TRADITION

                                                       DRESS

DRESS: As in most other regions of the Himalayas, people mostly use woollen clothes round the year because of the cold climate of the region. The dress of Lahouli women is a long woollen gown made of a thick cloth. The dress of a men is also particularly the same. The main difference between the dresses of men and women is that men robes are buttoned on the right and women gowns have string in front in place of buttons. The other difference is in the color. The color of women dress is mainly red, crimson or black and the color of men's dress is light cream or grey or dark blue. The men wear a Kullu type cap. Bodh women go bare headed while Swangla, Shipi and Lohar women wear round caps almost as flat as disks. The unmarried girls do not wear any head dress. 

                                    FOOTWEAR

FOOTWEAR: The  traditional footwear of Lahoul is 'poolah'  but  now all kinds of shoes are worn in Lahoul. People wear boots, slippers, hunter shoes and leather shoes. Poolah is made of barley straw and twisted bhang fibre. These foot wears are normally worn in winters. Barley straw is used for the sole and coloured strings of 'bhang' fibre are used for the upper portion. These shoes are very warm for walking in the snow but are not so durable. Women make these at home in a large number.  

                             ORNAMENTS

ORNAMENTS:-  Ornaments and jewelleries are the most prized possession of women world over. In Lahoul also most of the women wear ornaments. They are made of gold and silver and are used at ceremonial occasions such as marriages and other various festivals. Most of the women wear ornaments, very few men do so. Ornaments of Lahouli women are of various types but most of them are embedded with beads which are mostly red, green or blue in color. Men wear gold rings, gold ear rings called murki and kyanti are worn by the old folk but are being discarded by the younger generation. Poshal is a pair of round balls made of kapur. One ball is worn on either side of the forehead and is tied with the help of a thread to plait at the back of the head. Mutig Kanti is an ornament of daily use. These are white beads knitted in threads interspersed with sets of coral and torquise. There is a star shaped gold piece embedded colourful beads called 'Gao' hanging in the middle of the kanthi. Tuk kanthi is a necklace consisting of beads of coral knitted in a thread having some special kind of stone called 'tuk' on the center. Nang is a pair of silver bangles used by women of all ages. Guithav is a gold or silver ring embedded with imitation beads worn by males as well as females. Murki is a gold ear ornament worn by males. Chota and Bara Phuli is a golden nose ornament, but Bara Phuli is embedded with imitation beads. It is worn by all women except widows. Now people prefer golden ornaments then the silver ones. 

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