Savilakehari celebrated as Chawmoss festival going on in Kalash Valley

CHITRAL: The Kalash people celebrated the Savilakehari event as part of the ongoing Chawmoss festival on Tuesday. The event is part and parcel of the Chawmoss or Chitirmas festival to mark the arrival of winter in the Rambur, Bamburet and Birrir valleys.

During Savilakehari festival, men, women and children wearing new and colourful clothes and gather at a place and sing love songs for each other. They dance together and praise each other. Young Kalash girls wear boys dresses and boys clad themselves in girls clothes and dance in chorus. They express their feelings for each other and announce their marriages.

The community has already celebrated Mandahek and Sharaberayak festivals. A great hustle and bustle was witnessed in Kalash valleys on Tuesday as people are celebrating the ongoing Chawmoss festival with enthusiasm. The people in Rambur, Bamburet and Birrir valleys seemed excited and happy with the celebration of every event as part of Chawmoss festival.

Men, women and children made various items and toy animals of wheat flour and distributed them as gifts. They made toy animals like cows, markhor and symbols of their ancestors from the flour and baked them in the fire. These toy animals then placed in the sun.

A number of foreign tourists have reached Kalash valley to enjoy the event with the indigenous tribe. The Chawmoss festival that began on December 7 would continue till 22th of the current month. The phase of bonfire competitions in the festival has already completed. The Kalasha people arrange a number of events including bonfire competitions, Mandahek, Sharaberayak and Savilakehari to celebrate the festival with religious zeal and zest.