Bamyan Silk Route Festival 2013

Bamyan, Afghanistan – July, 2013 |

The fifth Bamyan Silk Route Festival was held between July 3 – 13, 2013, in Bamyan city. The festival is a celebration of Hazara culture that considers Bamyan – a major route on the ancient silk road – as their ancestral homeland. The festival included, among other things, traditional Hazaragi music on dambora (two-string guitar) and buz-kashi (men on horses fighting for a goat carcass).

Bamyan is listed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage site due to its historical significance. It is the home of two of the ancient and tallest Buddha statues carved into the mountains of Bamyan some 2000 years during the time of Kushan Dynasty.

Photographer: Jawad Hamdard Kia