Ο αργαλειός των Kalash

 

Ένα θεμελιώδες μέρος των θρησκευτικών πεποιθήσεων των  Kalash  είναι ότι τα πάντα, ανεξάρτητα από τη θέση, τη συμπεριφορά, το φύλο και τα αντικείμενα, χωρίζονται στις σφαίρες του καθαρού (Onjesta) και του ακάθαρτου (Pragata).

{Ένας άνδρας Kalash, ο Khrosh Nawaz είχε πει: «Ο αργαλειός είναι μιαρός, ακάθαρτος, επειδή ένας Baira έφτιαξε τον πρώτο αργαλειό για τη γυναίκα του. Baira είναι οι άνθρωποι, που ήταν ακάθαρτοι (pragata), γιατί παντρεύτηκαν έναν πολύ κοντινό συγγενή τους και με αυτόν τον τρόπο ασπάστηκαν τον ισλαμισμό»

Καθώς ο αργαλειός είναι pragata (μολυσμένος, αυτός που ανήκει στη σφαίρα των γυναικών), δεν τοποθετείται ποτέ μέσα στα σπίτια, αλλά διατηρείται πάντα έξω από αυτά. Όταν δεν χρησιμοποιείται, τα στηρίγματα είναι κάπου αποθηκευμένα ενώ  όταν χρησιμοποιείται τα στηρίγματα ακουμπούν σε έναν τοίχο ή ένα δένδρο

Τα υπόλοιπα εξαρτήματα για την ύφανση - η σπάθη, το πηνίο, το βαρύ «χτένι» και  τα μιτάρια είναι πολύτιμα εργαλεία των γυναικών – έχουν κατασκευαστεί από τους άνδρες και δόθηκαν στις γυναίκες ως μια ένδειξη αφοσίωσης. Η γυναίκα που χρησιμοποιεί τα εξαρτήματα αναφέρει  ποιος τα έφτιαξε και δεν το ξεχνά ποτέ.

Καθώς το σπίτι είναι πολύ σκοτεινό, το καλύτερο μέρος για την ύφανση είναι έξω από αυτό.

Το γεγονός ότι η ύφανση γίνεται στο ύπαιθρο, αυτό αναπτύσσει τις κοινωνικές τους σχέσεις, όπως πριν από τις γιορτές Chaomos και Joshi, όταν φτιάχνουν καινούρια φορέματα, αρκετοί αργαλειοί τοποθετούνται ο ένας δίπλα στον άλλο. Η γυναίκα που υφαίνει έχει πάντα δίπλα της μια άλλη γυναίκα, που τη θαυμάζει ή συχνά της «προτείνει ένα σχέδιο», εισάγει ένα μοτίβο που γνωρίζει και με αυτόν τον τρόπο διαδίδεται η γνώση των πρότυπων σχεδίων.

Τα μικρά κορίτσια αρχίζουν να μαθαίνουν να υφαίνουν από τα 5 – 6 χρόνια τους. Ξεκινούν  βοηθώντας πίσω από τον αργαλειό για να ρυθμίζουν το στημόνι και αργότερα βοηθούν δουλεύοντας οι ίδιες τον αργαλειό.

 

Το πρώτο έργο ενός κοριτσιού τις περισσότερες φορές μπορεί να είναι ένα καινούριο  shu'shut για το joshi,  παρά μια απλή και σύντομη εργασία.

Ο όρθιος αργαλειός είναι μια απλή κατασκευή που αποτελείται από δύο ξύλινα δοκάρια που στερεώνονται στο έδαφος που συνδέονται μεταξύ τους κάθετα με άλλα δύο, λεπτότερα δοκάρια. Το πρώτο, το οποίο βρίσκεται στο πάνω μέρος του αργαλειού στηρίζει το ύφασμα. Το δεύτερο βρίσκεται στο κέντρο και έχει τρύπες σε συγκεκριμένα διαστήματα ώστε να χωρίζει τα στημόνια σε ομάδες ανάλογα με την επιθυμητή ύφανση για να σχηματιστεί το άνοιγμα, από το οποίο περνάει το υφάδι. Τα στημόνια, δηλαδή οι κατακόρυφες κλωστές του υφάσματος δένονται στο κάτω τους μέρος με βαρίδια, που κρατούν τα στημόνια τεντωμένα, έτσι ώστε να μπορεί να περάσει το υφάδι  ανάμεσά τους.

Τα βαρίδια μπορούν να αφαιρούνται σταδιακά, εάν το στημόνι γίνει πιο κοντό.

Ο όρθιος αργαλειός έχει  περιστρεφόμενο στημόνι, αλλά το στημόνι διαχωρίζεται από ένα κοντάρι που το βγάζουν μετά την ύφανση και μετά οι υπόλοιπες θηλιές αφού τις στριφογυρίσουν μετατρέπονται σε κρόσσια.

Για να τοποθετήσουν το στημόνι τυλίγουν το νήμα γύρω από το επάνω οριζόντιο ξύλινο αντί.

Μετά τη ρύθμιση του στημονιού, η υφάντρα με τη «σπάθη» που κρατά στο χέρι περνάει το υφάδι και ακολούθως το τοποθετεί και το πιέζει με το χτένι, το οποίο διαθέτει μικρά δόντια, ώστε να τακτοποιηθούν οι κλωστές σε συγκεκριμένες θέσεις.

Μετά από αυτό περιστρέφουν κλωστές (ή σχοινιά) γύρω από ένα  μιτάρι στην περίπτωση  της  απλής ύφανσης   (χρησιμοποιείται για φορέματα,  κολάν, παντελόνια, ζακέτες, σάλια και υφάσματα για το κεφάλι), και γύρω από τέσσερα μιτάρια κυρίως για την ύφανση που χρησιμοποιείται για τις ζώνες των γυναικών ώστε να συγκρατούν την φούστα. Πριν γίνουν τα δεσίματα, εισέρχεται η ψαλίδα ώστε να ανασηκωθούν οι κλωστές προς τα κορδόνια . Στη συνέχεια ένα νήμα τοποθετείται κατά μήκος της σπάθης και τα κορδόνια ανασηκώνονται ανάμεσα στα νήματα του στημονιού και γύρω από το μιτάρι.

Οι κλωστές του στημονιού είναι συνήθως πιο λεπτές από ότι το υφάδι. Έτσι το ύφασμα εμφανίζεται με το στημόνι στο εμπρός μέρος (δηλαδή το στημόνι να καλύπτει το νήμα).Το νήμα περιστρέφεται σε ένα καρούλι (μασούρι) και η ύφανση αρχίζει. Σε κάθε χτύπημα η «σπάθη»  πιέζει προς τα κάτω και το νήμα χτυπιέται δυνατά με ένα βαρύ ξύλινο «πιρούνι».

Η ύφανση προχωράει από κάτω προς τα πάνω και οι γυναίκες κάθονται στο έδαφος. Όταν το πλάτος της ύφανσης είναι όσο το άνοιγμα των χεριών της υφάντρας, τότε αυτή κάθεται σε μαξιλάρα, σχεδόν κατάχαμα και όσο προχωράει η ύφανση χρησιμοποιεί ψηλότερο κάθισμα. Όταν το πανί φθάνει στο ύψος του κόρφου της υφάντρας, τότε πρέπει να γυριστεί όσο έχει υφανθεί στην πίσω πλευρά του αργαλειού, για να μεταφερθεί μπροστά το υπόλοιπο στημόνι και να συνεχισθεί ανεμπόδιστα  η ύφανση.

Τα ρέλια γίνονται με τα δάχτυλα. Αφήνουν τις χαλαρές και σφικτές κλωστές στο μπροστινό μέρος του υφαντού και μένουν εκεί μέχρι να τελειώσει η εργασία.

Στις ζώνες και τα σάλια-tja'rushdi των γυναικών, στα κολάν αλλά επίσης και στα shu'shut τελευταία, χρησιμοποιείται η "τεχνικής Kelim", δηλ. διαγώνια σχήματα με μικρές τρύπες, όπου συναντώνται τα χρώματα.

Στα φορέματα, παντελόνια, σάλια και κουπάδες, χρησιμοποιείται η τεχνική Soumak - το νήμα εναλλάσσεται με επιπλέον χρωματιστές κλωστές που εισάγονται σαν βελονιές γύρω από το στημόνι.

Επίσης μια ιδιαίτερη τεχνική των Καλάς (Kao’shelaak) χρησιμοποιείται για να φτιάχνουν οριζόντιες διακεκομμένες ή πολύχρωμες ρίγες. Αυτό γίνεται όταν συνδέουν τις θηλιές ενός πολύχρωμου νήματος στη μια πλευρά του στημονιού και τοποθετούν κρίκους ενδιάμεσα εναλλάσσοντας πάνω και κάτω γύρω από μερικά νήματα στην άλλη πλευρά του στημονιού}¹

 

 

¹ Sperber Glavind, Brigitte, 1990. Kalash: Dresses, Body Decorations and Textile Techniques. In Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference,  pp 49-51

 

The Loom of Kalash

 

The Loom of Kalash

A fundamental part of Kalash religious beliefs and demonstrate that everything, from location, behavior, gender and objects, is separated into the spheres of pure (Onjesta) and impure (Pragata).

{The Kalasha historical and cultural expert, Khrosh Nawaz, says: “The Loom is pragata, because a Baira made the first loom for his wife. Baira are the people, who became very pragata, because they married a too close relative and so had to convert into Islam”

As the loom is pragata (impure, belonging to the sphere of women), it is never placed inside the family houses, but always kept outside

-         When not in use, the posts are lying or standing somewhere

-         When in use they are leaning towards a wall or a tree.

The other tools for the weaving – the finely carved sword, the shed stick with fine teeth cut along the edge, the heavy “comb” and the hedges are a woman’s treasuries –like the spindle, they are made by a man and given to the woman as a token of devotion. The woman using the tools tells who made it, and never forgets. As the house are very dark, outside is the best place for weaving anyway.

 When done in public, the weaving also becomes a nice social act sometimes, like before the festivals of Chaomos and Joshi, when new dress parts are being produced; several looms are placed beside each other

-and always the woman at work has the company of other women, who admire or frequently “give a pattern”, insert a border, they know. In this way the knowledge of patterns is spread.

The small girls start learning to weave as early as at the age of 5-6

-         They may start by helping behind the loom, when the warp is set

-         Later they help doing the work itself.

The first work of a girl may be a new shu’shut for joshi – rather a simple and short work.

The loom consists of two long posts with holes punched out at special intervals for the different warp lengths needed for the different dress parts.

 Through the holes the horizontal warp beams are inserted supported by stones. The stones can be removed gradually, if the warp shortens.

In principle it is round warped loom, but the warp is divided by a stick, which is taken out after weaving and then the resulting loops can be twisted into fringes.

When the warp it set, the shed is formed around the wooden aword.

After the setting of the warp, the sword is pushed upwards, and an extra stick is inserted into the shed made from the dividing stick. The shed stick is provided with small teeth, which arrange the warp threads in regular intervals.

After this leaches are made around one heddle for plain weave (used for dresses, leggings, trousers, jackets, shawls and head-dresses) and around 4 heddles more for the twilled weave used for the women’s belts to prevent them from slipping loose. Before the leaches are made, the sword is inserted to lift up the threads for the leaches. Then a thread is shot in along the sword and the leaches are lifted up between the warp threads around the heddle.

The warp threads are mostly finer than the weft. So the tissue mostly comes out warp faced (with the warp covering the weft). The weft is wound on a spool stick, and the weaving can start. For each shoot, the sword is pressed down and the weft is hammered down with a heavy wooden “fork”

When weaving the women sits on the ground and the work is done upwards. As the warp –though divided- is round, it can be pulled down gradually as the work proceeds. In this way the optiman working position is always there.

Borders are inserted with the fingers: Loose or skeined threads hanging on the front of the loom are inserted and left there after the work is finished.

In women’s belts and tja’rushdi-shawls, in pants, leggings and (during the last 2-3 years) also in the shu’shut a miniature “Kelim technique” is used – diagonal designs with small holes, where colours meet. In dresses, pants, shawls and kupas, the Soumak technique   is used – the weft is alternating with extra coloured threads inserted like stitches around the warp.

Also a particular Kalash technique  (Kao’shelaak) is used for horizontal dotted or multi coloured stripes. It is made by attaching loops of coloured yarn at one side of the warp and putting the loops into each other alternating up and down around some few warp threads to the other side of the warp.}¹

 

¹ Sperber Glavind, Brigitte, 1990. Kalash: Dresses, Body Decorations and Textile Techniques. In Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference,  pp 49-51

“No people are an island" Paper for the IIIrd International Hindukush Cultural Conference, Chitral 1995 by Birgitte Glavind Sperber

“No people are an island -"

Paper for the IIIrd International Hindukush Cultural Conference, Chitral 1995

by Birgitte Glavind Sperber

 My name is Birgitte Glavind Sperber. I am a Danish Geographer and Biologist with a recent supplementary education in Anthropology. My family and I have been so privileged that the Kalash_ have allowed us to live with them during many stays - my own stays in total almost two years. These stays have enabled me closely to study and follow the development of the Kalasha community and culture during the last twelve years.

In this paper I will try in brief to analyze how the Kalash through history socially as well as culturally actively have responded to different situations and to the impact from outside.

I will discuss whether globalization is only a recent phenomenon or whether the actual term also can be applied to the past?

Emphasizing on the modern situation I will attempt an analysis of the surrounding world's interests in the Kalash. 

In this context I will discuss how conflicting views of what "Kalasha culture" actually means lead to different views on development.

Part of the discussion will be based on the following case from among the Kalash:

At our first stay in the Kalasha valleys we easily learned to distinguish Muslim houses from Kalasha houses - the women's dresses of course were striking, It was also obvious, though, that if there were chickens around a house it was not a Kalasha house.

We soon learned the myth explaining, why the Kalasha religion objects to chicken_.

We learned about the Bashali system - a basic element of the religion: Women in the state of menstruation and delivery are most impure and so have to be confined to protect the community from defilement. During Chaomos in 1983 the Bashali women complained to me that they could not take part in the festivities - it was obvious that everybody obeyed the rules.

During the later years I saw chickens gradually being taken into some of the Kalasha housholds.

I also heard that some of the women began taking the Bashali rules less seriously. During the latest years people worried very much because of a serious disease among the goats which causes problems for the production of milk and cheese.

When I came back this summer there were no chicken in the village.

Washlim Gul said to me:

- In May all the 15 quasis_from all three valleys gathered. First they went to Birir, then they went to Bomburet, and then they came here to Rumbour.  They told the people, that if we didn't stop keeping chickens, it would be the end of the Kalash.

The very same night the fox came and ate all my eight chickens. The men killed it with sticks - you can see the skin hanging there in the veranda.

I blame the Quasis - I could have sold my chickens for 800 Rupees.

Quasi Khrosh Nawaz said to me:

- All we quasis gathered because of the problems with the goats: We realized why, and  then we explained to the people:

- The goats are dying because you don't  observe the customs: Some families keep chickens. Some women do not go to the Bashali when they have to, and some men pray without wearing a hat!

Now again everybody are following the custom, and soon the goats will be better!

 Goats are essential in the Kalasha religion and life and the condition of the goats therefore perceived as a symptom of the state of the community. Were the goats dying due to what Peter Parkes has called "cultural slackness"_ in his description of a similar incident in 1975? Those days a shaman told the people why and what to do.

Were the religious heads in other words once again stabilizing the customs from the inside?

Can the classical anthropological tradition of analyzing the so called "other" like "islands" in this case be applied to the Kalash, or should the case rather be seen as an active response to the fact that the Kalash are part of a local, a national as well as a global world and have been so through history?

In anthropology tribal societies have been analyzed as isolated units and their entity as a "mosaic of cultures"_. 

Even though systemic views came in with Barth's classical analysis of ecological interactions between groups in Swat_  - "traditional" societies like the Kalash have also often been ascribed a static culture and static time_  i.e. being"without history" .

Has the Kalasha culture ever been static?

Historic-economic factors were taken into consideration, when the world system analysts_  incorporated individual communities into a global entity, but there were still problems when accounting for "culture".                         

Most recently the consequences of the present global flux of information, values, people and cultural elements of all kinds have been included into the world system analysis_.  The possible consequences of the socalled "Globalization" are subject to a current debate in anthropology:

- Will globalization lead to uniformization:  In other words will in due time everybody in "The Global Village"_  be wearing blue jeans, while watching global TV on their Sony and drinking Coke?

- Is something new created when people living in "The global ecumene"_  are exposed to the elements of the global flux, making choices and incorporating elements - often in a new way, giving them new significance - "Creolization"_?

- Or - using the nationalism-ethnicity-discourse - does exposition to globalization, contact with other values, lead to a greater awareness of one's own values leading to establishment of cultural or ethnic boundaries_?

These questions, I think, can never be answered categorically in any area. They can just serve as analytical tools.

History is positional - i.e. the past is often reshaped into a version which fits the needs of the present_ - also sometimes the needs of outsiders.

This is possible in particular when the past is scarcely documented.

Where the Kalash initially came from will probably forever be veiled in mists_. 

Did the Kalash, as their oral tradition tells, come from "Tsiam" - their mythical ancestral country said to be near Yarkhan, where people nowadays look and speak so totally differently, since the area came under Chinese domination?

Does this fit into the linguistic theories_ about Aryan migrations from Central Asia with the Dardic speakers  as an ancient side branch?

Did the Kalash, as their oral tradition also tells, descend from Alexander the Great's brave general Shalak Shah from Tsiam, whom Alexander gave the Chitral valley as a reward?

This myth at least is essential for the romantic image promoted by the tourist industry: The fair skinned often blond and blue eyed people living a pagan Dionysian life in a country flowing with wine and honey.

Promotion of this myth may be responsible for the strong attraction the valleys exerts on tourists from other parts of the country.

This version of the past might also be the reason why Greek scholars and developers are attracted to the valleys  it seems to be part of the "search for roots" that for many people is a response to modernity.

Do the Kalash have linguistic ties to the old Palestine as suggested by a linguist at the former conference in Chitral? Or is this just another "search for roots" theory - maybe meant to legitimize the conversion Christian missionairies want so badly?

The origin of the Kalash may be discussed forever.

Far less a matter of discussion seems to be that once (probably around year 1500) the Kalash were dominant in the entire region: The Kalasha oral tradition mentions eight great Kalasha kings - the last one was Rajawai in Bomburet who even fought victoriously in Nuristan. Local people often find remnants of buildings revealing the past way of life. Scientific studies of languages and other cultural traits give the evidence.

 After this period of domination, the Kalash gradually became subject to what might be termed a first wave of "globalization" in terms of a "global" flux of information, values, people and cultural elements: Islam spread from its center of origin gaining a foothold over most of the old world prior to the age of European renaissance and discoveries_.

Unlike the globalization processes of today, though, this spread lasted for centuries, as the speed of spread those days was determined by feet and not by electrons.

According to the Kalasha oral tradition Islam in the Chitral region at first seems to have been annected by kings who then converted their subordinates more or less forcibly. The most persistant of the Kalash took refuge from conversion in the less accessible side valleys like for example Rumbour.

As a result, Muslims became dominant in Chitral and the formerly dominant Kalash became marginalized - subjugated people bound to pay tributes and corvŽe labour_ to the Mehtars,  economically exploited by the tricks of their eastern neighbours _ and subject to frequent robbery raids from their western neighbours on the other side of the snowy peaks.

I have often wondered how this little group of people was able to survive culturally under such strong pressure from outside.

I have wondered why the social structure of the Kalash changed from what the Cacopardos_ termed a "Father society" (hierarchy during the kingdom period ) into a "Brother society" (egalitarian, or rather with several competing leaders).

I have also been wondering why purification rites are so crucial in the Kalasha religious system and practices.

Mary Douglas gives a kind of explanation in her analysis of "Enclave cultures"_ which Peter Parkes was the first to use in a Kalasha context:

Small groups surrounded by strong enemies tend to make strategies which aim towards preventing defection and keeping the group as a unity. It is done through religous systems preoccupied with inner purity in regards to the surroundings and maintaining the world order by means of purification and comprehensive rites. A social demarcation vis ˆ vis the surroundings, that are strong due to hierarchical social systems, makes the enclave egalitarian, which also means a constant preoccupation with rivalry and factionalism.

 This summer the Kalasha historical and cultural expert Khrosh Nawaz explained to me that the basic onjesta/pragata-dualism in the religion has been there from the very beginning. This seems plausible, as it is a very ancient way of structuralizing the world in pure/impure-, we/them- and Cosmos/Chaos-dualities.

Khrosh Nawaz also said that after the Kalash settled in Rumbour (and thus became an enclave due to marginalization), the purification rites increased  mainly ordered by the great shaman Naga Dehar - a confirmation of parts of Douglas' theory.

Consequently the religious and social systems of the Kalash seem to be their active strategic responses to change due to impact from outside.

 

The next exposure to "globalization" came in the last centuries when the British expanded their territories, people, ideologies and systems which had an enduring impact everywhere. In this region a visual remnant from the colonial period is the bagpipes and tartans of the Chitrali Scouts (an example of Creolization).

To the Kalash and other people in the region the daily contact with the administrative, educational and legal systems of British origin is a result of this process.

Crucial to the existence of the Kalash became the British Durand Line which made the Kalasha valleys part of the Raj and so part of today's Pakistan. This prevented the Kalash from being forcibly converted like the Afghan parts of Kafirstan. It was in the British period, though, the Kalash had to accept that land in the upper parts of the Kalash valleys was given to refugees from Nuristan.

 From about 1800 Nationalism emerged as an ideology in Europe and spread with the colonial powers and the local educated elites like a global wave which still has a deep impact on the world of today_.

After the formation of Pakistan in 1947 this new state entered a stage of nationbuilding:

Since then it has been a goal for the national government to forge into a unit the multitude of ethnic and religious groups as well as the multitude of environments in the country.

The Father of the Nation Qaid-i-Azam, the National Constitution_, the flag and the national anthem are examples of national symbols of unity.

The tools for linking the territories are roads, domestic flights, the administrative and legal systems, the police and the army.

The tool for joining the people is the creation of a national identity - directly through the educational system and the national mass media - both promoting Urdu as a common language.

The Kalash respond differently to education:

Carriers of the religious and oral tradition worry that education may lead to loss of the spiritual purity which is needed for keeping contact with the divine. Thus Quasi Pali Azam explained to me: "If people fill up their brains with books they loose their capacity for dream-seeing!" Other people have told me that they want to keep some of the sons out of school as shepherds. This might be interpreted pragmatically, but also as a perceived need of pure minds for guarding the pure goats that are so essential in the Kalasha religion.

Most people, though, appreciate that education has come.

They consider it an expansion of possibilities - for income and in particular for influencing the community and its relations with the surrounding world by means of new insight and language skills.

Education means contact - not only with knowledge but also with values.

Deeply rooted in the  Kalasha tradition is that honour first of all is acquired through giving and sharing. Education may lead to change of values from communal concern into a preoccupation with personal gain - which leads to less respect inside the community.

A few individuals even use "traditional attitudes" as a pretext above their changed values while charming contracts from donors from the outside.

In 1947 the Kalash became citizens in a nation state. Nationbuilding has facilitated the intrusion of influence and change from outside.

The most direct impact on the Kalash has been the road construction.

In general roads have been accepted positively along with the acceptance of hospitals and other services outside the valleys.

Among the Kalash, though, there is a great awareness and concern about the fact that the state also has big economic interests in the valleys which are facilitated by the roads:

First of all the extraction of resources - timber for the less forested areas, but also mineral prospecting is going on. The Kalash want their legal share of the incomes from the resources and first of all direct influence on what and how much should be extracted from the valleys. The Kalash perceive this as a pressure from outside and have responded strategically with unity - even with the Muslim inhabitants in the valleys.

Roads also facilitate tourism, which can be considered part of the modern globalization processes: Tourism is a result of globalization when "globalized" people search for "originality" and want to see, what the global mass media tell about.

At the same time tourism is a major globalizing force, as it means contact

and exchange between  people_.

Tourism on a big scale has to be controlled as it has the potential to destroy its objects.

The Kalash are a major tourist object and so of great economic interest for the public and private tourist industry. This is mainly outside Kalasha ownership and control, which of course leads to concern and frustration among the Kalash - not unanimously, but dependent on how much individuals are feeling harassed by or are living from the tourists.

Tourism may be destructive but on the other hand it may also be a culture saving factor in encouraging cultural pride. This is obviously growing among the Kalash - however mainly due to activities of their own leaders.

The Kalasha culture has always responded to and evolved along with the surrounding world. To some tourist interests saving the culture means freezing it into a museum of the living past:

I have heard influential people complaining that the Kalasha no longer wear hide straps around their feet but have got shoes. Twelve years ago actually most of the women walked bare-footed in the snow - - I have also heard people complaining that stoves and electricity are replacing the romantic open fireplaces in the houses.

For the Kalasha women these innovations actually mean less eye diseases due to smoke and for example a greater possibility of keeping the houses clean.

When outsiders complain and the Kalash do not, even though they are very concerned about keeping their own culture alive, it is because of different perceptions of what "Kalasha culture" actually is.

When asked what "Kalasha culture" is, a Kalash may reply "Homa Dastur!" -

"our tradition"- in brief mainly words and ways, determined by the Kalasha religion.

 This is not what matters to tourists:

Most tourists come to see the "culture"and catch it with their camera - an extra "eye". Thus tourist interests emphasize the spectacular - the big communal rites and the material culture - dresses, houses and technology - therefore the complaints about material changes.

The communal rites are religious manifestations sustaining the world and the unityof the community.

If some day these rites become reified as tourist objects (like now the dancing has been taken out of the religious context and is done for money) the basic functions of the rites  might vanish along with the unity and the world they maintain - -

An increasing dependence on tourist incomes influences the material culture - the women's dresses in particular: Once the women become extra picturesque, the incomes increase, and once the incomes increase, money is used for extra decorations of the women - -

The Kalasha women are very aware of their role as cultural symbols. This fact increases their pride but may also keep them "traditional", which later on might become an undesired strait-jacket - -

Tourism means increased contact - also with other values, sometimes causing frustrations. Contact with western women for example may mean contact with feminist ideas, which may cause the Kalasha women to change their frame of reference:

In 1990 a woman proudly said: "We Kalasha women are very free: We can go to Birir and Bomburet, whereas the Muslim women have to wear the veil and stay in their houses."_Ê This summer she was very frustrated that her husband would not allow her to travel outside the valleys with foreign friends. Now she feels trapped between modernity and tradition, whereas her husband due to his outside contacts needs to take into consideration the norms of the surrounding world, where a local woman travelling freely around will be subject to a great disrespect - -

It is no longer tourists alone who perceive capacity for travel as a symbol of freedom.

Democracy as an ideology can be considered part of globalization and has become a symbol of modernity.  Sometimes democracy emerges due to pressures from below, sometimes from above - frequently even from outside as a precondition for aid or political support on the global arena.

Part of democracy is parties and debate. To the Kalash this has become synonymous with politicians and conflicts: The quest for seats done by outside politicians means an often aggressive quest for votes which again has caused a deep disruption of the unity of the Kalasha community.

As the national elites and decisionmakers to a very high degree are turned outwards, they also use the global  "Development ideology" as a tool in the nationbuilding process - this is often done uncritically:

Development introduced from outside always means change.

"The developed", though, do not always perceive development defined by outsiders as improved conditions of life _ : People may lose influence on their own situation and perhaps also their "roots"during the development process and are at risk of reaching a "point of no return" - -

Above I have given examples of globalizing elements and forces - all apparently homogenizing the cultures of the world, some of them disrupting the unity of small communities.

Are the Kalash heading towards a point of no return - is the Kalasha culture and community maybe at the edge of an abyss?

That of course depends on factors in the outside world as well as on the inside:

The government should have an interest in sustaining and not destroying the potential_ of tourist incomes:  This demands attentive control of and influence on the tourist enterprizes delegated to the Kalasha community. It also means education of the visitors - from this country too.

Sustaining this economic potential should also be taken literally in the sense of sustaining resources - land, wood, pasture land - a strong economic argument in favour of the Kalasha struggle for their resources. 

Some people might think that sustaining the Kalasha culture means that the valleys rather should be kept as a game reserve for researchers and maybe heavily paying tourists to enjoy?

Saifullah Jan has said to me "Man has been to the moon, then why should we be kept in darkness?" Of course the Kalash do not want to be kept like wild animals.

They know about the outside world. They may not want to go to the moon, but they want development on their own conditions.

Development of course means change, which has always occurred. Maybe the outside world should listen to how the Kalash define their own culture ("our tradition"), and forget  worrying about material changes:

"When the kerosene lamp replaced the torches, did it then destroy our culture? So why should electricity?" (Saifullah Jan)

Now back to the initial questions about the consequences of Globalization: 

Is it a threat to the Kalasha community and culture?

Globalization means contacts between values and ideas, but not necessarily amalgamation: In many places contact has lead to greater awareness of one's own values, and even to a strengthening of these, like for instance when young daughters of Muslim immigrants to the West put on the veil. In the globalized world of today ethnic consciousness is increasing, and "ethnic boundaries"_ frequently drawn anew.

This is, what happened in the case in the beginning of this paper:

Like most of the Kalash the religious heads are concerned about the tradition, which is what keeps the people united above political factionalism and daily petty conflicts - the communal rites like festivals and funerals in particular serve as uniting forces  and should not be reified into tourist objects.

Chickens to be sold to tourists for money, as well as new ideas, like that going to Bashali is oppression of the women, was obviously interpreted as harmful intrusions from outside which might lead to a gradual cultural decay. The goats are fine indicators and gave the evidence  that something was wrong. The quasis gave their advise, and apparently everybody obeyed. They did so, as in the Kalasha religion the individuals share the responsibility for the entire community, because individual religious offence may lead to communal disaster.

So beside the basic resources, the religious tradition is imperative for the survival of the Kalasha community.

At present the Kalash know this very well, they even strengthen the tradition from inside - a kind of ethnic boundary making - as shown in the example.

Through their outward activities and also internally through their culture the Kalash respond actively to the impact from the outside world as they have always done.

The Kalash are not victims of globalization, but active actors on the national and global stage.

 "What is going to happen in a hundred years we don't know, but then we are all dead anyway!"        

                                                                                                       (Saifullah Jan 1994)

                                                                                  

                                                                                    Birgitte Glavind Sperber

                                                                                               August 1995