National Geographic had an article and some pics a few years back.
The Kalash Tribe of Pakistan
National Geographic had an article and some pics a few years back.
The Kalash Tribe of Pakistan
The pagan Kalash of the Hindu Kush. Supposedly, some of their dance customs reflect ancient Greek folk celebrations. The same has been said about their women’s folk costumes.
I believe their little enclave is sometimes called “Kafiristan” by the surrounding Muslims, who feel a need to convert them to the “true religion.” /s
That one old lady looks like she could have been around in 330 BC! Yikes!
In his autobiography, an English officer in the Indian Army (the Army of India when it was a British colony), wrote that a series of hills near his home station, in what is now Pakistan, were topped with Mesopotamian date palms. He said the locals claimed to be descended from Alexander the Great's soldiers, and that the date palms grew from date pits spat out by Alexander's troops, who were on guard duty. In an age before DNA, he could not tell if the first claim was true, but as an army officer, he stated that the hills topped with date palms were the hills a general would picket, if he was making sure that he was not surprised by a large army advancing out of India proper.