology, the language is atypical (Heegård & Mørch 2004).

The Kalash language has very well preserved the basic vocabulary of Sanskrit, for example:

In the 1980s, the development of writing for the Kalash language began in two versions - based on Latin and Persian graphics. The Persian version turned out to be preferable and in 1994, for the first time, an illustrated alphabet and a book for reading in the Kalash language based on Persian graphics were published. In the 2000s, an active transition to the Latin font began. In 2003, the alphabet “Kal" as "a Alibe" was published. (English)

Religion and culture of the Kalash

The first explorers and missionaries began to penetrate Kafiristan after the colonization of India, but truly extensive information about its inhabitants was provided by the English doctor George Scott Robertson, who visited Kafiristan in 1889 and lived there for a year. The uniqueness of Robertson's expedition is that he collected material on the rituals and traditions of the infidels before the Islamic invasion. Unfortunately, a number of collected materials were lost while crossing the Indus during his return to India. However, the surviving materials and personal memories allowed him to publish the book “The Kafirs of Hindu-Kush” in 1896.

Pagan temple of the Kalash. in the center is the Ancestral pillar

Based on observations of the religious and ritual side of the life of infidels made by Robertson, one can quite reasonably assert that their religion is reminiscent of transformed Zoroastrianism and the cults of the ancient Aryans. The main arguments in favor of this statement can be the attitude towards fire and funeral rites. Below we will describe some of the traditions, religious foundations, religious buildings and rituals of the infidels.

Ancestral pillar in the temple

The main, “capital” village of the infidels was a village called “Kamdesh”. The houses of Kamdesh were arranged in steps along the mountain slopes, so the roof of one house was the yard of another. The houses were richly decorated with intricate wood carvings. It was women, not men, who did the field work, although the men first cleared the field of stones and fallen logs. Men at this time were engaged in sewing clothes, ritual dances in the village square and solving public affairs.

Priest at the fire altar.

The main object of worship was fire. In addition to fire, the infidels worshiped wooden idols, which were carved by skilled craftsmen and displayed in sanctuaries. The Pantheon consisted of many gods and goddesses. The god Imra was considered the main one. The god of war, Gisha, was also highly revered. Each village had its own small patron god. The world, according to beliefs, was populated by many good and evil spirits fighting with each other.

Family pole with swastika rosette

For comparison - a traditional pattern characteristic of the Slavs and Germans

V. Sarianidi, based on the testimony of Robertson, describes religious buildings as follows:

"... the main temple of Imra was located in one of the villages and was a large structure with a square portico, the roof of which was supported by carved wooden columns. Some of the columns were entirely decorated with sculpted heads of rams, others had only one animal head and horns carved at the base which, wrapping around the trunk of the column and crossing each other, rose up, forming a kind of openwork grid. In its empty cells there were sculptural figures of funny little men.

It was here, under the portico, on a special stone, blackened with dried blood, that numerous animal sacrifices were performed. The front facade of the temple had seven doors, famous for the fact that on each of them there was another small door. The large doors were tightly closed, only the two side doors were opened, and then only on special occasions. But the main interest was the door leaves, decorated with fine carvings and huge relief figures depicting the seated god Imru. Particularly striking is the face of the god with a huge square chin reaching almost to the knees! In addition to the figures of the god Imra, the façade of the temple was decorated with images of huge heads of cows and rams. On the opposite side of the temple, five colossal figures were installed supporting its roof.

Sacrifice to the gods at the temple

Having walked around the temple and admired its carved “shirt,” we will look inside through a small hole, which, however, must be done furtively so as not to offend the religious feelings of the infidels. In the middle of the room, in the cool twilight, you can see a square hearth right on the floor, at the corners of which there are pillars, also covered with amazingly fine carvings representing human faces. On the wall opposite the entrance there is an altar framed with images of animals; in the corner under a special canopy stands a wooden statue of the god Imra himself. The remaining walls of the temple are decorated with carved caps of irregular hemispherical shape, placed on the ends of poles. ... Separate temples were built only for the main gods, and for minor ones, one sanctuary was built for several gods. Thus, there were small temples with carved windows, from which the faces of various wooden idols looked out."

Family pillar

The most important rituals included the selection of elders, the preparation of wine, sacrifices to the gods and burial. Like most rituals, the selection of elders was accompanied by mass sacrifices of goats and abundant food. The election of the chief elder (jasta) was carried out by the elders from among the elders. These elections were also accompanied by the recitation of sacred hymns dedicated to the gods, sacrifices and refreshments for the assembled elders in the candidate's house:

“...the priest present at the feast is seated in the center of the room, a lush turban is wrapped around his head, richly decorated with shells, red glass beads, and juniper branches in front. His ears are adorned with earrings, a massive necklace is worn around his neck, and bracelets are placed on his hands. A long shirt, reaching to the knees, hangs loosely over embroidered trousers, tucked into boots with long tops.A bright silk Badakhshan robe is thrown over this clothing, and a dance ritual hatchet is clutched in one hand.

Family pillar

Here one of the sitting elders slowly stands up and, tying his head with a white cloth, steps forward. He takes off his boots, washes his hands thoroughly and begins the sacrifices. Having slaughtered two huge mountain goats with his own hands, he deftly places a vessel under the stream of blood, and then, approaching the initiate, draws some signs on his forehead with blood. The door to the room opens, and the servants bring in huge loaves of bread with sprigs of burning juniper stuck into them. These loaves are solemnly carried around the initiate three times. Then, after another hearty meal, the hour of ritual dancing begins. Several guests are given dance boots and special scarves, which they use to wrap around their lower backs. Pine torches are lit, and ritual dances and chants begin in honor of the numerous gods."

Another important ritual of the infidels was the ritual of preparing grape wine. To prepare the wine, a man was chosen, who, after thoroughly washing his feet, began to crush the grapes brought by the women. Bunches of grapes were presented in wicker baskets. After careful crushing, the grape juice was poured into huge jugs and left to ferment.

Temple with ancestral pillars

The festive ritual in honor of the god Gish proceeded as follows:

“... early in the morning, the villagers are awakened by the thunder of many drums, and soon a priest with madly ringing metal bells appears in the narrow crooked streets. Following the priest, a crowd of boys moves, to whom he throws handfuls of nuts from time to time, and then rushes to drive them away with feigned ferocity. Accompanying him, the children imitate the bleating of goats. The priest's face is whitened with flour and smeared with oil, in one hand he holds bells, in the other - an axe. Writhing and writhing, he shakes the bells and axe, performing almost acrobatic acts and accompanying them with terrible screams. Finally the procession approaches the sanctuary of the god Guiche, and the adult participants solemnly position themselves in a semicircle near the priest and those accompanying him. Then dust swirled to the side, and a herd of fifteen bleating goats appeared, urged on by the boys. Having completed their task, they immediately ran away from the adults to get busy children's pranks and games...

The priest approaches a burning fire made of cedar branches producing thick white smoke. Nearby there are four pre-prepared wooden vessels with flour, melted butter, wine and water. The priest thoroughly washes his hands, takes off his shoes, pours a few drops of oil into the fire, then sprinkles the sacrificial goats with water three times, saying: “Be clean.” Approaching the closed door of the sanctuary, he pours out the contents of the wooden vessels, reciting ritual spells. The young boys serving the priest quickly cut the throat of the kid, collect the splashed blood into vessels, and the priest then splashes it into the burning fire. Throughout this entire procedure, a special person, illuminated by the reflections of the fire, sings sacred songs all the time, which gives this scene a touch of special solemnity.

Suddenly another priest rips off his hat and, rushing forward, begins to twitch, screaming loudly and waving his arms wildly. The chief priest tries to calm down the angry “colleague”; finally he calms down and, waving his hands a few more times, puts on his hat and sits down in his place. The ceremony ends with the recitation of poetry, after which the priests and all those present touch their foreheads with the tips of their fingers and make a kiss with their lips, signifying a religious greeting to the sanctuary.

In the evening, completely exhausted, the priest enters the first house he comes across and gives his bells for safekeeping to the owner, which is a great honor for the latter, and he immediately orders the slaughter of several goats and a feast in honor of the priest and his entourage. So, for two weeks, with slight variations, celebrations in honor of the god Guiche continue."

Kalash cemetery. The graves strongly resemble northern Russian tombstones - domovinas

Finally, one of the most important was the burial rite. The funeral procession was initially accompanied by loud women's crying and lamentations, and then by ritual dancing to the beat of drums and the accompaniment of reed pipes. Men wore goat skins over their clothes as a sign of mourning. The procession ended at the cemetery, where only women and slaves were allowed to enter. The infidels, as it should be according to the canons of Zoroastrianism, did not bury the deceased in the ground, but left them in wooden coffins in the open air.

Everything in the life of the Kalash living in the north of Pakistan in the Hindu Kush mountains is different from their neighbors: their faith, their way of life, and even the color of their eyes and hair. These people are a mystery. They themselves consider themselves descendants of Alexander the Great.

Who are your ancestors?

The ancestors of the Kalash are discussed again and again. There is an opinion that the Kalash are local aborigines who once inhabited vast areas of the southern valley of the Chitral River. And today numerous Kalash toponyms have been preserved there. Over time, the Kalash were forced out (or assimilated?) from their ancestral territories.

There is another point of view: the Kalash are not local aborigines, but came to the north of Pakistan many centuries ago. These could be, for example, tribes of North Indians living around the 13th century BC. in the south of the Urals and in the north of the Kazakh steppes. Their appearance was reminiscent of the appearance of modern Kalash - blue or green eyes and light skin.

It should be noted that external features are not characteristic of all, but only of some of the representatives of the mysterious people, however, this often does not prevent us from mentioning their proximity to Europeans and calling the Kalash the heirs of the “Nordic Aryans”. However, scientists believe that if you look at other peoples who have lived in isolated conditions for thousands of years and are not too willing to register strangers as relatives, then you can find “homozygous inbreeding (related) depigmentation among the Nuristans, Darts or Badakhshans.” They tried to prove that the Kalash belonged to European peoples at the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, as well as at the University of Southern California and Stanford University. Verdict - the Kalash genes are truly unique, but the question of their ancestors remains open.

Beautiful legend

The Kalash themselves willingly adhere to a more romantic version of their origin, calling themselves the descendants of warriors who came to the mountains of Pakistan after Alexander the Great. As befits a legend, it has several variations. According to one, Makedonsky ordered the Kalash to remain and wait for his return, but for some reason he never returned for them. The loyal soldiers had no choice but to explore new lands.

According to another, several soldiers, due to injuries, were unable to continue moving with Alexander’s army, and were forced to remain in the mountains. Faithful women, naturally, did not leave their husbands. The legend is very popular among explorer travelers who come to visit the Kalash, and numerous tourists.

Pagans

Everyone who comes to this amazing region is required to first sign papers prohibiting any attempts to influence the identity of a unique people. First of all, we are talking about religion. Among the Kalash there are many who continue to adhere to the old pagan faith, despite numerous attempts to convert them to Islam. You can find numerous posts on this topic online, although the Kalash themselves avoid questions and say that they “don’t remember any tough measures.”

Sometimes, the elders assure, a change of faith occurs when a local girl decides to marry a Muslim, but this happens, according to them, infrequently. However, researchers are confident that the Kalash managed to avoid the fate of their Nuristani neighbors, who were forcibly converted to Islam at the end of the 19th century, only due to the fact that they inhabited the territory that came under the jurisdiction of the British.

The origin of Kalash polytheism is no less controversial. Most scientists consider attempts to draw analogies with the Greek pantheon of gods to be unfounded: it is unlikely that the Kalash supreme god Dezau is Zeus, and the patroness of women Desalika is Aphrodite. The Kalash have no priests, and everyone prays independently. True, it is not recommended to contact the gods directly; for this there is a dehar - a special person who brings a sacrifice (usually a goat) in front of a juniper or oak altar decorated with two pairs of horse skulls. It is quite difficult to list all the Kalash gods: every village has its own, and besides this there are also many demon spirits, mostly female.

About shamans, meetings and farewells

Kalash shamans can predict the future and punish sins. The most famous of them is considered Nanga Dhar - legends were made about his abilities, telling how in one second he disappeared from one place, passing through the rocks, and appeared with a friend. Shamans are trusted to administer justice: their prayer can supposedly punish the offender. Using the humerus of a sacrificial goat, a shaman-ashzhiau (“who looks at the bone”), who specializes in predictions, can see the fate of not only an individual person, but also entire states.

The life of the Kalash is unthinkable without numerous feasts. Visiting tourists are unlikely to be able to immediately understand what event they are attending: a birth or a funeral. The Kalash are confident that these moments are equally significant, and therefore it is necessary in any case to organize a grand celebration - not so much for themselves, but for the gods. You need to rejoice when a new person comes into this world so that his life is happy, and have fun at the funeral - even if the afterlife is serene. Ritual dances in a sacred place - Jeshtak, chants, bright clothes and tables bursting with food - all these are constant attributes of two main events in the life of an amazing people.

This is the table - they eat at it

Another special feature of the Kalash is that, unlike their neighbors, they always used tables and chairs for meals. They build houses according to the Macedonian custom - from stones and logs. They don’t forget about the balcony, while the roof of one house is the floor for another - the result is a kind of “Kalash-style high-rise building.” On the facade there is stucco with Greek motifs: rosettes, radial stars, intricate convolutions.

Most Kalash are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. There are only a few examples when one of them managed to change their usual way of life. The legendary Lakshan Bibi is widely known, who became an airline pilot and created a fund to support the Kalash. The unique people are of genuine interest: the Greek authorities are building schools and hospitals for them, and the Japanese are developing projects for additional energy sources. By the way, the Kalash learned about electricity relatively recently.

In vino veritas

The production and consumption of wine is another distinctive feature of the Kalash. Prohibition throughout Pakistan is not yet a reason to abandon traditions. And after preparing the wine, you can play your favorite game - something between rounders, golf and baseball. The ball is hit with a stick, and then everyone searches for it together. Whoever found it twelve times and returned first “to base” won. Often, residents of the same village come to visit their neighbors to fight in a gala, and then have fun celebrating - and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a victory or a defeat.

Search a woman

Kalash women are in secondary roles, doing the most “thankless work.” But this is where the similarities with their neighbors probably end. They decide for themselves who to marry, and if the marriage turns out to be unhappy, then divorce. True, the new chosen one must pay the ex-husband a “penalty” - a dowry of double size. Kalash girls can not only get an education, but also, for example, get a job as a guide. The Kalash have long had their own kind of maternity homes - “bashali”, where “dirty” women spend several days before the onset of childbirth and about a week after.

Relatives and curious people are not only prohibited from visiting expectant mothers, they are not even allowed to touch the walls of the tower.
And what beautiful and elegant Kalashkas! The sleeves and hems of their black dresses, for which Muslims, by the way, call the Kalash “black infidels,” are embroidered with multi-colored beads. On the head is the same bright headdress, reminiscent of a Baltic corolla, decorated with ribbons and intricate beadwork. Around her neck there are many strings of beads, by which you can determine the woman’s age (if you can count, of course). The elders cryptically remark that the Kalash are alive only as long as their women wear their dresses. And finally, one more “rebus”: why is the hairstyle of even the smallest girls five braids that begin to be woven from the forehead?

There are several tiny plateaus scattered high in the mountains of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. Locals call this area Chintal. Here lives a unique and mysterious tribe, or people, the Kalash. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that a small people managed to survive in the very heart of Muslim states.

If the Kalash were a huge and numerous diaspora with a separate territory and statehood, then their existence would hardly surprise anyone, but today there are several thousand Kalash left - the smallest and most mysterious ethnic group in the Asian region.

Kalash(self-name: kasivo; the name "Kalash" comes from the name of the area) - a nationality in Pakistan, living in the highlands of the Hindu Kush (Nuristan or Kafirstan). Number of people: about 6 thousand people. They were almost completely exterminated as a result of the Muslim genocide by the beginning of the 20th century, as they profess paganism. They lead a secluded lifestyle. They speak the Kalash language of the Dardic group of Indo-European languages ​​(however, about half of the words of their language have no analogues in other Dardic languages, as well as in the languages ​​of neighboring peoples). In Pakistan, there is a widespread belief that the Kalash are the descendants of the warriors of Alexander the Great (due to which the Macedonian government built a center of culture in this area. The appearance of some Kalash is characteristic of Northern European peoples, Among them, blue-eyedness and blondness are often found. At the same time, some Kalash have an Asian appearance that is quite characteristic of the region.

The names of the gods that the Kalash worship will amaze you even more. They call Apollo the god of gods and lord of the sun. Aphrodite is revered as the goddess of beauty and love. Zeus evokes mute and enthusiastic reverence in them, etc.

Familiar names? And where does a semi-wild tribe, whose members have never descended from the mountains, cannot read and write, know and worship the Greek gods? Moreover, their religious rituals are strikingly similar to Hellenic ones. For example, oracles are mediators between believers and the gods, and on holidays the Kalash do not skimp on sacrifices and alms to the gods. By the way, the language in which the tribesmen communicate is reminiscent of ancient Greek.

The most inexplicable mystery of the Kalash tribe is their origin. This is a mystery that ethnographers around the world are scratching their heads over. However, the mountain pagans themselves explain their appearance in Asia simply. Another thing is that it is not so easy to separate truth from myths.

At the same time, about 3 thousand Kalash are Muslims. Conversion to Islam is not welcomed by the Kalash, who are trying to preserve their tribal identity. The Northern European appearance of some of them is explained by the more or less preserved Indo-European gene pool as a result of refusal to mix with the surrounding population. Along with the Kalash, representatives of the Hunza people and some ethnic groups of the Pamiris, Persians, and others also have similar anthropological characteristics.

The Kalash claim that their people formed as a single conclave 4 thousand years ago, but not in the mountains of Pakistan, but far beyond the seas, where the inhabitants of Olympus ruled the world. But the day came when some of the Kalash went on a military campaign under the leadership of the legendary Alexander the Great. This happened in 400 BC. Already in Asia, Macedonsky left several Kalash barrage detachments in local settlements, strictly ordering them to wait for his return.

Alas, Alexander the Great never returned for his faithful soldiers, many of whom went on a campaign with their families. And the Kalash were forced to settle in new territories, waiting for their master, who either forgot about them, or deliberately left them on new lands as the first settlers from distant Hellas. The Kalash are still waiting for Alexander to this day.

There is something in this legend. Ethnographers attribute the Kalash to the Indo-Aryan race - this is a fact. The faces of the Kalash are purely European. The skin is much lighter than that of Pakistanis and Afghans. And the eyes are the passport of an unfaithful foreigner. Kalash eyes are blue, gray, green and very rarely brown. But there is one more touch that does not fit into the common culture and way of life of these places. Kalash were always made for themselves and used as furniture. They eat at the table, sitting on chairs - excesses that were never inherent to the local “natives” and appeared in Afghanistan and Pakistan only with the arrival of the British in the 18th-19th centuries, but never took root. And from time immemorial, the Kalash have used tables and chairs. Did you come up with it yourself? And there are many such questions...

So, the Kalash survived. They preserved their language, traditions, and religion. However, later Islam came to Asia, and with it the troubles of the Kalash people, who did not want to change their religion. Adapting to Pakistan by preaching paganism is a hopeless undertaking. Local Muslim communities persistently tried to force the Kalash to convert to Islam. And many Kalash were forced to submit: either live by adopting a new religion, or die. In the 18th-19th centuries, Islamists massacred hundreds and thousands of Kalash. Under such conditions, surviving and preserving the traditions of your ancestors, you see, is problematic. Those who did not obey and even secretly practiced pagan cults were, at best, driven from the fertile lands by the authorities, driven into the mountains, and more often - destroyed.

Today, the last Kalash settlement is located in the mountains at an altitude of 7000 meters - not the best conditions for agriculture, livestock breeding and life in general!

The brutal genocide of the Kalash people continued until the middle of the 19th century, until the tiny territory that Muslims called Kafirstan (land of the infidels), where the Kalash lived, came under the protection of Great Britain. This saved them from complete extermination. But even now the Kalash are on the verge of extinction. Many are forced to assimilate (through marriage) with Pakistanis and Afghans, converting to Islam - this makes it easier to survive and get a job, education, or position.

The life of modern Kalash can be called Spartan. The Kalash live in communities - it’s easier to survive. They huddle in tiny huts, which they build from stone, wood and clay in narrow mountain gorges. The back wall of a Kalash house is a plane of rock or mountain. This saves building materials, and the home becomes more stable, because digging a foundation in mountainous soil is a Sisyphean task.

The roof of the lower house (floor) is also the floor or veranda of another family's house. Of all the amenities in the hut: table, chairs, benches and pottery. The Kalash know only by hearsay about electricity and television. A shovel, a hoe and a pick are more understandable and familiar to them. They draw their living resources from agriculture. The Kalash manage to grow wheat and other grain crops on lands cleared of stone. But the main role in their livelihood is played by livestock, mainly goats, which provide the descendants of the Hellenes with milk and dairy products, wool and meat. Having such a meager choice, the Kalash manage not to lose their own pride and not stoop to begging and theft. But their life is a struggle for survival. They work from dawn to dusk and do not complain about fate. Their way of life and its way of life have changed little over 2 thousand years, but this does not upset anyone.

And yet there is something mountainous in Kalash. A clear and unshakable division of responsibilities is striking: men are the first in labor and hunting, women only help them in the least labor-intensive operations (weeding, milking, housekeeping). In the house, men sit at the head of the table and make all important decisions in the family (in the community).

For women in each settlement, towers are built - a separate house where the women of the community give birth to children and spend time on “critical days”.

A Kalashi woman is obliged to give birth to a child only in the tower, and therefore pregnant women settle in the “maternity hospital” in advance. No one knows where this tradition came from, but the Kalash do not observe other segregation and discriminatory tendencies towards women, which infuriates and makes Muslims laugh, who treat the Kalash as people not of this world.

Marriage. This sensitive issue is decided exclusively by the parents of the young. They can consult with the newlyweds, they can talk with the parents of the bride (groom), or they can solve the problem without asking the opinion of their child. And yet no one here tells the tragic stories of Romeo and Juliet. Young people trust their elders, and elders treat their own children and youth with love and understanding.

The Kalash do not know days off, but they cheerfully and hospitably celebrate 3 holidays: Yoshi - the sowing festival, Uchao - the harvest festival, and Choimus - the winter festival of the gods of nature, when the Kalash ask the “Olympians” to send them a mild winter and a good spring and summer.
During Choymus, each family slaughters a goat as a sacrifice, the meat of which is treated to everyone who comes to visit or meets on the street.

And the Kalash don’t forget Bacchus: they know how to walk. Wine flows like a river during the holidays, however, religious holidays do not turn into booze.

It is not known for certain whether the Kalash are descendants of the soldiers of the army of Alexander the Great. What is undeniable is that they are clearly different from the peoples around them. Moreover, in a recent study - a joint effort of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, the University of Southern California and Stanford University - on the collection and processing of a huge amount of information on the genetic connections of the planet's population, a separate paragraph is devoted to the Kalash, which states that their genes are truly unique and belong to the European group.