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There are two distinct
castes in the Sherpa society; the Khadev and Khamedu, the former
having a higher social status. There are several clans eg Chhusherwa,
Chiawa Gardza, Gole, Goparma, Hirgoma, Lakshindu, Lama, Mende, Mipa,
Ngawa, Paldorje, Pankarma, Pinasa, Salaka, Shargup, Sherwa, Shine,
Thaktu and others. Sherpa society is exogamous. i.e. a person must
marry outside his or her clan. Fraternal polyandry is found among the
Sherpas, that is two brothers may marry one common wife. However, if
there are three brothers in a Sherpa family, the middle brother has to
serve the monastery as a monk and for a family with four brothers, the
group of two may marry two common wives. The polyandry which is also
found in the most of the northern Himalayan ethnic groups, could have
a common reasoning of the limited arable land available to them. This
may restrain the family land being sub- divided into smaller units.
The attitude towards is also relaxed in general. Polygamy, i.e.,
marrying more than one wife is rare. Sherpas observe a number of
festivals during the year. The important ones are losar and dumze.
Losar is the new year's celebration according to the Tibetan calendar.
It occurs sometimes in the end of February. This singing, dancing,
feasting time is rejoiced by all families. Dumze is interesting
festival observed in the village ' gomba' or the monastery for seven
days, sometimes during the month of July. The village lama conducts
the rituals by worshipping Guru Rimpoche, Phawa Cheresi, Tsanba and
other deities. While the villagers gather in the evenings at the gomba
and enjoy eateries and drinks. Singing, dancing , and merry making
being always the part of the occasion. Khumbu- hyulla, a local deity
is always worshipped on every occasion. There is one occasion , Nungne,
when people take solemn fasting or partial fasting for three days by
laymen and for a fortnight by the nuns and lamas. People gather in
gomba and recite the sacred texts. Those who can not recite the texts,
they chant; 'Om Mani padme hum'. This is marked as a kind of
penitence. These famous highlanders of Nepal are always on the move;
sometimes to the greener and warmer pastures southwards; sometimes to
trade and sometimes to climb the mountain as a guide, a leader or
simply a porter. There are many of Sherpas who have set records in the
mountaineering world. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa with Sir Edmund Hillary,
was the first to climb the highest mountain of the world in 1953. Ang
Rita Sherpa, nicknamed ' the snow leopard' climbed the highest
mountains for the 10th time in 1996, an astonishing feat for any human
being that too without oxygen mask. Even collectively , this ethnic
group has the most climbers and record holders atop the highest
mountain. |
