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Haider Zaidi cultivates grain, potato or any other make to help you their lands to maintain their large family. The guy gets due to his ancestors, and particularly his daddy and you can other villagers, just who grafted a glacier over the town 150 years ago. It’s liquid of you to definitely glacier one feeds brand new areas away from the brand new nearly 500 homes, the depending to your farming, for the Manawar Gaon founded 2,228 yards a lot more than sea level close Skardu, during the Pakistan’s state out of Gilgit Baltistan.

The brand new glacier ‘marriages’ inside Pakistan’s high Himalayas

With more than 7,100000 glaciers, Gilgit Baltistan is known as this new residential property from glaciers. However, where particular glaciers have not formed without a doubt, an ancient grafting technique is put. The fresh routine was shrouded in both strategy and you may routine. The ideal put need certainly to very first be located – a cavern or deep gap inside the a mountain – mainly based no less than 4,000 in order to 5,000 meters significantly more than sea level, in which heat remain less than no all year round. Snowfall and you will avalanches must be common, and no direct experience of sunshine.

Female and male glaciers

Based on folklore, glaciers are provided men and women identities. Male glaciers try grey when you look at the the colour, with loads of dust, meanwhile lady glaciers was glossy white or bluish. This male-people differences is typical regarding the mountainous section. Instance, into the Bhutan the latest softer Mo Chhu (lady river) meets the latest disruptive Pho Chhu (men river) during the good confluence near among the most sacred dzhongs from inside the Punakha.

Liaquat Ali Baltee, an effective documentary originator, and you can resident of Skardu, said, “The people from Gligit Baltistan believe that glaciers you live agencies. That’s why a mix of male and female frost are positively expected. The male glacier – called ‘po gang’ in your area – gives off absolutely nothing liquid and you can actions slower, while an effective ‘women glacier’ – or ‘mo gang’ – is actually an ever-increasing glacier providing you with off many h2o.”

Grafting a different glacier needs an element each of an excellent “male” and you will “female” glacier weigh everything 35 kilogrammes. Villagers carefully pack these parts in a number of coal and you will barley existe to ensure that they’re protected from more comfortable temperatures and place her or him with the a beneficial chorong (good conical basket created from willow twigs). Then they transportation it towards designated put and security them towards combination of dirt, ash and you can charcoal and you can personal the website having big stones.

Locals carrying ice pieces created out-of glaciers for the site of this new grafting [visualize because of the: Liaquat Ali] On this occasion, villagers in addition to arrange special prayers and you will sacrifices, usually animal massacre that is traditional within the Muslim celebrations. That it whole process is named an excellent “matrimony out-of glaciers”. After ten or twelve ages, these efforts are supposed to beginning a glacier.

Although this ritual can be spoken about, most people merely learn of it from the dental tradition and you can have not took part in it. Shamsheer Ali, who stays in Kharmang in the Baltistan is among the few to have physically drawn part during the a method throughout the 12 ages back within a venture backed by the brand new Agha Khan Rural help plan.

Shamsheer said, “All downline visited Arandu town close Shigar area in Baltistan. I grabbed one or two bits of glaciers and place her or him with the the backs, after that i stepped for a few days constantly and finally i reached new pre-felt like web site to own grafting. With this trip we don’t put those pieces on the ground. I remaining moving forward it from just one shoulder to a different.”

He as well as advised united states which he went to the site 5 years in the past and you may observed that glacier had spread over a huge area. “Our company is getting plenty of water consistently after grafting the latest glacier, [a rhythm] which was irregular in earlier times. Today the audience is fostering grain, millet, barley and create daily,” Shamsheer told you.