Daily Times

PESHAWAR: A two-day RICH mela and the grand opening of Nishtar Hall, arranged by the Directorate of Culture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, came to a spectacular end at the directorate’s lawns here on Sunday.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Sports and Culture Mehmood Khan opened the event at the Culture premises on Saturday.

The event attracted a large number of families and young people, especially after sunset as the weather turned bearable after light rain in parts of Peshawar in the afternoon. Organised by the Directorate of Culture, the Revival of Indigenous Cultural Heritage (RICH) project was simultaneously arranged in 25 districts of the province. Different cultural activities including folk dances and music, theatres, workshops, funfairs, poetry, literature, exhibitions of handicrafts and traditional dresses and traditional games like Makha, Kabbadi and stone lifting were arranged.

The grand mela also saw the reopening of Peshawar’s well known theatre Nishtar Hall after a five month renovation.

Different events, including plays, a stand in comedy, performance by known artists and singers and traditional dances in the overhauled facility attracted a large number of families visiting the RICH mela.

Speaking to the Daily Times, Director Culture Abdul Basit said that the directorate arranged more than 850 events across the province over the past three months. “Traditional games like Makha, stone lifting, Kabbadi and Chindro, a game played by little girls in Mardan, Charsadda and the nearby districts were organised under the RICH project,” he said.

Arguably the most attractive presentation of the event was the traditional Kalash dance of Chitral district. A group of men and women from Bamborait Valley, dressed in their traditional colourful dresses presented the dance associated to their religion.

“We got a late call for the mela but managed to reach Peshawar in time to take part in the event. It is lovely to be here and presenting our religious and traditional dance. Many of the people are seeing this for the first time,” Faizi, representing the Kalash team said.

Zaira Bibi, dressing in attractive black Kalash dress with orange embroidery expressed that she felt proud of presenting her traditional dance at such a big event. “I think such events should become a routine. People ask us about the basics of this dance. Well it must be performed with a minimum of 16 persons, men and women both. The other rule is just dance,” she laughingly said.

Another attraction at the mela was Makha, a game of archery played in Mardan, Swabi, Buner and parts of Haripur in KP and some parts of Attock district in Punjab where Pakhtun tribesmen settled in the past.

Amjad Hussain Yousfazai, President of Mardan district Makha Association detailed the history of the sport. “The game came to this region with the Arabs. Historically the first match was played at Kalpani, Mardan in 1870. It started in Swabi 10 years later,” he said. Amjad Hussain also informed that the equipment used in this sport is made in different places and a complete set could cost up to 28,000 rupees.

“The bow is made from the horns of Pakistan’s national animal Markhor. The arrow is made in India while the spherical cover at the front of the arrow called Tubre is made in Swabi. The string is made from fats of the Markhor or any other mountain goat in Buner,” he informed.

Another game, lifting of heavy stones was also performed along with drum beats and a traditional dance by the local dancers of Haripur. “Stone lifting is a local sport of Haripur. It weighs more than 60 kilograms and requires a special technique to lift as it’s a round stone and can’t be lifted as one picks ordinary weights,” said Sardar Shahzad, representing the team from Haripur.

Food and handicraft stalls also added to the beauty of the mela as many stalls were crowded with women. The stalls displayed handmade dresses, shoes, shawls and jewellery while the food huts provided freshly cooked traditional meals. Naima Jamshed standing at a stall displaying handmade dresses with embroidery from Kohat said that women were taking a keen interest in the items present at their stall. “Many women are inquiring from us about the making of these items and their price tags,” she said. RICH project is part of the KP government’s efforts to revive the indigenous cultural heritage. The idea was initiated in 2011.

However the events in 2016 have been taken to a greater extent as the government has spent more than 45 million rupees on the cultural events in the past three months.