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The Kalash is a small community that can be found along the mountain range at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. They are the last surviving non-Muslim tribal community in Northern Pakistan. The population  has decreased by 11,000 people in just one year.

Prompt 1: Explain why the population has decreased tremendously over the recent years.

Prompt 2:  Write about how they came to be the last non-Muslim tribal community in North Pakistan.

Prompt 3: Explain how the womens' clothing of the Kalasha community differs from other folk cultures located in Pakistan.

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Popular Culture is an Obstacle to Retaining the Trait  

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Popular Culture is an Obstacle to Retaining the Trait  

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The article talks about how tourism has become a major issue within the Kalash community

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Cave People of the Himalaya | National Geographic Documentary

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This video shows the daily life of the Kalash people in Northern Pakistan. It is the first part of a series of tourist videos filmed in N Pakistan in summer 2015. Please share this film. Our holiday was booked in the UK with Travelpak UK and operated by Karakorum Nature and Discovery Pakistan.

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Gives information on everything one may wish to know about the Kalash community

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The Kalash people, the tribe that inspired Kipling live their daily lives deep in the valleys of the Hindu Kush, the unforgiving mountain range at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan.

How they got there is a mystery. How they manage to survive is another. The Kalash are a people who have links with Greece in almost everything but proximity. They dance around night-time fires; they make wine and indulge in ancient Olympic sports such as wrestling and shot-put. With their piercing blue-green eyes, strong features and olive skins, even Alexander the Great was convinced of the Hellenic connection.

Why, then, are they found tucked deep in the valleys of Brumboret, Rumbur and Birir then?

Whatever the answer, the Kalash are one of the most remarkable cultures on the planet. With a population of just over 3,000, the largest minority group in Pakistan, they are an oasis of color and warmth in stark contrast to the seemingly inhospitable land that surrounds them. Despite their isolation, or perhaps because of it, the Kalash people are welcoming to Western visitors.

There are two ways to enter the valleys: by foot or, landslides permitting, by road. Understandably, most people prefer the 90-minute jeep ride from the trading centre of Chitral, just 32 kilometres north-east. There's not really any other reason to take the trip - everyone, including half the men of the valleys, it seems, are packed inside, and while most are returning from work in the Chitral souvenir shops, it's entirely believable that some are just along for the ride. With just the right amount of speed, a liberal sprinkling of hair-pin bends and a conservative use of the brakes, you can imagine these ancient jeeps are propelled by sheer adrenaline.

The valleys are idyllic and a haven from the hustle and bustle of Pakistan's major cities and tourist attractions. Walnut and jujube trees cling to the lower slopes, while carefully cultivated sugarcane fields thrive along rivers at the bottom of each.

It is here, deep within the Hindu Kush, that travelers come for a taste of another life, another time. Villages are little more than a scattering of wooden homes, and although there has been a recent blot on the Brumboret landscape in the form of a three-star hotel, most travellers prefer the simple charm of a 250-rupees-a-night ($10) guesthouse with twin rooms, meals on request and gardens at the rear.

In the smaller valleys of Birir and Rumbur, it's also possible to stay in family homes, and with comparatively few visitors there's never a shortage of invitations, no matter how hot or sweaty you appear.

But if the first thing that strikes you about the Kalash is their disarming hospitality, then the second is their appearance. The word "Kalash" means "black" and refers to the clothing worn by the women and girls. It's quite a misleading label, and while the men have definitely drawn the short straw in the clothing stakes, the elaborate garb of the women is anything but. Women tend to dress in very colorful and elaborate clothes in stark contrast with the rest of Pakistan. For the travelers who make the effort, this vibrant display is well worth it.

Not everyone who makes the trip is so warmly received. Because the Kalash are pagans and worship a pantheon of gods including Dezao, the creator, or Jastak, the goddess of family, love, marriage and birth, rather than Muhammad, they are free from the restraints of Purdah. As such, they represent more than just an oddity for the Pakistani men who come to ogle the bare flesh.

The Kalash have always been proud of their way of life and recently so is the rest of Pakistan. Traditionally the Kalash were ostracized by their majority neighbors and forced deep into the mountains for their religious beliefs, they have been tolerated through gritted teeth. It is only recently, once communications improved and the tourist interest soared, that the Pakistani authorities have tried to understand this wonderful culture.

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The Kalash people, the tribe that inspired Kipling live their daily lives deep in the valleys of the Hindu Kush, the unforgiving mountain range at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. How they got there is a mystery. How they manage to survive is another.

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This is about how  the Kalasha are the last surviving non-Muslim tribal communities in Northern Pakistan.

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TheLiving at an elevation of 8,000 ft., the Kalash are one of the world's endangered minority communities. The Kalash valleys are located in the southern gorges of the Hindu Kush mountain range of Pakistan`s Northwest Frontier Province. I am in Balanguru village during their Pagan Spring Festival of Joshi. Villages like Balanguru, remain isolated, very poor, and unique. They are also under severe pressure from the surrounding Muslim 'authorities' to convert to Islam. Viewed as a rather special area since they are not Muslim and so close to the Afghan border, you have to get a special permit to visit. Kalasha are the last surviving non-Muslim tribal communities in Northern Pakistan. A decade ago, there were 15,000 non-Muslim ethnic Kalasha in the three valleys of Bumborate, Rumbur and Birir. Now there are just 4,000.

The spring festival of Joshi, or Chillmjusht is celebrated in May every year. The festival seeks the blessings of gods and goddesses for the safety of the herds and crops of the Kalash community. The spring festival honours the fairies and also safeguards the goats and shepherds before they depart to the high mountain pastures for the goats' summer grazing. They present the women with goats' milk and bread that has been ritually purified. The women sing their praise, and while the men are away, the women stay in the narrow valleys, tending their tiny terraced fields of wheat, maize and millet. The picturesque village of Balanguru of around 60 stone and wood houses sits on a small stream that flows into the main river of the valley. The stream itself is used for everything, from washing clothes and utensils, to drinking water for them and their livestock.

While Kalash men wear ordinary shalwar kameez (the loose long shirt and trousers) as do most of the Pakistanis, the Kalash women wear five large braids of hair , (one in the front, two on the sides, and two in the back). They also wear the 'Cheo', a black woolen homespun dress, red-beaded necklaces by the dozen, and an exceptional head piece (shaped differently in each valley) covered in cowry shells, beads and trinkets that flow down their back. For their black robes, the Kalash are sometimes referred to as the "Wearers of the Black Robes". Kalash means black in their language.

The traditional headdress decorated with shells and beads. The Shu'shut is a band worn by women on their heads in their everyday dress, with a long tail that falls at the back. It is elaborately decorated with shells, beads, chain and embroidery.

The origins of the Kalash have fascinated anthropologists due to the unusually high frequency of light hair, skin, and eyes (particularly green).

Marriage by elopement is rather frequent, also involving women who are already married to another man. Indeed, wife-elopement is counted as one of the "great customs" (ghōna dastūr) together with the main festivals. Girls are usually married at an early age. If a woman wants to change husbands, she will write a letter to her prospective husband offering herself in marriage and informing the would-be groom how much her current husband paid for her. This is because the new husband must pay double if he wants her. For example, if the current husband paid one cow for her, then the new husband must pay two cows to the original husband if he wants her. The Kalash do not in general separate males and females or frown on contact between the sexes. However, menstruating girls and women are sent to live in the "bashaleni", the village menstrual building, during their periods, until they regain their "purity". They are also required to give birth in the bashaleni.

The Northwest Frontier is a wild region of immense natural beauty. Located in the remote North West corner of Pakistan - one of the most politically complex countries on earth, the Frontier borders Afghanistan to the east, China to the north and India to the west. There is a high threat from terrorism, kidnap and sectarian violence throughout Pakistan.

The 635 ft. Hussaini-Borit Suspension Bridge linking Zarabad village to Hussain Village in northern Pakistan

Cathedral Ridge in northern Pakistan

The Kalash were harvesting their wheat crops and huge sections of ripened wheat fields caved off, crashing down into the raging river below. In this year's floods, all the irrigation channels the length of the Rumbur valley and the hydro-electric plant were destroyed. At least fifty families in the Valley are severely affected. The school was washed away by the floods and they are now using a tent. Fund raising is now underway to try and help.

My journey to Pakistan in the spring of 2007 was arranged through "Wild Frontiers" a U.K. based travel company

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TheLiving at an elevation of 8,000 ft., the Kalash are one of the world's endangered minority communities. The Kalash valleys are located in the southern gorges of the Hindu Kush mountain range of Pakistan`s Northwest Frontier Province. I am in Balanguru village during their Pagan Spring Festival of Joshi.