Pakistan Country in Perspective

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Fashion 6: The Minor Headdress: Shushut (Susut)

The Minor Headdress: Shushut (Susut)

Shushut (susut) is also called minor headdress, because it is just a head band with a tail at the back

called tagalak decorated heavily with cowries’ shells, red and other multicolor beads, buttons and colorful bead patterns and flowers, worn underneath the major headdress kupas. Its character and use is less formal than the Ku'pas - for beauty, adornment. The shushut is given to a little girl for the first time, after she has received the Ku'pas during Chaomos. It can be given anytime without formalities and is worn from then on. It can be produced in any month of the year.

Shushut is worn all the time by Kalasha women. The only time a woman takes off her shushut is when she is going to bed at night or when in mourning. Even then if a woman wakes up and gets out of bed to stoke the fire or feed her baby she may well put her shushut on, so integral are they to woman's sense of self. A woman is also buried with her shu'shut (if not dressed instead in a Surma'dek - a decorated ribbon around the front) under her ku'pas.

Susuts also have tagalak (Trail and Cooper 1999: 295), the horizontal section on women‘s headband consisting of buttons, beads and bells. These decorated sections are on the tail piece of the shushut and vary in number and patterns depending on the length of the piece.

Studies indicate that both kupas and shushut have become much more elaborate and ornate with the passage of time. 

As the shushut is less formal than the ku'pas, it is also less "conservative" in its shape than the ku'pas. So the shu'shut has been changing faster than the ku'pas. 

The shu'shut was "always" there, according to the very old people.

An old Kalasha woman remembers that the shu'shut originally was only a ring around the head with long fringes hanging down the back. The ring was decorated with the 2 rows of cowries’ shells that are still universal.

She also tells, that chains along and between them have always been preferred, though not always available - in which case they are replaced by rows of red beads. Also the pairs of oblong red beads upon the chains were there all the time, she remembers.

The fringes were stitched together to close the ring and this place was decorated with crosses of cowries surrounded by red beads.

During the last 30-35 years the "tail" decorations have grown downwards placed upon a flat upper part made from fringes stitched together transversely with the big needle bought from the Nuristani smiths. 

In 1983 many travelers observed, that old women still had shu'shuts with short "tail" decorations and long fringes.

Since then the long fringes have disappeared - as a result of the growing money economy: The long fringes had an increasingly large part decorated. The "tail" grew longer - from hanging half down the back to the waist or even longer. The shu`shuts also become broader - the ring part as well as the "tail": From having only two chained rows of shells the ring now frequently has 3 rows - an extra row on the top made from buttons and beads.

This is the case at least among the young women who care most about their looks: Now the ring is standing up - coquettish aslant above the front plait, decidedly on top of the head or decently on the back of the head - the same woman wears it in different ways according to her moods.

In the last 25-26 years another innovation has begun:

The "tail" is now woven instead of made from fringes stitched together. A firm woven "tail" is a better support for decorations. 

22-23 years ago yet another innovation came up in Bomburet and Rumbour: It became "fashion" to insert colored borders when weaving the "tail".

The shu’shuts show regional differences;

In Birir, they are very peculiar: The "tail" is decorated with a long row of "cowries’ shell crosses" ending in a short part decorated with 1-2 shield designs and rows of beads and bells above the fringes.

Also in Birir small bells are placed along the stitched lower edge of the "ring", which is still low, like before in the other valleys.

In Bomburet and Rumbour: the short row of "cowries’ shell crosses" are surrounded by beads and only placed on the top of the "tail", which is dominated by rows of buttons, bells and beads and never more than one shield design.

In Bomburet there was always a longer part of "cowries’ shell crosses" (6-9), whereas in Rumbour there used to be only 3. Now the "Bomburet style" is spreading in Rumbour.

From the higher villages in Bomburet another fashion is spreading down this valley and in Rumbour also: The shield design is disappearing and the entire tail is covered with rows.

In 1990 Gulman'deh from Anish (the lowest village of Bomburet) told, that the shield design in Bomburet is used only by the women in her village and by some of the women in the next village Brun.

An old specimen of shushut displayed at the Folk Heritage Museum, Islamabad, and also a new shushut, showing tremendous change in decorations of the tagalak or the horizontal section of a shushut overtime.

Fabrication: The warp is set with the top beam in the lowest hole of the loom - the number of stones here decides the length. Traditionally only the ring part was woven and the tail made by stitching the long fringes together. Now also the tail part is woven - often with inserted patterns - a part of the warp is left empty for stitching the ring and bending of the tail. Traditionally the tail fringes came from both sides.

Now only one tail part is provided with fringes. So these are made double length as each fringe later is doubled: Before closing the ring, the edge border "clod" is stitched: Then the work is fulled and dried in the sunshine.

After which the double row of cowries are attached two by two with the same stitches. The stitches through the tops of the cowries also attach the infolded top edge. Then the other decorations are done.

At the end of the "tail" the fish-border is bound from the right - first on one side and then on the other side. Finally the fringes are doubled into half length.

Sperber, while talking about making susut (shushut) states “fringes stitched together transversely with big needles bought from the Nursitani smiths” (1996:382). Those produced for selling to tourists are much lower in quality and decorations as compared to those worn by the Kalasha women themselves, made with lot of labor, skill and passion for special occasions and major festivals.

1 Shabnam Bahar Malik, 2015, Traditional Costumes of the Kalasha Kafirs of Chitral,

2 Sperber Glavind, Brigitte, 1990. Kalash: Dresses, Body Decorations and Textile Techniques. In Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference,  pp 14-17

3 Anwaar Mohyuddin, Irum Sheikh & Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chaudhry “KALASH DRESS ADORNMENT AS SPACE FOR IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY OF BUMBURET VALLEY IN DISTRICT CHITRAL, PAKISTAN“

4 https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/2014.40/