Ginani
{{Short description|Annual harvest rite in Northern Pakistan}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
File:Celebration of event(Ginani).jpg
Ginani holds significant cultural importance as an annual harvest tradition observed in the valleys of Hunza and Nagar in Northern Pakistan.{{cite journal |last1=Khan |first1=Masood A. |title=Catching a Passing Moment: The Redeployment of Tradition |journal=Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review |date=1996 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=43–62 |jstor=41757197 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41757197 |access-date=16 May 2024 |language=en |issn=1050-2092}} The celebration occurs on the summer solstice, marking the 21st of June, the longest day of the year.{{cite news |title=Ginani festival celebrated |url=https://www.nation.com.pk/24-Jul-2016/ginani-festival-celebrated |access-date=16 May 2024 |work=The Nation |date=24 July 2016 |language=en}}
History
Ginani is observed as a celebration of a crop that has come into a position to be harvested. Hunza/Nagar valleys were once remote mountainious valleys, that was subjected to sporadic famines. So the farmers celebrated that their crops are not damaged by extreme weather conditions and they can survive the harsh seasons coming their way.{{cite news |title=Ginani Festival celebrated in Hunza Valley |url=https://pamirtimes.net/2011/06/21/ginani-festival-celebrated-in-hunza-valley/ |access-date=16 May 2024 |work=Pamir Times |date=21 June 2011 |language=en}} Before 1974, the emperor of the Hunza Nagar state arranged the ‘Ginani’ celebrations in his court.{{cite news |title=Weeklong cultural festival concludes in Hunza-Nagar |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1115653 |access-date=16 May 2024 |work=Dawn |date=28 June 2014 |language=en}}
Ginani celebrations
In Hunza the celebrations starts around ten days before the Ginani. Musicians at Altit Fort play tunes that are called Hareeps in Burushaski, for ten days till the Ginani day. The festival featured "Taj Poshi" ceremonies, polo matches, tug-of-war competitions, musical performances, and food distribution.
On the day of Ginani, people gather at the a place called Chattaq, near the royal palace. In the case of Hunza, people gather at chattaq located at Baltit Fort.
Mir is presented and visits the fields of wheat, where butter is spread over the wheat plants. Prayers are offered for prosperity and for betterment of community. A bunch of wheat plants is taken with them. Wheat grains are extracted from husk and cooked.
Cooked wheat grains are put into Diltar (Lassi), which is offered to the people gathered there.
Then comes the musical and dance performances. Mir dances first to the music. Then music is played, in a specific order tribes dance to the music.
Earlier, for most of the times Bitans used to perform at Ginani, to foretell the future on the orders of Mir.{{cite journal |last1=Csáji |first1=László Koppány |title=Flying with the Vanishing Fairies: Typology of the Shamanistic Traditions of the Hunza |journal=Anthropology of Consciousness |date=2011 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=159–187 |doi=10.1111/j.1556-3537.2011.01048.x |url=https://www.academia.edu/5718795 |access-date=16 May 2024 |language=en |issn=1053-4202}}