Kalasha Winter Festival Continues To Attract Tourists

The Kalasha winter festival "Chawmoss" is being celebrated with religious zeal and zest by the local people as the children collected twigs and branches of pine trees and made bonfire to participate in the high flame and smoke competitions on Monday.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Dec, 2018 ) :The Kalasha winter festival "Chawmoss" is being celebrated with religious zeal and zest by the local people as the children collected twigs and branches of pine trees and made bonfire to participate in the high flame and smoke competitions on Monday.

Began on December 7 and to be continued till 22th of this month, the phase of bonfire competitions in the Chawmoss festival completed in which a number of children participated.

The children's participation in high flames smoke competition was meant to welcome peace, prosperity, minerals, green grass and love among the people of the indigenous tribe in ensuing winter and spring seasons.

The children while holding green leaves and branches of trees also sang songs and performed chorus to enjoy the festival.

Local and foreign tourists had also come to the valley to see and enjoy the unique culture, traditions and religious rites.

Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Senior Minister for Tourism Atif Khan had issued directives to the quarters concerned to provide every facility to the locals and foreign tourists, who had come for Chawmoss festival.

He had also announced Rs 560 million for highlighting the Kalash culture to the world.

The Kalasha winter festival "Chawmoss" is the biggest festival of the year.

As winter starts around mid December, the Chawmoss festival begins.

The festival is celebrated for the divine, the living and dead relatives, crops and the goats to be safeguarded, while the community, the village and the valley are purified prior to the coming year. Sighting a fox is a good omen and great efforts are made in this regard.

At dusk, torch-lit processions are taken out from all the nearby villages. The processions then culminate at the "Charsue", which is the main customary dancing place. Most of the festivities are indoors where the local wine is handed around as the dance gathers momentum. It is carried out till late in the night round the bonfire.

On the other hand, the tribal elders sit on hilltops at dawn to watch the rising sun and declare the new year.

Goat sacrifice is then made to the Godess "Jastak", while blood from the animal is sprinkled at the temple Jastime.

When "Balimine", another great god visits the Kalash valley once a year, sacrificesare made at his "Malosh Altar" too.