PAKISTAN: Kalash Joshi (Spring) Festival

KALASHA VALLEYS, PAKISTAN - MAY 15: A Kalash man cuts down branches from a tree to feed his goats in the village of Anish May 15, 2008 in the Kalasha Valleys, northwestern Pakistan. The Joshi Festival is a celebration of dance, music and prayer to welcome the coming of warmer season and the new life and crops it brings. The shrinking Kalash community of 4000, who claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great and worship several gods, are considered by many Pakistanis to be unclean, lazy and...
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KALASHA VALLEYS, PAKISTAN - MAY 15: A Kalash man cuts down branches from a tree to feed his goats in the village of Anish May 15, 2008 in the Kalasha Valleys, northwestern Pakistan. The Joshi Festival is a celebration of dance, music and prayer to welcome the coming of warmer season and the new life and crops it brings. The shrinking Kalash community of 4000, who claim to be descendants of Alexander the Great and worship several gods, are considered by many Pakistanis to be unclean, lazy and heretics. They often face ridicule and persecution for their polytheistic religion and fear the spread of hard-line Islamism bordering their communities.
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