Pagan Christmas - Winter Feasts of the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush

Augusto S Cacopardo author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:GINGKO

Published:1st Oct '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Pagan Christmas - Winter Feasts of the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush cover

This authoritative work sheds light on the religious world of the Kalasha people of the Birir valley of the Pakistani districtof Chitral, focusing on their winter feasts which culminate in a great winter solstice festival. The Kalasha representthe last example of the pre-Islamic cultures of the Hindu Kush/Karakorum, but are also the only observable example,worldwide, of an archaic Indo-European religion. Cacopardo addresses the historical and cultural context of the area and,referencing an array of relevant literature, offers comparisons with the Indian world and the religious folklore of Europe.Interdisciplinary and based on extensive field research, Pagan Christmas is the first extended ethnographic study devotedto this little known Kalasha community and represents a standard international reference source on the anthropology,ethnography and history of religions of Pakistan and Central South Asia.Augusto S. Cacopardo has conducted anthropological research in Pakistan under the aegis of the Istituto Italianoper l'Africa e l'Oriente and is Professor of Ethnography at the University of Florence.His publications include themonograph Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush (2001), co-authored with his brother Alberto M. Cacopardo.

ISBN: 9781909942844

Dimensions: 238mm x 156mm x 36mm

Weight: 690g

380 pages