The Chilam Joshi festival marks the beginning of summer pasturing season for the Kalash people of Chitral's three valleys — Rumbur, Bumburet, and Birir. It runs for several days in late April or early May, rotating between the valleys, and is one of the most accessible windows into Kalash culture.
Women and girls dress in their distinctive black robes and heavy bead necklaces, performing circle dances to the beat of drums and wooden flutes. Milk is offered to the gods in a ceremony asking for protection of livestock and crops before the herds move to high pastures for the summer.
The Kalash are a pre-Islamic indigenous people who have maintained their own religion, language, and customs despite centuries of pressure. Their traditional burial practice places the deceased in carved wooden coffins above ground rather than in the earth. Visitor numbers have grown considerably, but the festival remains a genuine celebration rather than a performance.