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Mayfung
Mayfung (or May Fung and May Fang) is a New Year festival celebrated on the 21 December by the Balti people in the Baltistan region of Pakistan. It is held to commemorate the end of the longest night of the year and the start of the Balti New Year (also called Losar; in Balti). Mayfung is traditionally celebrated in Baltistan but also in some parts of Gilgit, Chitral and Tibet in China. According to the people the celebration of this festival spares them from misfortunes. They believe that fire defends them against misfortunes and protects them from natural disasters. Its origins can be traced back to the Bön religion, which was the dominant religion in the region prior to Buddhism and Islam. The festival is also believed to be related to Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Etymology The word Mayfung is derived from two words in Balti language, "may" means fire and "fang" or "phang" means to throw or to play. So Mayfung literally translates to, to play with fire or to throw fireba ...
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Balti People
The Baltis are a Tibetic ethnic group who are native to the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan and the Indian-administered territory of Ladakh, predominantly in the Kargil district with smaller concentrations present in the Leh district. Outside of the Kashmir region, Baltis are scattered throughout Pakistan, with the majority of the diaspora inhabiting prominent urban centres such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Origin The origin of the name ''Balti'' is unknown. The first written mention of the Balti people occurs in the 2nd century BCE by the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, who refers to the region as ''Byaltae''. The Balti people themselves refer to their native land as ''Balti-yul'' (); the modern name of Baltistan is the Persian rendering of this name. Language The Balti language belongs to the Tibetic language family. Read (1934) considers it to be a dialect of Ladakhi, while Nicolas Tournadre (2005) instead ...
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Losar
Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various dates depending on location tradition (Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh) The holiday is a new year's festival, celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to a date in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. In 2025, the new year commenced on February 28 and celebrations will run until March 2. It also commenced the Year of the Female Wood Snake. The variation of the festival in Nepal is called Sonam ''Lhosar'' and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar. History Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion. Tibetan new year is counted by the current year added to 127 BCE t ...
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Baltistan
Baltistan (); also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet, is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and constitutes a northern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. It is located near the Karakoram (south of K2) and borders Gilgit to the west, China's Xinjiang to the north, Indian-administered Ladakh to the southeast, and the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley to the southwest. The average altitude of the region is over . Baltistan is largely administered under the Baltistan Division. Prior to the partition of British India in 1947, Baltistan was part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, having been conquered by Gulab Singh's armies in 1840. Baltistan and Ladakh were administered jointly under one ''wazarat'' (district) of the state. The region retained its identity in this setup as the Skardu ''tehsil'', with Kargil and Leh being the other two ''tehs ...
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Balti Language
Balti (Perso-Arabic script: , Tibetan script: སྦལ་ཏི།, ) is a Tibetic language natively spoken by the ethnic Balti people in the Baltistan region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Nubra Valley of the Leh district and in the Kargil district of Ladakh, India. The language differs from Standard Tibetan; many sounds of Old Tibetan that were lost in Standard Tibetan are retained in the Balti language. It also has a simple pitch accent system only in multi-syllabic words while Standard Tibetan has a complex and distinct pitch system that includes tone contour. Due to effects of dominant languages in Pakistani media like Urdu, Punjabi and English and religious impact of Arabic and Persian languages, Balti, like other regional languages of Pakistan, is continuously expanding its vocabulary base with loanwords. Demographics and distribution Balti is spoken in most parts of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan and Kargil and Nubra Ladakh in India. According to the Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, ...
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Gilgit Division
Gilgit Division is an administrative division of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern ...
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Chitral District
Chitral District (; ) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km2, before splitting into Upper and Lower Chitral Districts in 2018. It was the northernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It shared a border with Gilgit-Baltistan to the east and with Swat and Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south. It also shared an international border with Afghanistan to the north and west. Afghanistan's narrow strip of Wakhan Corridor separated Chitral from Tajikistan in the north. History Chitral shares much of its history and culture with the neighbouring Hindu Kush territories of Gilgit-Baltistan, a region sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies (''peri'') inhabiting the high mountains. The entire region that now forms the Chitral District was an independent monarchical state unti ...
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Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the Tibet Area (administrative division), Tibet Area, a former administrative division of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. The current borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region were generally established in the 18th century and include about half of Tibet, cultural Tibet, which was at times independent and at times under Mongol or Chinese rule. The TAR spans more than and is the second-largest Administrative divisions of China, province-level division of China by area. Due to its harsh and rugged terrain, it has a total population of only 3.6 million people or approximately . Names and etymologies Tibet Autonomous Region is often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Hanyu Pinyin. The earliest official record of the ...
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Such TV
This is a list of news channels in Pakistan. These are Pakistani general, business and defunct news channels with their headquarters, launched year, closed year and languages arranged alphabetically. Current channels Defunct channels See also * List of television channels in Pakistan * List of music channels in Pakistan References {{Television in Pakistan News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ... Television stations in Pakistan Mass media in Pakistan ...
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Bön
Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but retains elements from earlier Tibetan religious traditions.Kvaerne 1996, pp. 9–10. Bon is a significant minority religion in Tibet, especially in the east, as well as in the surrounding Himalayan regions. The relationship between Bon and Tibetan Buddhism has been a subject of debate. According to the modern scholar Geoffrey Samuel, while Bon is "essentially a variant of Tibetan Buddhism" with many resemblances to Nyingma, it also preserves some genuinely ancient pre-Buddhist elements. David Snellgrove likewise sees Bon as a form of Buddhism, albeit a heterodox kind.Powers 2007, pp. 500–501 Similarly, John Powers writes that "historical evidence indicates that Bön only developed as a self-conscious religious system under the in ...
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Maqpon Kingdom
Skardu (, Tibetan script: སྐར་མདོ, ) is a city located in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below). (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territ ...
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Jinn
Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam. Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either believers (Muslims#Etymology, Muslims) or disbelievers (''kafir, kuffar'') in God in Islam, God. Since jinn are neither innately evil nor innately good, Islam acknowledged spirits from other religions and could adapt them during Spread of Islam, its expansion. Likewise, jinn are not a strictly Islamic concept; they may represent several pagan beliefs integrated into Islam. Islam places jinn and humans on the same plane in relation to God, with both being subject to Judgement Day in Islam, divine judgement and an Akhirah, afterlife. The Quran condemns the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of Jahiliyyah, worshipping or seeking protection from them. While they are naturally invisible, jinn are supposed to be composed of thin and subtle bodies () ...
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